brensabre79 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I play this with the covers band. It was one of those situations where the drummer suggested it, to put me in my place when he couldn't get a beat right. SO I had to nail it just to show him!! It was hard work, but I got to a passable interpretation in the end. We have a new drummer now. And he clicks in at around the right speed before switching up a few gears at the first "hit me". "just to keep me on my toes". I have to say, although I usually manage to keep up, I have grown to hate this song that I once loved so much. The story behind it, I'm told, is that it started out as a fairly straight 8th note groove. Around the time they were working on it, Norman had been to see Jaco Pastorius playing live. After which he started creeping in the 16th notes gradually until the bass line we know and love was born. Apparently Chaz Jankel didn't like it at all, saying it was too busy, but it kind of stuck because they all got used to it. Whether true or not I don't know, but I do know it goes down very well at every gig we play it. So much so, we usually extend it [i]ad nauseum[/i]. And here's a tip from someone who has played this out every week for 2 years... If it doesn't hurt you're not doing it right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 [quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1392643030' post='2370936'] I have grown to hate this song that I once loved so much. [/quote] That is a downside of playing in covers bands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_skezz Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Started learning it today (well, started several years ago, gave up and returned to it) - can just about do it full speed till after the chorus, after that my left hand gets too tired and I can't keep it up. A killer indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 Nearly fell of my chair first time I saw that Shuffler video. Paul Turner is awesome... Pity I've only ever seen him playing live with mumble, mumble, Will Young, mumble, mumble... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cloud Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 One of the truly great pop hit bass lines. I used to play this live too....great bass lines require [i]practice[/i]. Start slow, get it right and gradually [i]build [/i]up the speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratman Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 It's one of those parts that just has to flow. And it's all about the right hand. I don't get to play that one too often these days, but it is still a killer bass line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblin Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Just keep going with it, you'll get there! It's like everything, if you can hear it, then you can probably do it with the right mindset! For the first week of trying to learn it, I got heavy handed which subsequently slowed me down, it was only when I started to just tickle the strings for it, I had it up to full speed in about three days (I had nothing else to do to be fair!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-bbb Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 [quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1392583007' post='2370384'] Thanks, but I have the dots..... I'm finding half the battle is deciding where best to play the notes for speedy movement! Lol! [/quote] there is no real left hand speed needed to speak of - as always there is more than one way to skin a cat and the doubled walking line in the verse can be played and varied in a couple of positions - if i get chance this morning i will throw up a quick tab of the position where my playing style find the flow of the pattern smoothest - the walking line during the verse is in 16 and pretty tight and straight but there are occasional points where it is punctuated at the start or end of the phrase with a small syncopated skip - try not to let the skip continue through into the next section of the phrase all the drive in this is totally with the right hand and dont forget the rising octaves in the chorus that the first lower note is a double hit hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blamelouis Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 You can tell Norman was seriously into Jaco at this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee4 Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Best of luck with this. I refused to play it because I could not make it smooth enough! In retrospect,if I had put the time in I reckon I would have nailed it,but I'm a lazy bugger! Keep going,as it is IMO one of the finest bass lines ever written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Undead Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 (edited) Don't know if this helps with your (ahem) fingering issues/concerns, but Nick Latham's cover of this is great, he has a very economical style with both hands, but the left in particular. http://youtu.be/pNOgcAful9w (I don't know how to embed the video, technophobe alert) EDIT - seems just posting the link embedded the video for me, nice one Edited February 23, 2014 by Evil Undead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coilte Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 Another good cover here from MarloweDK : [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opDEoTZnrwg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opDEoTZnrwg[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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