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Mike Anthony - Van Halen bassist


dmccombe7
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Just been asked to learn Hot For Teacher by Van Halen.

I always thought their bass player Mike Anthony was a good solid rock bassist with great backing vocals but have a wee listen to the bass on this track.

I'm struggling with this to put in the same wee riffs and keep the constant bass line flowing.

Lot more difficult than i ever gave credit for. Obviously i'm gonna have to work a bit harder on this one.

Anyone else tried it ?

 

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From what i've read he's a genuine nice guy too. Looks like Eddie wanted all his family as the band tho.

Most of VH songs i can do relatively easy but this one is verging on Steve Harris feel. Very fast 16ths with few wee runs thrown in.

Doesn't help when double bass runs over it all as trying tow ork out the runs is more difficult but i'll get there.

Dave

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5 hours ago, xgsjx said:

I've got some score/tablature if you want it PMd?

If you have Hot For Teacher that would be appreciated. Got some from Ultimate Guitar but the bass fills in verses don't seem right. Watched a few Youtube VIDS too and the guys are def not playing what's on the bass tab. 

I'll keep at it and will eventually get it or as near as poss. I did notice that one guy was using his middle finger like a pick playing the same notes with skin side then the nail side. He was quite good at it.

Dave

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On 2/12/2018 at 20:06, dmccombe7 said:

Just been asked to learn Hot For Teacher by Van Halen.

I always thought their bass player Mike Anthony was a good solid rock bassist with great backing vocals but have a wee listen to the bass on this track.

I'm struggling with this to put in the same wee riffs and keep the constant bass line flowing.

Lot more difficult than i ever gave credit for. Obviously i'm gonna have to work a bit harder on this one.

Anyone else tried it ?

 

 

 

I haven't tried it, but I have seen an isolated bass track somewhere... maybe that helps?

Here it is. You need to pan to the LEFT to get just the bass. 

 

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7 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

If you have Hot For Teacher that would be appreciated. Got some from Ultimate Guitar but the bass fills in verses don't seem right. Watched a few Youtube VIDS too and the guys are def not playing what's on the bass tab. 

I'll keep at it and will eventually get it or as near as poss. I did notice that one guy was using his middle finger like a pick playing the same notes with skin side then the nail side. He was quite good at it.

Dave

Rudy Sarzo was the first guy I saw using that finger as a pick technique. I've tried to work on it on a few occasions but never really got it down. 

I used to play a version of Hot For Teacher in a band 30 years ago. We used to play original material but did HFT as an encore. We had to drop it in the end, as we were billed at a gig in Birmingham as 'the band that plays a great version of Hot For Teacher'! You need a hell of a drummer to do it justice! 

I have just listened to the clip above and the bassline is pretty much how I remember it. Probably easier than you might think at first, the little runs every second line of the verse are just a partial blues scale (starting on the 4th). You just need to work out what he plays under the solo. The solo'd bass track will help a lot. 

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12 minutes ago, peteb said:

Rudy Sarzo was the first guy I saw using that finger as a pick technique. I've tried to work on it on a few occasions but never really got it down. 

I always used my finger as a pick and often like that. I didn't know it was a thing, just the way I always played.

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12 hours ago, mcnach said:

From the audio above, it seems like a lot of what I thought was the bass was the bass drum making it sound a lot more... relentless. But's it's much easier to play than it looked at first.

Thanks for that. It should help. I did pick up on the double bass drum making it sound fuller but still have to do a little work on it.

The isolated bass should be a huge help.

Thanks again

Dave

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11 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I always used my finger as a pick and often like that. I didn't know it was a thing, just the way I always played.

I regularly use my thumb as a pick but it doesn't have the same feel as the index or mid finger.

Dave

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9 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I use both sides of the first two fingers, or the flat side of the 3 if I am playing in triplets.

Think i might try and work on that a bit. If its short spells i'm comfortable with it or if its varying notes.

I just seem to have a problem when playing 16ths or triplets on same note for long periods at a time. Maybe i just loose focus and concentration because i find those songs a bit boring. 

I've used my thumb and first 2 fingers quite a lot but again shorter spells.

Dave

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