What song are you learning?

[Reggaebass]

5 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

A bit of a bugger to get right.

Definitely is stubz, it’s all about the timing on that one , not quite as easy as it first seems 

[nilorius]

Everytime fast speed - Donna Lee.

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

A bit of a bugger to get right.

You certainly have to be on your mettle. I was doing a run through, when Lady Ez popped her head around the door to ask if I wanted a coffee, as soon my brain considered the answer (which was in the affirmative), I completely lost the plot of the tune. 

[tony_m]

Blimey, it's been a while - is nobody earning anything? 😆

 

Anyway, after our drummer decided he wanted to concentrate on the other band he's in with our singer, we've been rehearsing with our new bloke (he was suggested by the old drummer) and it's all going well thus far. So well in fact that rather than just revisit all the old stuff, we're working up a few new numbers as well, hence this post.

 

The unwilling victims in this case are Running Down A Dream (Tom Petty), Sightseeing (Bob Seger), and Why Did You Do It? (Stretch), the last being suggested by our new drummer and a definite slight change in feel for us. New brooms an' all that, eh? 😃

[Woodinblack]

Slipknot - Duality, which was a lot trickier than I was expecting, and Muse, Unravelling.

 

I mean I am also learning Staying out for the summer by tricky for the other group, but as we haven't had a practice for a while, which means that when we get back together the guitarist will a have forgotten it again and take the practice to relearn it, I am not putting too much effort into it!

[steantval]

I thought I would have a go at some early Joe Jackson songs, started on Different For Girls, lovely tune and reasonably easy to learn.

The next one was Stepping Out, flippin eck, this is way beyond my capabilities, bass players must get a real feeling of satisfaction when they crack this one.

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

3 hours ago, steantval said:

I thought I would have a go at some early Joe Jackson songs, started on Different For Girls, lovely tune and reasonably easy to learn.

The next one was Stepping Out, flippin eck, this is way beyond my capabilities, bass players must get a real feeling of satisfaction when they crack this one.

 

 

 

That's all octave skips.  Focus on just playing the one pair of notes until you can keep it going smoothly at speed, then start moving the pattern up and down the neck (think South Bank Show theme).

 

That's where I am. My approach would be:

 

Learn the patterns, just staying on the lowest note of each pair.

 

Then put skips and patterns together and try the song.

 

[stewblack]

Disco Ulysses.

[Reggaebass]

21 hours ago, steantval said:

I thought I would have a go at some early Joe Jackson songs, started on Different For Girls, lovely tune and reasonably easy to learn.

The next one was Stepping Out, flippin eck, this is way beyond my capabilities, bass players must get a real feeling of satisfaction when they crack this one.

 

 

That looks well difficult, I’d say that’s harder than some of the jamerson ones I’m trying my hand at , good luck 

[Stub Mandrel]

If you use  thumb plucking down and index finger plucking up alternately to do the octave pairs it's not too hard to keep up.

[BigRedX]

I'm currently learning how to play my band's Christmas song. We have a gig coming up on the 28th November which is our last gig of the year so we thought it would be good to include it in the set. It will be an interesting proposition to play live as it was originally pieced together in the studio. I don't think I've ever played the bass/guitar part all the way through in a single pass and the part was written first and foremost to make the song sound good rather than as something I would be able to perform standing up on stage. There's some big leaps from one end of the neck to the other between the verses and choruses.

[BigRedX]

On 05/11/2025 at 21:07, steantval said:

I thought I would have a go at some early Joe Jackson songs, started on Different For Girls, lovely tune and reasonably easy to learn.

The next one was Stepping Out, flippin eck, this is way beyond my capabilities, bass players must get a real feeling of satisfaction when they crack this one.

 

 

 

The original is all programmed - probably on a TB303 by the sounds of it and the way the bass line divides up neatly into repeatable 1-bar blocks. The song also relies on the bass and the drums being absolutely metronomically solid and each note being precise, and therefore while the bassist in that clip is way, way better than I'll ever be, I found myself wincing over every tiny hesitation and slightly fluffed note.

[Bass Novice]

It's my life - No Doubt, I love the chorus part the bass plays!

 

Also I am going to try Hysteria by Muse and it will definitely be a long term project!

[Bleat]

A song called Drift Away by Dobie Gray. A friend it was their favourite song so I had to look it up. I thought it might be some modern pop song but was surprised to find that it's an old one. Not my usual thing, but it has a nice bass part so I learned it and added to my repertoire of songs.

 

😎

[MacDaddy]

Naive - The Kooks

 

Horrible song. The bass line is different all the way through 😖