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Moloko, sing it back


uk_lefty
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Does anyone play this? Gorgeous melodic bass line but I'm struggling to get playing it... In all fairness I've made hardly any effort. I started off with a bad Internet tab and haven't yet checked any other sources but if anyone plays it and has some easy to follow tips (like it's a C, G, F chord progression just play minor fills under that... That kind of easy tip!) I'd be incredibly grateful. I kinda should have learned it a few months ago and haven't got round to it! 

Thank you

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It's a fantastic, underrated bassline.

Really for me is a classic line. Smooth, grooves, quite complex and unexpected, but amazing to listen to.

I had a go years ago at it. The tab doesnt really make much sense until you're really upto scratch with it, but just pick out the main notes and add in the other when they start to feel right.

Good luck.

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Yeah I do it. I had to learn it in a hurry so quickly sussed the first pattern (once through the chord pattern) and thought I'll get away with repeating this and improvising around it for one gig. Then I'll learn the rest. 

BL chops and changes set so often I never got round to learning the rest but I must it's a wonderful line. Sadly the song itself feels limp and flat when we play it live. Sometimes you just don't get under the skin of a tune. 

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37 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Yeah I do it. I had to learn it in a hurry so quickly sussed the first pattern (once through the chord pattern) and thought I'll get away with repeating this and improvising around it for one gig. Then I'll learn the rest. 

BL chops and changes set so often I never got round to learning the rest but I must it's a wonderful line. Sadly the song itself feels limp and flat when we play it live. Sometimes you just don't get under the skin of a tune. 

I get what you mean. Sometimes the res a missing ingredient and it's hard to know what it is... We tried "crazy" by gnarls barkley and there was always something we couldn't pinpoint missing. 

What chord progression were you playing for Moloko? 

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21 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

I get what you mean. Sometimes the res a missing ingredient and it's hard to know what it is... We tried "crazy" by gnarls barkley and there was always something we couldn't pinpoint missing. 

What chord progression were you playing for Moloko? 

As the original. I learned the bassline from this https://basslessons.be/transcriptions.php?i=2

Not 100% but pretty darned close. Now I revisit it i see the bass echoes the melody beautifully in the chorus and I'm definitely going to learn it all.

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13 minutes ago, stewblack said:

As the original. I learned the bassline from this https://basslessons.be/transcriptions.php?i=2

Not 100% but pretty darned close. Now I revisit it i see the bass echoes the melody beautifully in the chorus and I'm definitely going to learn it all.

That's odd. The tab seems to be a half step higher than the sheet music if you go purely off the chord notes... Eg sheet music says Ebm9 tab says Em9. 

Either way, learn the pattern and shift up or down a fret for the band is what I'll have to do anyhow. Thanks for this. 

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As I work through it now, I realise I've also been suffering from Bass Players Drift. It's a condition affecting musicians when they play a song for a long period of time without listening to the original material. Also when playing a song only sporadically and without rehearsal.

In case A) the line alters incrementally without anyone noticing until years later what one might swear is the original line has morphed into something quite different.

In case B) relying on memory alone when the BL chucks the song unexpectedly into the mix the bassist blunders about findning an approximation of the line. Parts of this 'best guess' line become muscle memory and a whole new part is born

 

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2 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

That's odd. The tab seems to be a half step higher than the sheet music if you go purely off the chord notes... Eg sheet music says Ebm9 tab says Em9. 

Either way, learn the pattern and shift up or down a fret for the band is what I'll have to do anyhow. Thanks for this. 

Unless I transposed my recording the E flat seems to fit the original...

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6 minutes ago, stewblack said:

As I work through it now, I realise I've also been suffering from Bass Players Drift. It's a condition affecting musicians when they play a song for a long period of time without listening to the original material. Also when playing a song only sporadically and without rehearsal.

In case A) the line alters incrementally without anyone noticing until years later what one might swear is the original line has morphed into something quite different.

In case B) relying on memory alone when the BL chucks the song unexpectedly into the mix the bassist blunders about findning an approximation of the line. Parts of this 'best guess' line become muscle memory and a whole new part is born

 

That's how I do my entire set. Can't stand listening to the originals after playing them so many times for almost four years!! 

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2 hours ago, stewblack said:

As the original. I learned the bassline from this https://basslessons.be/transcriptions.php?i=2

Not 100% but pretty darned close. Now I revisit it i see the bass echoes the melody beautifully in the chorus and I'm definitely going to learn it all.

Thanks for that, this one has been on my todo list for a while 👍🏻

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On 13/01/2020 at 09:00, uk_lefty said:

Does anyone play this? Gorgeous melodic bass line but I'm struggling to get playing it... In all fairness I've made hardly any effort. I started off with a bad Internet tab and haven't yet checked any other sources but if anyone plays it and has some easy to follow tips (like it's a C, G, F chord progression just play minor fills under that... That kind of easy tip!) I'd be incredibly grateful. I kinda should have learned it a few months ago and haven't got round to it! 

Thank you

i haven't played this for many a year, but when I did, for me it was all about locking in with the drummer. 

Such a good groove when you've got it 😎

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22 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

i haven't played this for many a year, but when I did, for me it was all about locking in with the drummer. 

Such a good groove when you've got it 😎

Part of the problem for me is that the band I play it in doesn't rehearse so the drummer and I are learning to play together in public. Some songs that's fine, but for others it needs to be a bit tighter

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Problem doing it from tab is the notes all look the same value and time, and they're not.

You need to keep playing through it and work out which are what I call "joining" notes (not essential to line, but help link the parts together) and which are essential. When you've got your head around that, add the joining notes in at your own pace and style.

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On 13/01/2020 at 12:19, stewblack said:

Yeah I do it. I had to learn it in a hurry so quickly sussed the first pattern (once through the chord pattern) and thought I'll get away with repeating this and improvising around it for one gig. Then I'll learn the rest. 

BL chops and changes set so often I never got round to learning the rest but I must it's a wonderful line. Sadly the song itself feels limp and flat when we play it live. Sometimes you just don't get under the skin of a tune. 

Yeah we tried it for our set and it’s weirdly poo live 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you all for the advice and pointers, I've got something passable down now which I will embellish as it gets rehearsed with the band... Can understand a few comments on it falling flat. We are sticking it in to a 90s dance medley so hopefully it works as a segment along with others which will only be segments! 

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1 minute ago, DoubleOhStephan said:

Will you be recording that? I'd love to hear it. 

Yeah will do once we have it down. It might not be for a few weeks yet as we need to get ready for a pub gig in two weeks and haven't rehearsed the rest of the set, or rehearsed at all, much in the last 5 months. I'll stick it up on sound cloud when roughly done

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6 minutes ago, DoubleOhStephan said:

Nice one. I'm just setting up a new band and this is one of the tracks I'd like us to play. Be interesting to hear a variation which make it better live

Management does not accept liability for ruining your favourite songs. 

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