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Heard the song a thousand times but never really heard the bassline?


Beedster
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For some reason bass lines seems to come over better on Radio 6, almost like the whole station in better EQ'd than the rest? Anyway, until this morning i'd never picked up what an extraordinary bit of playing this is

 

 

Edited by Beedster
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  • Beedster changed the title to Heard the song a thousand times but never really heard the bassline?
25 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

Agree about 6 Music eq (especially in the car) but astonished that you didn't know this fabulous Tommy Cogbill bass line. The story of the recording of the album is a great read.

 

100% with you, it shows that when I was growing up and listening to radio and must have heard this song literally hundreds of times, bass was not in the mix. OK, a counter to that could be that my ears weren't attuned, but I always had a bass brain, one of my earliest musical memories for example was hearing The Night by Franky Valli and the Four Seasons and knowing that bass was where is was at, but the bass part in the latter track is very up front and centre, whereas in the track about, despite the musicality (or perhaps because of it), it's a far less obvious line, especially if not helped by EQ at the station and poor quality speakers in my childhood bedroom :) 

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Just now, Beedster said:

 

100% with you, it shows that when I was growing up and listening to radio and must have heard this song literally hundreds of times, bass was not in the mix. OK, a counter to that could be that my ears weren't attuned, but I always had a bass brain, one of my earliest musical memories for example was hearing The Night by Franky Valli and the Four Seasons and knowing that bass was where is was at, but the bass part in the latter track is very up front and centre, whereas in the track about, despite the musicality (or perhaps because of it), it's a far less obvious line, especially if not helped by EQ at the station and poor quality speakers in my childhood bedroom :) 

 

And why not......

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

100% with you, it shows that when I was growing up and listening to radio and must have heard this song literally hundreds of times, bass was not in the mix. OK, a counter to that could be that my ears weren't attuned, but I always had a bass brain, one of my earliest musical memories for example was hearing The Night by Franky Valli and the Four Seasons and knowing that bass was where is was at, but the bass part in the latter track is very up front and centre, whereas in the track about, despite the musicality (or perhaps because of it), it's a far less obvious line, especially if not helped by EQ at the station and poor quality speakers in my childhood bedroom :) 

I remember when Under Pressure came out - 15 seconds of dead air from our radio of that time!

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3 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

I remember when Under Pressure came out - 15 seconds of dead air from our radio of that time!

But that’s the truth, bass didn’t exist on radio, it was all upper mids, and not in a nice way, sure it’s part if the reason the Ric clank emerged in the 70s, only bass tone that came through 🤔

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8 minutes ago, JoeEvans said:

If you properly listen to the bass lines on some of the Bob Marley and the Wailers tunes, there's some amazing stuff going on there.

 

One of the defining bass moments of my childhood 👍

 

 

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This is indeed an excellent bass line, totally buried in the mix, which is really too bad as it's very Motown in every detail.

 

It should have been better mixed, the way they were doing it at Motown, but British ears at the time were not accustomed to this kind of vibe, and so was the B team at Atlantic records, even if it's been recorded in Memphis by some of the Aretha Franklin's usual suspects...

 

Here it is, if you want to learn it. 😉

 

 

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8 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

This is indeed an excellent bass line, totally buried in the mix, which is really too bad as it's very Motown in every detail.

 

It should have been better mixed, the way they were doing it at Motown, but British ears at the time were not accustomed to this kind of vibe, and so was the B team at Atlantic records, even if it's been recorded in Memphis by some of the Aretha Franklin's usual suspects...

 

Here it is, if you want to learn it. 😉

 

 

 

Thanks for posting @Hellzero, that's a few months of my life gonna go to learning that part, and I'm pretty sure getting the right notes in the right order is only a very small part of it 👍

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Tommy Cogbill is my all time favourite, lays it down and keeps it simple sometimes when  needed and is brave and bold at times(he was a jazz guitar player too), like the outro of preacher man when he starts a bar with 6565 etc 

Check these out , pick solo on moving on is outrageous and gentle on my mind is a melodic masterpiece IMO

 

 

Edited by spencer.b
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On the older stuff when records were pressed, if the bass wasn't compressed/lessened it could make the needle jump/skate.

 

....so I was told by an older gentleman with round wire framed glasses, lab coat and plummy voice whom looked like Dr Steele in The Young Doctors.....tapes wouldn't suffer like this. 

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1 hour ago, Old Man Riva said:

Son Of A Preacher Man is one of my favourite lines - everything about it is quality.

 

In terms of bass lines that hide away unnoticed in songs we’ve heard a thousand times, have a listen to the verse parts in Layla next time it’s on the radio … 

Carl Radle was a wonderful player IMHO.

There are some great bass moments throughout the ‘ Layla and other assorted love songs’ album.

Fortunate enough to see him with EC in the mid 70’s, one of the first people I recall seeing using

a Stingray which sounded ace. All the band were using MM amps too.

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22 minutes ago, tauzero said:

"I'm a believer" by the Monkees has a cracking bass line by Carol Kaye. Or at least I thought it was, but someone says otherwise in the comments under this transcription.

 

 

 

 

Just makes you smile does that, one of those basslines that looks SOOOOOOO easy but the timing on the track is impeccable 👍 

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  • 1 month later...
On 23/03/2023 at 06:44, Beedster said:

For some reason bass lines seems to come over better on Radio 6, almost like the whole station in better EQ'd than the rest? Anyway, until this morning i'd never picked up what an extraordinary bit of playing this is

 

 

And courtesy Radio 6 I was introduced to this version this morning, and once again, the bass came across beautifully 

 

 

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On 24/03/2023 at 13:05, tauzero said:

"I'm a believer" by the Monkees has a cracking bass line by Carol Kaye. Or at least I thought it was, but someone says otherwise in the comments under this transcription.

 

 

 

Actually, that comment was mine. 😊 

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