Bass line surprise - “it’s my life” no doubt

[jonno1981]

This was suggested for my covers band and it’s got a corker of a bassline. Original by talk talk. Lots going on in this one, especially in the pre-chorus. 
 

 

[Lozz196]

I’ve never tried to play it but whenever I hear the song that fantastic bassline juts out. May have to give it a try 👍

[shoulderpet]

4 minutes ago, jonno1981 said:

This was suggested for my covers band and it’s got a corker of a bassline. Original by talk talk. Lots going on in this one, especially in the pre-chorus. 
 

The original song is much better, you are right though great bassline

[Misdee]

Tony Kanal is such a terrific player. I've been a fan since that first No Doubt record, which must have come out 30 years ago now!!! How is that possible? 

 

Anyhow, I like that he's quite a busy player, but his taste is so impeccable that it always works. I like his tone, too. Everything he does is just right.

[jonno1981]

Agreed with the above, Tony is a monster player. One of the rare breed that can find the space for supportive melodies in his playing. Busy but not overplaying. 

[TimR]

11 minutes ago, Misdee said:

Tony Kanal is such a terrific player. I've been a fan since that first No Doubt record, which must have come out 30 years ago now!!! How is that possible? 

 

Anyhow, I like that he's quite a busy player, but his taste is so impeccable that it always works. I like his tone, too. Everything he does is just right.

 

1 minute ago, jonno1981 said:

Agreed with the above, Tony is a monster player. One of the rare breed that can find the space for supportive melodies in his playing. Busy but not overplaying. 

 

It's a Paul Webb bassline, copied note for note by Tony. 

[Misdee]

19 minutes ago, shoulderpet said:

The original song is much better, you are right though great bassline

Paul Webb is another one of those overlooked but bloody brilliant bass players.

Edited Sunday at 21:36 by Misdee

[jonno1981]

Aaah ok thanks. I’ll consider this my entry into the work of Paul Webb. I’ll explore some more talk talk tomorrow. 

[gary mac]

I had to learn this a few years back, loved it. It was a challenging number for the band, I can still clearly remember how pleased we felt when we first played it. I can also clearly remember how unimpressed the audience were and how much happier they were when we moved on to Mustang Sally, Alright Now and Love Shack 🙄

[Mokl]

Similar experience here 😀

9 hours ago, gary mac said:

I had to learn this a few years back, loved it. It was a challenging number for the band, I can still clearly remember how pleased we felt when we first played it. I can also clearly remember how unimpressed the audience were and how much happier they were when we moved on to Mustang Sally, Alright Now and Love Shack 🙄

 

[Gizmo]

18 hours ago, shoulderpet said:

The original song is much better, you are right though great bassline

 

This...The original is also fretless (as i recall ? + some other great fretless work/lines on the IML album)...This ND cover sounds (to me) like someone gave an A.I. the prompt "Produce a cover of Talk Talk "it's my life" if recorded by the band No Doubt"...Totally Soulless (or maybe im just old  )

[Linus27]

I played a copy of this on fretless and Paul Webb sent me a message and complimented me saying it was pretty much spot on. The No Doubt/Tony version is pretty close, just a few differences in note choices.

[Linus27]

18 hours ago, jonno1981 said:

Aaah ok thanks. I’ll consider this my entry into the work of Paul Webb. I’ll explore some more talk talk tomorrow. 

 

I'm a huge Talk Talk fan, probably in my top 3 of favourite groups and I listen to them most days. From a bass perspective, listen to Living in Another World, probably one of the best Talk Talk bass lines. Not super hard to play but certainly super interesting. Also have a listen to Tomorrow Started and Today. My favourite album ever is The Colour of Spring and the late Danny Thompson played double bass on it. The album is being released later in the year as a half speed remaster.

 

My favourite Talk Talk song ever is It's Getting Late In The Evening which was just a B SIde but should have been of the album as its incredible. Its not a bass specific track but simply the most beautiful piece of music ever. Mark Hollis was an absolute genius.

 

 

Edited Monday at 16:23 by Linus27

[Gizmo]

 

1 hour ago, Linus27 said:

I played a copy of this on fretless and Paul Webb sent me a message and complimented me saying it was pretty much spot on. The No Doubt/Tony version is pretty close, just a few differences in note choices.

Nice ! any chance that's that on YT ? 

 

About the best/closest one i've found (sofar) is this guy

 

 

[Reggaebass]

Ive always liked the sound/tone of the original Bassline in that song, I’ve got it written down somewhere on my list to learn but haven’t got around to it yet, I didn’t know it was played on a fretless, perhaps that’s why it stands out, I would have guessed something like a stingray 

[shoulderpet]

20 hours ago, jonno1981 said:

Aaah ok thanks. I’ll consider this my entry into the work of Paul Webb. I’ll explore some more talk talk tomorrow. 

Some cracking bass in on this song

 

Talk Talk - it's a shame bass cover

[SteveK]

It's my Life and Colour of Spring are two fabulous albums: Great songs, superb arrangements, and immaculate production. The albums were often recommended by hifi enthusiasts and magazines for checking out systems. Also used in professional studios for A/B referencing.

[jonno1981]

2 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Ive always liked the sound/tone of the original Bassline in that song, I’ve got it written down somewhere on my list to learn but haven’t got around to it yet, I didn’t know it was played on a fretless, perhaps that’s why it stands out, I would have guessed something like a stingray 

i listened to the original and superb recording today and also thought it sounded like a non clanky, deep sounding stingray. Fantastic playing by the band all round. 

[Gizmo]

Some very interesting 5.1 & extended mixes on YT & some that really bring the Bass to the front of the mix..inc this one without any synth wave !...seems there are stems kicking about on the interwebs for it as well...humm digging time

 

 

Edited Monday at 20:57 by Gizmo

[Grahambythesea]

When I saw the title I thought it would be this, also with a good bass line.

 

[jonno1981]

When this was suggested I thought they meant Bon Jovi! This is a most pleasant surprise.

[Gizmo]

Wow bit of a rabbit hole  go grab the Gdrive zip...WOW

 

 

 

[Lozz196]

It’s My Life by Bon Jovi, as mentioned above is also a pretty decent bassline to be fair

Edited Monday at 21:16 by Lozz196

[Belka]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPRPRI65kdk

 

Here's just the bass and drum tracks isolated. It's a great bassline and it's performed superbly. It's interesting how he keeps some notes very short, but uses fretless vibrato on others. Someone mentioned it sounding like a StingRay, but isolated you can hear the woodier characteristic of the Wal compared to the more metallic sound of a StingRay. 

It sounds like it was DI'ed into the board with no effects - very '80s.

 

Years ago I transcribed both this song and the No Doubt version. Tony Kanal's line is slightly simplified - at the time I thought that maybe the reason why was that they are in different keys - I seem to recall thinking at the time that the key change would have made it harder to reproduce the original bassline note for note but I may be misremembering this.

 

As for the No Doubt version, it sounds like bass guitar but through some kind of ring modulator/bitcrusher at the beginning, and some other kind of fuzz or synth/guitar doubling during the choruses. Other verse parts sound like just bass guitar. It also sounds fairly heavily quantized - you can just about tell it's bass guitar rather than a synth but I'd guess it's been cleaned up/snapped to grid fairly heavily (as was the custom at the time rather than a criticism of what No Doubt did).   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nk3TMyWo1M&list=RD6Nk3TMyWo1M&start_radio=1

Edited 22 hours ago by Belka

[Linus27]

50 minutes ago, Belka said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPRPRI65kdk

 

Here's just the bass and drum tracks isolated. It's a great bassline and it's performed superbly. It's interesting how he keeps some notes very short, but uses fretless vibrato on others. Someone mentioned it sounding like a StingRay, but isolated you can hear the woodier characteristic of the Wal compared to the more metallic sound of a StingRay. 

It sounds like it was DI'ed into the board with no effects - very '80s.

 

Years ago I transcribed both this song and the No Doubt version. Tony Kanal's line is slightly simplified - at the time I thought that maybe the reason why was that they are in different keys - I seem to recall thinking at the time that the key change would have made it harder to reproduce the original bassline note for note but I may be misremembering this.

 

As for the No Doubt version, it sounds like bass guitar but through some kind of ring modulator/bitcrusher at the beginning, and some other kind of fuzz or synth/guitar doubling during the choruses. Other verse parts sound like just bass guitar. It also sounds fairly heavily quantized - you can just about tell it's bass guitar rather than a synth but I'd guess it's been cleaned up/snapped to grid fairly heavily (as was the custom at the time rather than a criticism of what No Doubt did).   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nk3TMyWo1M&list=RD6Nk3TMyWo1M&start_radio=1

 

That's a great find, cheers for sharing.