Kongo Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 [quote name='AdamWoodBass' post='518280' date='Jun 19 2009, 12:24 PM']For me its Marcus Miller. Theres some lines that sound great when I play them and I can play them note for note but when I compare them to Marcus they just dont feel right. I suppose thats the advantage of developing your own sound for 30 odd years like Marcus has, nobody else is gonna be able to nail it the way you can. It's not just about studying the notes in the song, you have to spend years studying the player and their technique and all you become is a clone of that player. Sure Jaco is amazing but do you really want to just sound like a Jaco wannabe? So with that in mind I do kind of agree with Paul H, put your own identity on it. Obviously if you're in a covers band and you're doing songs that have really distinctive bass lines then learn them but if you're maybe doing jazz or funk or blues and there's nothing specific to play then thats your oportunity to have fun with it and make it your own. I love it when I go see a jazz band and they do their own version or arrangement of a tune, just gives it a fresh feel if its a tune you already know and have maybe gotten bored of.[/quote] I find Millers stuff FAR HARDER to pull off than Wooten...would you beleive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 [quote name='dlloyd' post='518129' date='Jun 19 2009, 09:55 AM']David Caravaggio?[/quote]Italian renaissance artist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlloyd Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 [quote name='steve-soar' post='518702' date='Jun 19 2009, 06:17 PM']Italian renaissance artist.[/quote] Michaelangelo Caravaggio, surely? He was a little later than the renaissance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 The intro to disco inferno?? I swear they recorded that bit then retuned and The rest. I just cannot seem to find it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lee4 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I have never played a cover 100% spot on;I try to get close to the feel of it instead of getting it note perfect. And Rich,I've played Good Times at quite a few functions now,and nobody has complained that I've missed any notes!It's YOUR version,go with the feel of it.If the audience is dancing then it's OK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonestar Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 [quote name='gafbass02' post='519642' date='Jun 20 2009, 09:59 PM']The intro to disco inferno?? I swear they recorded that bit then retuned and The rest. I just cannot seem to find it![/quote] It's an odd one. I play: starting on the g string 8th fret Eb Eb Db Db B B Ab Ab FF EbEb C# C# Bb C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 cheers dude, ill see how that sounds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 (edited) [quote name='dlloyd' post='518824' date='Jun 19 2009, 08:23 PM']Michaelangelo Caravaggio, surely? He was a little later than the renaissance.[/quote]Sorry for being a little mischievous but it tickles me when I hear the name David Caravaggio, from The English Paitient, it reminds me of Dean Tavoularis, from The League Of Gentlemen, don't ask me why though. Edited June 21, 2009 by steve-soar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
risingson Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 [quote name='Pete Academy' post='517811' date='Jun 18 2009, 08:43 PM']There are certain bass parts that seem quite easy to play, but when you actually learn them they just don't sound right, no matter how long you study them. For me, a prime example is 'Sex Machine'. A few simple notes, but you try to make it sound and feel like Bootsy...impossible. Another one is Steely Dan's 'Kid Charlemagne'. I've been playing this song for 12 years, and I've studied it note for note, but I can't for the life of me get it dead right. The feel is unbelievable - funk/reggae. Chuck Rainey freely admits it's probably his finest moment. Anyone else have an example of this phenomenom?[/quote] Both the songs you mentioned definitely have the stamp of the respective bass players on them, and are both really hard to cop! Sex Machine is pure stamina, and Kid Charlemagne is literally something else... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SingLadies Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Havona by Weather Report... That Jaco bass line has me in all sorts of trouble.. I've tried and tried but never get it to sound right. One of these days.....Grrrrrr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamWoodBass Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 [quote name='Kongo' post='518684' date='Jun 19 2009, 05:48 PM']I find Millers stuff FAR HARDER to pull off than Wooten...would you beleive.[/quote] Couldn't agree more mate but I don't wanna turn this into a "Wooten is a technical excercise" thread lol! That sort of talk'll get you linched round these parts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamWoodBass Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 [quote name='SingLadies' post='520458' date='Jun 22 2009, 01:44 AM']Havona by Weather Report... That Jaco bass line has me in all sorts of trouble.. I've tried and tried but never get it to sound right. One of these days.....Grrrrrr[/quote] Sorry just noticed this post, that tune is rock hard! Its the solo that gets me every bloody time! I'm in the same boat and I've just about given up with it. To be fair like I said in a previous post I'm not really interested in becoming a Jaco clone so I've kind of stopped learning his tunes and gone back to just enjoying listening to them. I still draw huge influence from him, my finger style technique is heavily influenced by him, but I'm aware of it and I don't want it to over power my own sound. At the end of the day as breifly mentioned in another post in this thread (apologies I can't remember who said it!) you're never going to be that player so you'll never be able to recreate that sound and feel. Another post said even those artists struggle to capture the same feel as the recording when they play live. It sounds very leftfield and "out there" but it really is all about the moment and being able to capture that moment in a studio. You could play back the same notes hundreds of times in exactly the same conditions but the chances of you getting it to sound exactly the same are extremely slim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wulf Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 How about just blaming it on the rest of the band? Unless it is a solo bass piece, in which case you can shoulder all the blame, the essence of a great bass part is that it works as part of the whole ensemble. Learning a part so well that you could be transmogrified back to the recording session and fill in for the original bassist still isn't going to mean it sounds awesome if the rest of the band haven't been so diligent with nailing their parts. Even if you get the bassline note for note and beat for beat there's still going to be chafing if the other parts don't fit equally tightly. Wulf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higgie Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 [quote name='wulf' post='520552' date='Jun 22 2009, 10:16 AM']How about just blaming it on the rest of the band? Unless it is a solo bass piece, in which case you can shoulder all the blame, the essence of a great bass part is that it works as part of the whole ensemble. Learning a part so well that you could be transmogrified back to the recording session and fill in for the original bassist still isn't going to mean it sounds awesome if the rest of the band haven't been so diligent with nailing their parts. Even if you get the bassline note for note and beat for beat there's still going to be chafing if the other parts don't fit equally tightly. Wulf[/quote] +1. Very good post. I find most of Pino's stuff very challenging, especially Tear Your Playhouse Down....That guy is something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumperbob 2002 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Yea- the more I listen to Sex Machine the more amazing it becomes- more or less different all the way through- as though he was just f*****g about!! really you dont need slap, double thumbing, tapping etc if you can groove like that! Cheers Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jobiebass Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 [quote name='rohan' post='517838' date='Jun 18 2009, 09:07 PM']I always found "Get up and jump" by the chillis never sounded right [/quote] just downloaded the guitar pro tab for that song. I havent even bothered picking up my bass to attempt to learn it. I hate songs with those muted tap things. dont mind the odd one in easy places like "mellowship slinky in major B" but doing a double one scares me. I cant do them when I play slap, dont know if I should be tapping the pickup or the neck 99% of the time. I should really get slap lessons. anyways. yeah. Aeroplane by RHCP for me. the chorus bit it "quite easy" but for some reason no matter how much I read the guitar pro tab, listen to it, slow it down. still cant get the 3-5-3-5 and the 5-7-5-7 out of the first bar no matter how much I try, prob a very bad technique. I can do it really slow. soon as I try and speed it up it goes mental. Verse bass figure: G-|----------------7--7--|-----5--5-------------|---------------7--7---| D-|-----5-5--------------|---------------3--3-5-|-----5-5--------------| A-|---------------5--5--4-|-3-x--x---5-6---------|--------------5--5--4-| E-|-3--3-3--5-6---------|--------------x-x--x--|-3--x-x--5--6---------| T T TP T T T PT PT T T PT P T T TPT PTP T TPTP T T TP TP T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithless Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 I'm doing Stevie Wonder's - I Was Made To Lover Her, Jamerson's bassline.. Ok, I was preparing for my exams a lot, but, damn, I can't get to full song's speed for a good month now! Damn that Jamerson.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guzzibass Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 I havent tried it but Hotel California by The Eagles sounds like it might be tricky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Getting back to Steely Dan for a minute, I've read that Becker and Fagan routinely used to have any given bassline played by several different bassists, and would then sometimes pick'n'mix different bits of different players' basslines into the final "recorded" version. Don't know how true that is, but it would go some way to explaining why some are so hard to replicate. Someone (Old Git?) posted a fascinating link last year to the "bass line" for [i]Superstition[/i], which showed that the bassline was actually six (or maybe eight?) over-dubbed lines played by Stevie on the clavichord. In the end, forget it. No matter how much I may admire Jamerson or Dunn, Macca or Squire, I'm not any of them and it's unrealistic to think I'll ever be able to sound exactly like any of them. On the other hand, I do a pretty good job of sounding like Happy Jack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbass4k Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 I still haven't managed New Born by Muse, the riffs are easy enough on there own, it's just my left hand is knackered by halfway through the intro, I spose I just need to work on my left hand strength Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted July 2, 2009 Author Share Posted July 2, 2009 Going back to The Nightfly bass parts, the title track certainly doesn't seem a mixture of players...it sounds like Marcus all the way through (to me, anyway). A bass part I never seem to be able to play smoothly is 'Mellowship Slinky' by the Chilis. And for the life of me, I've never ever heard anyone crack the slap solo in 'Stomp' by the Bros Johnson. That is a totally unique sounding part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Academy Posted July 2, 2009 Author Share Posted July 2, 2009 Thinking about it, has anyone seen the European guy on YouTube who shows you how to play cover songs? He seems to have the sounds and lines near as damn it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Dream Theater always baffles me. I can play bits but no complete song.. Instrumedley is my goal in life: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y4WRT8W2dI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y4WRT8W2dI[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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