Is there a bass line that you just couldnt do?

[paul, the]

I learnt Birdland the other day. In the music it says he uses a ghost note but it sounds like a beastly growl when you listen to it. I don't think I'll get that sound.

---
my dog is wagging his tail in his sleep.

[Nate]

RE: Boogie on reggae woman - i'm prety sure thats on a moog do you probably won't get the feel right...

Sir Duke is easier than you think. It's pretty much a B major pentatonic thing.


I defo agree with Bilbo about some of the original lines (eg havona) being easier to make up than learn. HAVING SAID THAT......Teen town is a written melody and many others were written parts...

I wonder if this thread were happening 35 years ago, what Jaco, Jamerson etc would have put down...

It's hard to imagine Mr Pastorius shouting "I can't get this f**king bass line for hey jude sorted"...

Edited November 21, 2007 by Nate

[Pugz]

[b]Classical Thump
[/b]
But that is just in its own level of bass playing that makes me want to break down and cry Slowly picking it apart though and learning bits and pieces of it.
[b]
Boogie on Reggae Woman - Marcus Miller[/b]

figured out the high part to that quite quick and even the intro isn't as hard as it sounds but I always seem to just give up on figuring out the low bass part to that song and end up playing the melody instead. Probably more down to my own laziness.
[b]
Teen Town[/b]

Getting Teen Town accurate, tight and clean is hard as hell.

[b]Pow - Larry Graham[/b]

The way he slaps this is so unusual. I can just about do it though not quite accurate. I tried singing it too and it really just gave me even more respect for that guy. For the guy who first slapped on electric bass he sure did go very far with it. LG is a true bass legend.

Edited November 22, 2007 by Pugz

[Nate]

Ten town certainly is a ball ache.... particularly the 4th phrase (for me anyway). you know the one - B, C, C#, A etc...doo bee doo bee doo bee doo bee doo......


I actually find it easier to slap that bit... strange.

Edited November 22, 2007 by Nate

[bassbloke]

[quote name='Clive Thorne' post='68119' date='Oct 1 2007, 12:25 PM']I'm glad to here that: That it became a piece of piss. It's not the sort of thing I'd normally be interested in playing, but it seems I've got till the 8th December to learn it! My 11 year old is drumming for it in a concert put on by his drum teacher, and I've been volunteered to play bass for him. His teacher (who also teaches bass) says that its not so much difficult as relentless. From where I'm standing it sounds both difficult and relentless!!

Having cracked it, do you have any hints for someone who's still at the stage of listening to it to get the feel of it into my head?

Clive.[/quote]

I've tabbed out the main verse using a couple of possible fingerings - the way I think Chris Wostenholme (?) plays it and the way I prefer to play it.

PM your e-mail address and I'll send it over

[Super_Mario_Bass]

YYZ

[EdwardHimself]

most bassleines i am unable to do

[Flea jnr.]

Give it up for Victor Wooten!!!!

Go to youtube and search "classical thump - Victor Wooten"

Hell its fun to play when you learn it, but i only know the first little bit.

[steantval]

I managed Spirit of Radio by Rush except the in the intro where the bass follows all the drum accents.

A brilliant one to do live and really keeps you on your toes, not one to attempt if your having a bad night.

Luckily we had an excellent vocalist who could also handle all the vocals without lowering the key.

[Huge Hands]

[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='91209' date='Nov 20 2007, 01:00 AM']I'm surprised nobody's mentioned James Jamerson.[/quote]

Whenever I listen to "Chained" by Marvin Gaye, I just laugh out loud. There is no way my sausage fingers will be able to blunder through that without sounding, well.... cr*p.

[geilerbass]

The tapping bit at the beginning of Had Enough from the first Mr Big album. I was almost there, but ran out of patience. I got the bit at the end nailed though!

Portrait of Tracy by Jaco - simply because my hands aren't physically capable of stretching far enough for one of the artificial harmonics.

[Stuart Clayton]

[quote name='Sean' post='68134' date='Oct 1 2007, 12:44 PM']I'll bet a month's cider budget that Stuart C can![/quote]

Not a chance in hell! I understood the technique enough to write about it in the book, but I can't do it - I've been a pick player either though, so that doesn't help! I totally admire Bernard's 'chucking' technique - very individual, and no one has really copied it to my knowledge.

Here are some pieces I've been struggling with recently:

Randy Coven - 10,000 Notes - (cheesy rock funk, but great lines)

and as Crazykiwi said, 'Eyes Waterfalling' by Level 42 - simple line, but lots of stamina needed!

Stu

[Stuart Clayton]

[quote name='geilerbass' post='163621' date='Mar 26 2008, 10:38 AM']The tapping bit at the beginning of Had Enough from the first Mr Big album. I was almost there, but ran out of patience. I got the bit at the end nailed though!

Portrait of Tracy by Jaco - simply because my hands aren't physically capable of stretching far enough for one of the artificial harmonics.[/quote]

I've got a tab for that Had Enough solo if you need it...

Stu

[2pods]

[quote name='Chezz55' post='70672' date='Oct 7 2007, 02:54 PM']My three 'Mission Impossibles'


Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke[/quote]

Just don't do what our last band used to do, which was tagging the "Sir Duke" riff onto the end of "I Wish" .
Riff now starting in Eb.
Sounded good though !

[Bass_In_Yer_Face]

[quote name='2pods' post='163736' date='Mar 26 2008, 01:39 PM']Just don't do what our last band used to do, which was tagging the "Sir Duke" riff onto the end of "I Wish" .
Riff now starting in Eb.
Sounded good though ![/quote]

Sir Duke is a nightmare...especially when it follows the horn section!.....it tends to go up to the 'dusty end' quite a lot which I was never very good at.

[DamonUK]

[quote name='Bass_In_Yer_Face' post='66222' date='Sep 26 2007, 11:38 PM']I've always been flabbergasted by Norman Watt Roy on "Hit Me With Your Rythmn Stick"

Having seen the guys on youtube playing it, I can safely say that if I played till I was 100 years old I still couldn't play it! [/quote]

On that note, here's MarloweDK playing it very well.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQrp8WpQHHU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQrp8WpQHHU[/url]

Ah well.......

[Dood]

[quote name='Stuart Clayton' post='163678' date='Mar 26 2008, 12:19 PM']I've got a tab for that Had Enough solo if you need it...

Stu[/quote]

May I have a copy Stu?

[E_MaN]

[quote name='geilerbass' post='163621' date='Mar 26 2008, 10:38 AM']The tapping bit at the beginning of Had Enough from the first Mr Big album. I was almost there, but ran out of patience. I got the bit at the end nailed though!

Portrait of Tracy by Jaco - simply because my hands aren't physically capable of stretching far enough for one of the artificial harmonics.[/quote]

are you talking about the c harmonic with the artificial d sharp? What I do is finger 2nd fret and place my thumb on the string a little way before the neck pickup and pluck below it....thats a rubbish explanation but something like that.

I love paying sir duke, great tune.

[paul, the]

[quote name='Huge Hands' post='163488' date='Mar 26 2008, 12:52 AM']Whenever I listen to "Chained" by Marvin Gaye, I just laugh out loud. There is no way my sausage fingers will be able to blunder through that without sounding, well.... cr*p.[/quote]

A lovely tone on that track. Great song too.

[Stuart Clayton]

[quote name='dood' post='164048' date='Mar 26 2008, 08:38 PM']May I have a copy Stu?[/quote]

Sure - email me at [email protected] and I'll send you a PDF of it - and anyone else that wants it.

Stu

[Scoop]

I really struggle to sing and play at the same time. So I forced myself to sing and play Taxman (Beatles) thinking this would cure me once and for all of this annoying little trait. After literally weeks if constant practice I nailed it. Then someone asked me to play and sing Politician by Cream. Well, I thought, Jack Bruce can do it so mebee I can too.

Wrong.

Sadly, the only thing I've ever been able to sing and play is Taxman. And Politician, bassline alone, simply turns my head to turnip. I enjoy a fair bit of Frank Zappa's stuff and I've always insisted on "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama" being in the setlist if I join a covers band. I love playing it but really simplify the bassline in order to sing it. Coz I enjoy singing it more, I guess...

Some really simple things flummox me inexplicably: I once left a band, permanently, through the shame of not being able to nail "I Saw Her Standing There". I can play some Claypool and I've copped just about every lick that Entwhistle ever played but I have a mental block on "Standing There" and still can't get it right to this day (not that I've tried recently). Go figure. I can play Primus's "Harold on the Rocks" but can't get "I Saw Her Standing There". After 33 years of playing. Sometimes I despair of being me.

Edited March 27, 2008 by Scoop

[alexclaber]

[quote name='Scoop' post='164422' date='Mar 27 2008, 12:38 PM']Then someone asked me to play and sing Politician by Cream. Well, I thought, Jack Bruce can do it so mebee I can too.[/quote]

I can sing and play pretty convoluted things simultaneously but Politician is very tough indeed. I must revisit it now I have more experience as a singing bassist.

Alex

[Tech]

[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='91209' date='Nov 20 2007, 01:00 AM']Take Darling Dear (Jackson 5) as an example. Apart from the opening few bars, there's virtually no repeating of anything through the rest of the song. Take away the rest of the song, and the bass line on its own is an amazing melody.[/quote]

Jamerson is indeed the man =]

that is such a pretty bassline. I spent the last few months learning it for one of my A-level performances. everytime I pick up a bass, I can't help but play it - the groove is immense. it's not *technically* that challenging, but I'll be damned if I could hear anyone play it like Jamerson. it's all in the feel... but it's soothing to play =]

as for tracks that I could never nail... I'm a massive chilis fan and spent weeks learning all of their classics, but the one bit that always eludes me is the chorus in Right On Time. Just can't get it up to speed =\

also, I do find Jaco tracks very difficult; I can hit the notes, perhaps sloppily, but even then it's not JACO... if you get me? it's just someone playing notes on a bass, I can't make it sing like he can.

Billy Sheehan stuff is incredibly tricky. I covered Addicted To That Rush (what a track!) for months, and still couldn't get all of those little licks nailed! hats off to the man, he can play some mean bass.

edit: thinking about it, he's a really nice chap too. sent him an e-mail about a year ago and he replied promptly and came across as a very very nice guy indeed =]

Edited March 27, 2008 by Tech