Black Velvet

[beerdragon]

An old one, But a number we have decided resurrect, reading the blurb on this You Tube vid, some guy who posted it,claims the bass on the track is a mini Moog.I always thought it was a fretless for some reason.

[wateroftyne]

Y'know, I've just had a listen and I'm thinking it could well be.

[OldGit]

It was certainly one of the tunes in an ancient thread about bass lines that were played on a keyboard rather than a bass...

[peteb]

I always kinda assumed that it was a fretless

[Oscar South]

How many bassists does it take to change a lightbulb?

None, keyboard player can do it with his left hand

[OldGit]

Her videos (not live, mind) show a guy with a light blue Spector (?) with frets but the bass lines all sound 'orrible

[Doddy]

It definately a synth bassline

[mart]

[quote name='Doddy' post='902319' date='Jul 22 2010, 08:30 PM']It definately a synth bassline[/quote]

It's a great line, but I'm pretty sure it's a synth. I vaguely recall hear doing it on Top of the Pops and the bassist was playing a Streamer.

[JTUK]

Does it matter...? you should be able to get close with a bass, plucked hard, bridge pickup bias.

It used to be a classic round here with girl singers..

[steantval]

Our bass player worked it out years ago, some of the runs are difficult on a 4 string, best done on a 5 string to try and replicate the sound.

[mart]

[quote name='steantval' post='903122' date='Jul 23 2010, 12:56 PM']Our bass player worked it out years ago, some of the runs are difficult on a 4 string, best done on a 5 string to try and replicate the sound.[/quote]

It goes down to an Eb if I recall. I down-tune one step on a 4-string and can play it okay. It's probably easier on a 5 though.

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='mart' post='903233' date='Jul 23 2010, 02:29 PM']It goes down to an Eb if I recall. I down-tune one step on a 4-string and can play it okay. It's probably easier on a 5 though.[/quote]
I did it for a while in a covers band. The band insisted I downtuned so it would sound 'right'.

'OK', says I.

I never did. I just played it at the octave, week-in-week-out for ages, and no-one ever noticed....

[Alien]

[quote name='mart' post='903233' date='Jul 23 2010, 02:29 PM']It goes down to an Eb if I recall. I down-tune one step on a 4-string and can play it okay. It's probably easier on a 5 though.[/quote]

The whole song (as recorded) is in Eb, with a single drop down to C#. Most bands I've heard play it in E, and I've always played that drop note at the octave.

Anyway, about the real/synth debate:

The song was co-written by David Tyson, who also produced and played bass on the album (along with Steve Webster). I wouldn't mind betting it's a real bass just based on that.

A

[Herbsley]

For my 2p worth, I just assumed it was a bass guitar - so quite aghast at the revelation that the bassline was produced on keys.

Either way, I always thought it was a classic case of a 'simple yet effective' bassline.

I actually bought her album all those years ago, based on hearing this one track. As I recall, the rest of the album did not quite stand up to Black Velvet quality.

Edited July 23, 2010 by Herbsley

[Buzz]

It's a great song with a fairly nice bassline, and it doesn't really matter what the line was made on as long as it's reproducible on bass.

Edited July 23, 2010 by Buzz

[wombatboter]

I was sure it was a bass... I was wrong, Alannah said in an interview it was a keyboard bass...

[Herbsley]

And the interviewer didn't think to then pose the obvious supplemental question . . . . "Erm, why?"

[Krysbass]

Utterly amazed to hear it was done on keyboard.

My covers band have just decided to do this one - but we play it in E. It would probably sound better in Eb, but better to avoid messing around with de-tuning when you're playing small pub gigs and don't have the luxury of a guitar tech to hand you the correctly tuned bass at the right moment.