Everyone knows the story (or maybe not) about how Prince had a bassline for "When Doves Cry", but felt that it held the song back and took it out. I'd like to know if anyone has any idea what this bassline was. I'm also interested in hearing how everyone else would approach this song from a bass point of view. Imagine Prince saying to you "write the bass line".

Órale,
Iffin' I remember from back in the day, I just used to play the root (F)?, and play it with the kick. Doing the changes and just kickin' it with the kick!
Bobbo 77'

How would I approach it from a bass point of view? I'd probably play all roots and in a rare instance for me, stick with the bass drum as close as possible. That song's busy enough without the bass cluttering it up with a lot of notes.

I'd go grab a beer from the bar.

When we covered this back in the '80s...I also said "I'll be at the bar, one round ahead of you guys" (it was typically the last song of the 2nd set). Well, that didn't fly...

What I did was to play the kick pattern...those out front told me it was so close that it was difficult to differeniate bewteen kick & bass.

I also tuned the "E" down to "D".
Rhythm-
l1- -& -- --l1- -&- 3& 4-l

Notes-
lG- -G -- --lG- -G GE D-l

Check out Prince's LIve at The Alladin, Las Vegas DVD for Rhonda Smith's take.