Songs with improvised bass lines?

[Mark Perry]

What songs do people reccomend for developing the improvised bass line approach players like Jamerson and bootsy were/are known for? Sorry if this topics been talked to death here.

My favourites are: sex machine, flashlight and whats going on. Also a lot of the stuff from Stevie Wonders / Bernie Worrells left hand.
I for one need to get lots of practice developing this approach. A big list of appropriate songs to jam over will help a lot. Also songs in any styles would be fantastic.

Any suggestions are much appreciated
Cheers

[trasser]

Musicology by prince.

[Matt Till]

"The Real Me" by the Who

I heard that Flea improvised on a lot of the early albums, he had to go back and relearn things he recorded so he could perform them live.

[brianrost]

Well you can jam over ANYTHING if the goal is to learn how to improvise a line.

[Matt Till]

Originally Posted by brianrost

Well you can jam over ANYTHING if the goal is to learn how to improvise a line.

Very true. But this is an interesting subject, what recordings have improvised basslines, constantly changing/moving.

On that note, I'm sure tons of jam bands are guilty of this.

[Mark Perry]

Originally Posted by brianrost

Well you can jam over ANYTHING if the goal is to learn how to improvise a line.

Supose so, i'm looking for those songs where you learn a single line for each part of the song, but the line (while correct and functional) feels wrong because the bass player is constantly improvising. Flashlight (Parliament), sex machine, and a large amount of Jamerson lines are a good example of what i mean. Basically songs where playing a single line feels wrong. I play flashlight and others with my band, which is definately the best way to learn. Just thought it'd help to have songs where i'm almost forced to improvise.

(btw thats improvising that functions as a bass line not a solo)

Thanks for the comments so far, much appreciated!

[bassist15]

I remember reading somewhere that John Paul Jones improvised his bassline to The Lemon song and got it in one take. If its true thats's pretty amazing , I think that Is one of the greatest basslines, very Jamerson-esque

[Woodchuck]

"Waterfalls" by TLC, LaMarquis Jefferson on bass.

[Jazz Ad]

Most songs by Cream.
Most jazz walking lines.

[Mark Perry]

Originally Posted by bassist15

I remember reading somewhere that John Paul Jones improvised his bassline to The Lemon song and got it in one take. If its true thats's pretty amazing , I think that Is one of the greatest basslines, very Jamerson-esque

I think he had quite a lot of experience playing jazz (and an extensive studio career), where bass players learn the changes and improvise a walking line. The lemon song is an excellent example of what i'm after, cheers!
Personaly when i jam in a band i tend to play / create a line which i stick to. It's essential to be able to do this a lot of the time, but sometimes i feel that the song needs variations / fills etc.
Essentially i'd like to get to a place where i play a repeating ostinato because it's what the song needs, not because thats all i know...

[Baryonyx]

One record to track down would be "The Shadows: At their very best". It's basically a re-recording of all their biggest hits done in the mid 80's. The bassist they have in (having lost the original guy) is brilliant. He really knows the songs and funks it up left and right with some wonderful improvisation. On the more upbeat songs like Shindig and Wonderful Land he really does cut some very fine tracks. His use of fingerstyle really helps him to move with the lines and create some really good music!

Of course, I could talk about improvised basslines all day, but this guy really has that old motown feeling at times!

[Tbirdbassist]

Juan Alderte did a lot of improv on the mars Volta's "Frances the Mute". Mostly on the song Cassandra Geminni which is basically a 33 minute jam.

[Joe Nerve]

I believe a lot of Stones songs have improvised basslines - and while it's a far cry from Jamerson stuff, I was learning a bit of GnR recently and Duff Mckagan seems to jump around a lot. Learning that stuff note for note is annoying...

Aside from that I've been having great opportunities to practice improvising with a new cover band I just joined. They play the most ridiculously simple songs, and I found I can really work on my chops playing them cuz none of the guys (and the crowds thus far) seem to mind. They do stuff like Tainted Love, Angel in a Centerfold, Mr. Jones, Rockin in the USA, 2 princes... there is so much room to fiddle in just about eveything we do. I practice by playing lead bass to songs in my house, and then cutting out 3/4 of the crap at gigs and trying to make the songs work and sound better than the originals. If I didn't do that I think I'd go nuts in this band.

Also, Ed Friedlands book Walking Basslines opened me up to a lot of stuff. And I only got about a 3rd of the way through the book. I'm not much on reading and theory and stuff.

[Joe Garage]

Entwistle from The Who improvised a lot on the Who tunes live, but im not sure if he did it on studio recordings.

Here's a cool video of him improvising:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfDE-ZvfOwU

[gustav]

Originally Posted by Joe Garage

Entwistle from The Who improvised a lot on the Who tunes live, but im not sure if he did it on studio recordings.

Here's a cool video of him improvising:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfDE-ZvfOwU

what a great video. i feel like a kid in an inspiration candy store..

[gustav]

just listened to crossroads with cream, its live and its great! i guess there's a whole lot of jamming there