playing Cobham's "Stratus"

[Hoover]

I love the Billy Cobham tune "Stratus". Something about the hypnotic relentless groove of Lee Sklar's original bass part just pushes all my good buttons. It's just three notes, repeated over and over again, no tricky rhythms...if anything the biggest challenge is pure endurance

...oh, and locking with the drummer to make this thing sound like a freight train, rather than an undifferentiated mish-mosh.

Obviously I think Sklar succeeded. In fact, most bassists I've heard play this tune succeed.

The other day I came across this YouTube video of Jeff Beck playing "Stratus"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zah06PvnVio
and I notice Tal Wilkenfeld playing that iconic groove using the open A string?!?!

How the hell do you play that chugging relentless jackhammer groove, with its uniformly punchy baseball-bat-to-the-solar-plexus consistency, when you're alternating between the open A string and the fretted G on the E string? I just can't get my head around that. It's like cognitive dissonance: I can see what she's doing, I can hear what she's doing, but my brain can't get those two senses to match.

(If it isn't already obvious, I play "Stratus" -- and always assumed Sklar et al played it -- with both the G & the A fretted on the E string.)

[ad9000]

I always thought it was F# not G: B-A-B-F#-A-B-B-A. No? The open A seems like the logical way to play it, in half position.

[robgo]

I've seen Massive Attack do it as Safe From Harm (google it if you're too old!!) live - their bass player did it with a looper pedal!! Shock horror!!

[jtb]

Me too. (as in F#)

[Fergie Fulton]

Killer song, killer groove. I have jammed this song with countless players over 30 years and for me what i have found its about where those notes go, not really so much as what they are.

Tals is just another take on it. Like a Bo Diddley this groove has been used countles times by various artists, and when ever something like it is called for it is just called a stratus groove.
I play it as B-A and variations off the open E.

Here's another take on it.... in free fall,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJE65co4nFM

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by ad9000

B-A-B-F#-A-B-B-A. No?

What the---?!?! I'll be damned, you're right! I'VE BEEN PLAYING IT WRONG ALL THESE YEARS! That'll teach me to transcribe from memory...


Of course, that still doesn't quite resolve my cognitive dissonance vis a vis watching Tal play that line, it only displaces it. Because...

Originally Posted by ad9000

The open A seems like the logical way to play it, in half position.

Right, but then how do you get that seamless transition between the B & the F#? It definitely doesn't sound like Lee Sklar was barring the second fret on the original, but if you watch Tal she doesn't look like she's separately fingering the same fret on two adjacent strings (i.e., 3rd string/2nd fret/2nd finger, to 4th string/2nd fret/1st finger), she looks like shes just alternating between fretting with her 2nd finger and open string(s). Doesn't sound like she's barring either.

Maybe I should just chalk it up to bad video sync?

[g4string]

Here is my old band playing Stratus.....technically not that hard to play. But yes, it requires finger strength and stamina. The alternating finger pattern can be a tough one.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/defa...?bandID=147581

[BillyIVbass]

Thanks for posting this! A friend posted this song on his facebook, I got the album, but this kicked my butt into learning it.

FYI It's easier for me to play it all in the open position. (B/A on the A string, F# on the E string) I can't get back to the A in time if I do it all on the E string or maybe that's the new challenge?

[Lobster11]

Originally Posted by g4string

Here is my old band playing Stratus.....technically not that hard to play. But yes, it requires finger strength and stamina. The alternating finger pattern can be a tough one.

So how do you finger that pattern?

From the Jeff Beck video it looks for all the world like Tal is simply barring that fret with her index finger -- and she sure makes it look easy!

[funkifiedsoul]

FYI. A tight version can be heard on Bunny Brunnel's L.A.Zoo (first place I heard it actually)

[g4string]

Originally Posted by Lobster11

So how do you finger that pattern?

From the Jeff Beck video it looks for all the world like Tal is simply barring that fret with her index finger -- and she sure makes it look easy!

IIRC, I think the main riff was in B minor. Again IIRC, the pattern is an alternating 16th note pattern consisting of only 4 notes in the pattern....the root, the 5th, the dominant 7th, and the major 7th. I played this pattern on a 5 string. I started with the B (root) on the E string at the 7th fret....then dropped over to the F# (5th) on the low B string, 7th fret....then to the A (dom 7th) on the E string, 5th fret....then to the Bb (maj 7th) at the 6th fret on the E string....each time playing 2ea 16th notes for ea note in the pattern while alternating my fingering. You can move the same pattern to the D string with the root at the 9th fret for variation. I dont know if what I was playing was correct per the BC original recording. However, that is what I played on my cover of Stratus.

[Fergie Fulton]

Billy has a new album coming out and Stratus is re- done see the links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtQLnc2SFo0

http://jazztimes.com/articles/25566-...-on-january-10

[Phil Smith]

I wouldn't be surprised if Leland Sklar tuned his bass down a half step and just played this on the first 3 frets of the bass or used a five string and played that F# on the B string. Why work harder than you have to?

[Kobaia]

my transcription of Stratus

[Lobster11]

Originally Posted by Kobaia

my transcription of Stratus

Nice -- thanks!

[mefunkufunk]

I just tried it using open A. Seemed to work just fine for me. Tal's hand position seemed to shift at times. I wonder if her hand was getting tired and she was just moving it to keep her hand from getting stiff. Hard to say. But yes open A works just fine.

[Phil Smith]

Originally Posted by mefunkufunk

I just tried it using open A. Seemed to work just fine for me. Tal's hand position seemed to shift at times. I wonder if her hand was getting tired and she was just moving it to keep her hand from getting stiff. Hard to say. But yes open A works just fine.

The question is, can you play the line along with Leland on the record?

[BluesWalker]

Originally Posted by Kobaia

my transcription of Stratus

Thank you.

[foal30]

Ha Ha
I reckon it's a low F

B B A F A B B

I've always used the open A as well.

[monroe55]

i remember learning this song. Its fun to play, eventually. I got one word for the fret hand of the OP....CRAMP