JMJ on Paper Tiger-What the...?

[facethebass]

Alright. My band has done it this time. I go away for a couple weeks and they tell me we are doing a cover of Beck's Paper Tiger. Well I don't need to tell you that I am no JMJ and I am lost. The rest of the band is truly amazing. I play because I really like it and I don't want to let them down, but come on!
I am totally lost and need to do something that will atleast do the song credit. I am not a defeatist but I do know what I am and am not capable of. What now?
Dean

[JimmyM]

Do the best you can and hope it works.

[Just J]

^^ Start slow, leave out bits to make it easier to play, focus on the strong beats.

[DudeistMonk]

It's a pretty sweet line with lots of variations, I wouldn't want to learn it verbatim it would take a month, but if you learn the bassic structure of the song and play that / make up your own variations it should sound pretty sweet. Although the line sounds great its not an iconic bassline, nobody but the most hard core beck fans are going to know your not playing whats on the record...Hell I was listening to the album like last week and I had to put the song on cause I had no clue what the bass sounded like on this track.

Ask your guitarist to make you a chord chart, use that to play something that sounds good it doesn't have to be the what he's playing.

[facethebass]

Excellent advice. I have got a starting line and am adding to it each week.
Dean

[winstonthecat]

Originally Posted by DudeistMonk

It's a pretty sweet line with lots of variations, I wouldn't want to learn it verbatim it would take a month, but if you learn the bassic structure of the song and play that / make up your own variations it should sound pretty sweet. Although the line sounds great its not an iconic bassline, nobody but the most hard core beck fans are going to know your not playing whats on the record...Hell I was listening to the album like last week and I had to put the song on cause I had no clue what the bass sounded like on this track.

Ask your guitarist to make you a chord chart, use that to play something that sounds good it doesn't have to be the what he's playing.

+1

In general, I call this "dumbing down" a bass line, meaning getting the basics down (rhythm, chord changes), and then adding all the cool fills as you get more comfortable.

Let us know how it goes.