Suggestions of songs to learn by ear?

[DaveT]

Firstly yo to all at TalkBass.

I really want to learn to play by ear but im lazy and just getting tabs off the internet is far too easy.

Really I’m just after suggestions of some bass lines that you think aint too hard to hear i.e. stick close to a scale and/or are clear to hear in the mix, for me to try and figure out.
This season im mostly listening to your indie rock n roll type stuff but am open to any suggestions.

[chardin]

Welcome to Talk Bass DaveT. Here are a few albums to get you started.

• Joe Jackson, "Look Sharp!" -- Graham Maby is really up front in the mix.
• Santana, "Abraxas" -- Simple, really fun bass lines.
• U2, you choose -- Adam Clayton plays lines that are fairly easy to pick up.

[Kroy]

Originally Posted by chardin

Welcome to Talk Bass DaveT.

Seconded.

Originally Posted by chardin

• U2, you choose -- Adam Clayton plays lines that are fairly easy to pick up.

+1
New Year's Day is a really good tune that is actually kindof built around the bass riff instead of the guitar for once.

[DaveT]

Cheers for your suggestions, i will be having a go at them this evening

[RolandMHall]

Return of the space cowboy. Learn that song from start to finish

[Ed Fuqua]

Originally Posted by DaveT

Firstly yo to all at TalkBass.

I really want to learn to play by ear but im lazy and just getting tabs off the internet is far too easy.

Really I’m just after suggestions of some bass lines that you think aint too hard to hear i.e. stick close to a scale and/or are clear to hear in the mix, for me to try and figure out.
This season im mostly listening to your indie rock n roll type stuff but am open to any suggestions.

Learning to play by ear is not about learning to play songs off a CD. It's about EAR TRAINING - learning to hear intervals in one octave, intervals in the second octave (tensions), triads in all inversions and in closed and open positions, 4 part chords, 4 parts with 1 tension, 4 parts w/ 2 tensions, and then the wonderful world of polytonality.

Then when you HEAR a bassline (or whatever) do THIS, you can say "oh he's playing an ascending line that starts on the second degree of the chord (which is the tonic chord) that goes up a minor third and then moves scale wise" Or whatever. And then you just play what you hear.

[Correlli]

Totally agree^^

I remember when I started playing bass, I had a hard time hearing other instruments in the band.

[DaftCat]

Originally Posted by DaveT

Really I’m just after suggestions of some bass lines that you think aint too hard to hear...

Originally Posted by RolandMHall

Return of the space cowboy. Learn that song from start to finish

+1

You will definitely have no problems hearing the bassline on that recording.

[el_samurai]

maybe GREASE of Jonh Travolta

[DaleD]

RUSH - Freewill

[d8g3jdh]

Originally Posted by DaleD

RUSH - Freewill

Rush is a tad bit complex don't ya think?

Try pink floyd - money, hey you
Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused, Ramble on
Queen - Another one bites the dust, under pressure
The knack - My sharona

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Originally Posted by Scott Zoltok

Rush is a tad bit complex don't ya think?

Specially "Freewill"! The bass solo may be loud and clear, but it doesn't make the song an easy one. "Tom Sawyer" is way less difficult IMO.

My suggestions:

- Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"
- Kiss' "Cold Gin", "Goin' Blind" and "Sure Know Something"
- Frank Zappa's "Catholic Girls" (the original version from "Joe's Garage"). It has some demanding polyrhythmic sections, but it's an overall cool tune to learn
- Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" (mostly a great riff with the guitar)
- Chic's "Good Times"
- Lenny Kravitz's "Mr. Cab Driver" and "It Ain't Over Till It's Over"

[Kroy]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

Learning to play by ear is not about learning to play songs off a CD. It's about EAR TRAINING - learning to hear intervals in one octave, intervals in the second octave (tensions), triads in all inversions and in closed and open positions, 4 part chords, 4 parts with 1 tension, 4 parts w/ 2 tensions, and then the wonderful world of polytonality.

Then when you HEAR a bassline (or whatever) do THIS, you can say "oh he's playing an ascending line that starts on the second degree of the chord (which is the tonic chord) that goes up a minor third and then moves scale wise" Or whatever. And then you just play what you hear.

I may be putting my foot in it by challenging the great and powerful Fuqua, of whom many board posts tell tale. And let me say first off that I'm not disagreeing with what you had to say, only amending because your take on this idea seems largely negative.

Learning bass parts (or chord progressions) by listening to them and figuring out what they are by ear, can be an excellent in-road into more advanced ear training. I started out as a self-taught (as much as one can be) guitarist and I basically learned to play both guitar and bass early on by listening to recordings and watching videos of performances (not instructional tapes). Once I had a decent grasp of some basic open guitar chords, I would sit in front of the radio and do my best to figure out a song in one sitting. If a song came on that I didn't have recording for, I basically had one shot to figure it out until I heard it again the radio. At that stage, I never succeeded completely, I would end up with half a verse or part of a chorus and maybe a chord or two of the bridge. But what did happen over time is I became very accustomed to hearing the open voicings on the guitar and fairly early on (only a year or two into playing) I could hear almost any chord played in those voicings and identify them by sound alone.

Fast forward about 3 years to college when I had to take Sight Singing and Ear Training. I picked it up much faster than the other students, even though, comparitively, my reading skills were pretty bad. So from that I was able to build fairly decent ears (my sight singing is still pretty rotten). Basically, without my knowing, I got a good jump on ear training simply by learning to play songs from the CD. These days I can take a most simple pop songs, listen to it once, and play it back probably 80% accurate; and I know for certain that I owe much of it to those hours I spent in front of the radio.

[adisu]

I just learned (by listening) "sir duke" by stevie wonder yesterday (the horn unison part is so much fun to play espesially when stevie is screaming in the background....hehehe)

As for your question you should choose the songs you like to play it's much more fun to learn something you like especially when you have to listen to it over and over and over to nail the exact bass line.

Tip: if the bass is not out in the front in the mix you can always use sound editor software or actually any media player they all have EQ, so just emphasize the low or low mid to make the bass line more audible in the mix.

[d8g3jdh]

heh, Me and my buddy (guitarist) were watching the punk show on much music last night when green day "american idiot" came on. He figured it out 100% in about 30 seconds, and I figured out the chord progression despite a barely audible bass. It was hilarious, considering we both have terrible ear training.

What you may want to start with is incredibly easy stuff, even though it may be painful to listen to. green day, blink 182, sum 41, three chord crap like that is a good way to start. Do a million of those and you'll have an easier time transcribing harder music.

[werbo1]

The Ramones are just eas chord progressions, and all fairly simple - thats what i learned on

[mattsk42]

I agree with the Santana. Sounds harder than it is when you're just starting out.

[Llama's Rage]

learn the solo to sinister minister by ear

then you should pretty much be able to figure anything out