mind is being slowly blown as i learn John McVie basslines (Fleetwood Mac)

ishouldbeking · #1 10-09-2009, 03:43 PM

I've been a fan of fleetwood mac for several years now, and i can appreciate the earlier eras as well, but something about the buckingham nicks era material is just like... pure pop perfection. No one overplays, and yet there are a million little awesome parts that fit together so well.

My band is preparing to do a cover show where each band tackles a handful of tracks by a given artist... we got FM. Last night I was sitting down and hashing out all the bass parts, and as familiar as i am with the parts, the way they come together feels so incredibly unique and foreign to me. We have the male/female vocal thing in our band (and we're bringing in another girl) so we're sticking with all '75 and later material, but its gonna be a lot of fun. We're doing Rhiannon, Say You Love Me, Dreams, Go Your Own Way, Tusk, and Little Lies... a little slice of each songwriter and several eras.

But dang if these bass parts aren't fantastic. I went into it thinking "no sweat", but i must have been only remembering Dreams, which is the only really simple part. Somehow I never noticed exactly to what degree his basslines take off during the choruses... Go Your Own Way is such a perfectly written melodic line, its just ridiculous. Say You Love Me too...

I know there a handful of McVie threads on here, but he certainly deserves a lot of respect and attention, and i felt the need to share the love.

DWBass · #2 10-09-2009, 04:11 PM

An old band I was in some years ago. We performed "Say You Love Me". I loved that bassline. Here's an mp3 of us.

these_go211 · #3 10-10-2009, 01:45 PM

mcvie is such a great player. great chops, no overplaying, and INCREDIBLE TONE!

Belka · #4 10-10-2009, 03:05 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duf21pPIET8

It was through watching this on the BBC on Sunday afternoons as a kid that I actually discovered what bass guitar did.

paul_wolfe · #5 10-11-2009, 01:21 AM

Go Your Own Way is a gem.

IF you can, track down the Rumours DVD in the CLASSIC ALBUMS series:
http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Albums...5245633&sr=1-3

It's very interesting, very educational - you'll enjoy it and will give you some insight into Rumours.

Mad_Phingers · #6 10-11-2009, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Belka

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duf21pPIET8

It was through watching this on the BBC on Sunday afternoons as a kid that I actually discovered what bass guitar did.

+1 on that bassline. I use that one in soundchecks all the time, its a very evil line.