Curious: How many can play "What's Going On" the way it was recorded?

[bluesblaster]

Its a snapshot in time, As I recall he was pretty hammered when they cut this so its probably extra layed back. He probably would have done something completly different if they cut it again under different circumstances.

[jamminology101]

Yeah, also the song uses a lot of B major which is kinda a bitch because its 4 sharps means no open strings when playing across the strings in the first position which is a pretty good stretch(those first 4 frets). I like to just warm up playing B major root to octave scales up n down and 3 and 4 note B major ascending and descending arpeggio groups before playing the song. When I think of bass melody....I think of this song....incredible.

[christoph h.]

Originally Posted by ugly_bassplayer

Could you please cite an example of an error in those transcirptions.

Well, there are a few very tiny things like ghost notes, etc.
But an obvious example is in the bridge (begins at bar 39 I think),
it's notated as beginning with two eight notes on the first beat every bar. But a few times he will just play a quarter note on the first beat. Not that it's *that* important, but there were quite a few of these little details wrong (to my ears, anyway), which I found surprising.

I agree with Roy Vogt: It's a really, really great book for reading and stealing some cool lines. But if you really want to study the style of Jamerson you have got to copy the nuances of the original recordings.

[NCD]

I see a lot of replies talking about possible errors in the transcription in the book . There is one small problem with this whole idea of errors in the sheet music for this song as it appears in that particular book:

That sheet music is not a transcription. It's the actual bass part the way that it was written, and it was written before the song was recorded.

If you're reading the music anywhere else, then you're probably looking at a transcription. However the music that appears on pages 104 and 105 of the SitSoM book is actually not a transcription. Any differences between the music as it is written there and the way it was performed is because Jameson deviated from the bass part as it was originally written... not due any error in transcription.

[Renaissance]

Originally Posted by NCD

I see a lot of replies talking about possible errors in the transcription in the book . There is one small problem with this whole idea of errors in the sheet music for this song as it appears in that particular book:

That sheet music is not a transcription. It's the actual bass part the way that it was written, and it was written before the song was recorded.

If you're reading the music anywhere else, then you're probably looking at a transcription. However the music that appears on pages 104 and 105 of the SitSoM book is actually not a transcription. Any differences between the music as it is written there and the way it was performed is because Jameson deviated from the bass part as it was originally written... not due any error in transcription.

OK, I need some clarification. In the book the transcription for What's Going On is credited to Tim Heintz and Dr. Licks.

"In addition, the occasional mistakes that James played on some of the original recordings are included in the transcriptions--I wouldn't dare correct them." This is the last sentence on page 99, written by Dr. Licks.

I've recently started working on these so I'm curious about the real story.

[Mushroo]

A lovely bass line! (and a great song) I wouldn't necessarily consider it Jamerson's most difficult.

I'd be curious to hear if any of the JJ experts have an inkling of how he approached fingerings. Was he primarily a 1-2-4 or 1-2-3-4 left hand? (the photos I've seen, his left hand looks pretty compact) Did he tend to move horizontally or vertically on the neck? For example if a song is in A, is he playing open A string with left hand in 1st position (I think the DB cats call this 1/2 position?), or is he up at the 5th fret in "box" position? Did he use different fingerings for bass guitar vs. upright, or consistent technique with both?

Inquiring minds want to know!

[DWBass]

Here's a vid of me playing it a few years back. I'm not quite playing it the traditional way as we kinda swing it a little harder than the original so I had to change up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbry0PIHcwg

Here is a demo I did with the same band. I'm playing it a bit more traditional.

http://tindeck.com/listen/ocrw

[Jeff K]

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

It is an admirable line, perfect in every sense. A true jewel.
I don't find it very difficult to play though. Some runs are a bit tricky but it is accessible to the average player with some work.
This said, I don't understand how he managed to play it with a single finger.

Amen! Listening to some of those fills, it seems almost impossible to do just using "The Hook". Did he ALWAYS just use the one finger, or just the majority of the time?

[bass12]

Originally Posted by NCD

I see a lot of replies talking about possible errors in the transcription in the book . There is one small problem with this whole idea of errors in the sheet music for this song as it appears in that particular book:

That sheet music is not a transcription. It's the actual bass part the way that it was written, and it was written before the song was recorded.

So wait, he played this drunk on his back AND read it? I'm starting to wonder about that story...

[Mushroo]

Originally Posted by Jeff K

Amen! Listening to some of those fills, it seems almost impossible to do just using "The Hook". Did he ALWAYS just use the one finger, or just the majority of the time?

It's totally normal for a pro double bass player.

[Duckwater]

Definitely not mastered, but I can play it note for note and with heavy gauge flatwounds and 1 finger.

[prd004]

This guy nails it live

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/RE7-2XWGNk4

[rmars]

Originally Posted by mellowinman

I have a lot of trouble playing motown. I think part of it is they just have so many changes, and it's hard for me to memorize. I was trying to learn "," by Al Green (I believe it's Leroy Hodges on that bass track,) and I was just amazed how it sounded so easy, so simple, so smooth, and yet I had such a hard time learning it. I really do need to get back to working that one.

If I get it down, maybe I'll try something like this, but that does seem a bit daunting.

Had to learn Let's Stay Together last week to play with an (established) band I just joined. Never played any Motown type stuff before, I'm a simple straight forward rock bass player and this is new ground for me. Anyway it seemed simple but it took me a while to capture the feel, or at least get close. Fast forward to the rehearsal this week and the band plays it with a different feel so most of the work I did went right out the window!

It's my own fault really, they had given me a live CD of them with their previous bass player but I didn't listen to much of it as I didn't want to be overly influenced by his style (which came thru no matter what they were playing).

I'm always love What's Going On, that's one of two Motown albums I own. I knew there was a lot happening with that bass line but never realized how much till I heard that isolated track.... very cool, I'm inspired!

[DWBass]

Originally Posted by prd004

This guy nails it live

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/RE7-2XWGNk4

That's James Jamerson.

[rmars]

Originally Posted by DWBass

That's James Jamerson.

Yeah as soon as I saw Jamerson I assumed prd004 was making a joke...

[prd004]

Really, Jamerson you say????
Never heard of him :-D

[rmars]

Originally Posted by prd004

Really, Jamerson you say????
Never heard of him :-D

Good, that means my sarcasm detector is still working!

[mjac28]

I wish Fender would come out with a proper Jamerson Tribute bass I know the custom shop did a limited number of Jamersom and Jaco basses in the early 90's and they were sold thru The Bass Centre in Los Angeles.

Details on the Jamerson Bass:
1962 Precision Bass, sunburst. Per JJ, Jr, the Funk Machine had a very wide, flat neck. I don't recall the correct Fender size (A, B or C) but it was also referred to as the "blade" neck. This was different from the neck shape that was used on the standard 1962 re-issue, which was a bit more chunky. This had a rosewood, slab fingerboard with clay dots. We also contacted La Bella and ordered the 1954 flatwound strings to be installed on each bass. Each neck plate said James Jamerson Tribute Bass and was individually numbered. The case for ordered for the JJ bass was the black 1962 type case with the orange interior. This was a bit of a disappointment, as the cases actually came with a red interior, as the orange material apparently could not be sourced at the time. The numbered certificate of authenticity was signed by James Jamerson, Jr


Details on the Jaco Bass:
1962 Jazz Bass, sunburst. The biggest detail on this bass was the lined, fretless neck covered with epoxy. It was decided to use a cream-colored plastic to fill in the fret lines (rather than putty as Jaco originally used,) as the plastic would not shrink & crack over time. A clear epoxy was used to cover the fingerboard, and then the bass was strung with Rotosounds. P-bass knobs were installed to be accurate, and the case was to be the brown vintage case with the correct interior. We were fortunate to receive several copies of Jaco's signature from His estate, so Jaco's signature (John Francis Pastorius - maybe John F Pastorius) was engraved on the neck plate along with the serial number. Again, the correct interior color was not available, so a yellow-gold interior was used for the brown case. The numbered certificate of authenticity for the Jaco Bass was signed by Kevin Kaufman

[prd004]

Maybe it's just me but the thing I find most incredible about this bass line is it sounds SO much better to me with the song than isolated IMO. His sense of melody is unparalleled

[NCD]

I think the frames per second on the isolated track are sped up a little bit, at least that's the impression that I get after playing with both it and the song. I think it gives the isolated track a much more decisive feel while the song has an extremely smooth and relaxed feel.

As far as Jameson's sight reading goes, he was known to be a good enough reader to read ahead on material he'd never seen before and make changes to it as he went along. Supposedly his sight reading ability diminished as time went by as he didn't need to rely on it as much later on in his career but in his early days at Motown his reading ability was purportedly nothing short of amazing.

Also, keep in mind that according to the story this bassline was written by pulling together a bunch of licks that Jameson himself had invented in the past. If his sight reading was even half as good as the stories would indicate, I would imagine that he was easily able to recognize his own licks and since they were HIS licks that he'd performed thousands of times before, the task of playing that music would have been a whole lot easier for Jameson than it would have been for any other human being.