bass lines you fall asleep in and and up skrewing up

richtea · #1 10-03-2011, 02:40 AM

Does anybody else ever have a problem with simple repetitive bass lines? The one I never seem to be able to play perfectly start to finish is M J's Billie Jean. What seems to happen is that muscle memory takes over fairly quickly after the start then, when I happen to think about what I am playing I kind of skip, and have to do a little recovery riff. It makes me feel like a proper idiot every time I do it.

Stanley Pugh · #2 10-03-2011, 03:11 AM

Yea Stranglehold

After the twenty minute guitar solo I am ready for something different.

Bullitt5135 · #3 10-03-2011, 10:33 PM

Right now it's "Save Tonight" by Eagle Eye Cherry. I guess I don't use that first fret very often, so I get the F and Bb mixed up when I'm dozing off. That and "Sharp Dressed Man" (there's that 1st fret again) -- I'm never sure if that solo is 27 measures or 33 or the square root of 19. Guaranteed stink eye from the guitar player every time.

jmbjandfam · #4 10-03-2011, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bullitt5135

Guaranteed stink eye from the guitar player every time.

LMAO... I know that look!

richtea · #5 10-03-2011, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmbjandfam

LMAO... I know that look!

Oh yes, know it well, I think at one time or another we have all had the “look”.
I used to be so asleep by the end of “save tonight” that the ending was always came as a shock and I would forget the groceries list that I had been putting together in my head. It’s ok though because I could do it all again when “what’s up” reared its repetitive head a few tracks later.

carlthegroover · #6 10-03-2011, 11:55 PM

If you want to fall asleep with a bassline, try any from AC/DC. I mean, I love AC/DC, but the bass is hardly noticeable and rarely varies from the root note.

I was browsing music books in a store today, and I came across an AC/DC bass tab book. It looked like the guy/gal writing the tabs dozed off leaving 7's and 4's all over the place.

Maybe in TB this is common knowledge, I know. But I couldn't help finding that book funny.

Granted, the bassist does have good timing, considering that he's never heard means that he's always in time with the rhythm guitar.

richtea · #7 10-04-2011, 12:11 AM

Highway to hell, great track to start a set, bassist can stay at the bar for an extra drink.

Hyperactivebass · #8 10-04-2011, 12:26 AM

Every ballad.

LiamPodmore · #9 10-04-2011, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richtea

Highway to hell, great track to start a set, bassist can stay at the bar for an extra drink.

Quite funny you saying that, as my band did used to open with Highway To Hell, and i did stay at the bar until mid song when i finally picked up my bass.

Liam

richtea · #10 10-04-2011, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiamPodmore

Quite funny you saying that, as my band did used to open with Highway To Hell, and i did stay at the bar until mid song when i finally picked up my bass.

Liam

Nice, respect!!! I have always threatened to do it but have never had the nerve, so I just used to stand there looking, well ...a bit lost. I once tried muting my amp and “playing along” but the anal guitarist we had at the time got upset cos he thought I was stealing his lime light.

richtea · #11 10-04-2011, 12:58 AM

ZZ Top, are there four guitar solos or only three?

matt descending · #12 10-04-2011, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stanley Pugh

Yea Stranglehold

After the twenty minute guitar solo I am ready for something different.

Beat me to it. Have come to hate this song for this exact reason. Maybe a looper pedal would help...

Goodlawdy · #13 10-04-2011, 06:09 AM

The keyboard/guitar solo section of Light My Fire. I get bored and start playing the same run in different positions, then substitute the bass line to In Memory of Elizabeth Reid. The guitar player then thinks it's time to play an even longer solo : (

cnltb · #14 10-04-2011, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richtea

Does anybody else ever have a problem with simple repetitive bass lines?

No.

Russell L · #15 10-04-2011, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goodlawdy

The keyboard/guitar solo section of Light My Fire. I get bored and start playing the same run in different positions, then substitute the bass line to In Memory of Elizabeth Reid. The guitar player then thinks it's time to play an even longer solo : (

Heh, heh, Liz Reed is a great tune to play, no falling asleep for me except in the second part during all the solos with one chord going on. Have to invent some varities of that bass line to keep focused.

Many traditional country songs and rock songs with eighth notes on the root can lull me right out. When I played si-nights-a-week, though, every single song became a dream. It was like playing on auto pilot. I was playing, but was somewhere else.

DRafalske · #16 10-04-2011, 06:36 AM

"Wonderful Tonight"
Puts me to sleep every time.

silentmike · #17 10-04-2011, 07:52 AM

I WROTE a bass line that does that to me in a collaboration we've been writing with another band... It's a really nice part that fits really well, but that section of the song is so dreamy that I always almost fall asleep while playing it! Damn post-rock...

Yerf Dog · #18 10-04-2011, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richtea

Does anybody else ever have a problem with simple repetitive bass lines?

Yup. Get bored quickly. Distracted. Lose my place.

onosson · #19 10-04-2011, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by richtea

Highway to hell, great track to start a set, bassist can stay at the bar for an extra drink.

Also applies to All Right Now by Free.

Someone should start a thread of songs that have large sections without bass, but that other people (including band members) look at you funny when you stop playing.

"You know there's NO BASS in that part, right?"

jmbjandfam · #20 10-04-2011, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onosson

"You know there's NO BASS in that part, right?"

Made me spit coke through my nose laughing.... thank God for other bass players!