Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo

theleteri · #1 04-20-2009, 01:55 AM

My 80's cover band wants to do Oingo boingo's Dead man's Party and i can not figure it out for the life of me nor can i find any sheet music of tab for it online. all of the "tabs" i found for it are COMPLETELY WRONG!!! there is NOTHING correct about them. Please can someone help either with tab or notes or something?! thanx

DLM · #2 05-06-2009, 10:05 PM

I'll bump this.

My band also wants to cover this and I'm having a hard time discerning the bassline. I can pretty much get the rhythm, so all I need are the sequence of the notes.

Anyone?

WalterBush · #3 05-06-2009, 10:13 PM

Listen to the 1995 Live Farewell album's version. It's literally very revealing.

bucephylus · #4 06-07-2011, 11:38 PM

Guess I'm kind of bumping this. Band I'm in wants to cover this tune. Sounds deceptively simple, but is, in fact, quite complex and demanding. To get it right may require an Anthony Jackson plectrum approach with a little chorus.

Pretty tough line. Almost sounds like something AJ would have played for Al DiMeola running underneath this '80s poppy song going on. Guess that's Danny Elfman. Cool tune. Surprised it doesn't get a little more attention in the bass circles. Previous posts are correct. The tabs are useless. Is there sheet music for this stuff?

kapaauguy · #5 06-08-2011, 02:12 AM

YouTube - ‪Oingo Boingo Farewell - Dead Man's Party‬&rlm;
bass player is rockin this on a keytar.....might be part of the problem it's hard to figure on a stringed bass

bucephylus · #6 06-08-2011, 10:12 AM

Oh, most definitely it is not a bass guitar part. Still a fantastic bass line and worth some time to check out. Heck, Beethoven wrote all those amazing bass lines on the piano (or in his head). This is no different. I'm not hesitant to play parts not written for the instrument. That's part of what makes playing so interesting.

Some bands I've worked with have keyboard players that get all over the synth bass parts, and I'm cool with that too. Still like to learn them. In this band, we have a keyboard player; but, he's not so oriented towards his left hand, which is OK with me.

kapaauguy · #7 06-08-2011, 01:01 PM

when i watched the vid i noticed he was using both hands and they were all spread out on the keyboard. i have'nt tried to play the line but from watching that i figured it would be challenging. i mean John Avila is a bass player and he chose the keys for that song. even Beethoven did'nt play his bass lines with two hands! lol
maybe those tabs that seem so wrong are possibly decent approximations for a 4 string bass? it is a really cool line! i'm gonna give it a go when i get a chance.
good luck!

bucephylus · #8 06-09-2011, 12:09 AM

For future reference, I found the part for sale here (sheet Music, and its almost right!).

Not unplayable, but it is rather wicked on the bass guitar. Will definitely test a player's balance of touch and stamina.

I believe the tone is closest to the Keytar using a pick. Again, that sound reminds me of the tone Anthony Jackson used on the first (or was it second) DiMeola album.

Anyhow, requires a small expenditure, but if you want to quickly get all the time changes etc, this is a good way to go. the main line is slightly different, but you'll hear that - first two notes are octave Db rather than Eb-Db as written (IMO),

djdg99 · #9 01-08-2013, 11:20 AM

I have the bass part sheet for the whole song (if someone needs them...) but I still need the guitar and brass parts. I don't wanna pay for it, though.