21 Century Schizoid Man

its a good bassline, but i don't think it's that hard

 

Uh... if it's hard it's hard. This is a strange way to judge your talent, I guess it beats coming right out and and saying, "Am I good?"

Uh, it's kinda tricky, working out that jam they go into, yeah, I'd say it's a little tough.

 

I saw our resident pro - Steve Lawson's friend - Theo Travis, with his Jazz group turn this song into a Jazz "standard" - sax, piano,bass and drums - it works really well and there's a short-ish version on Theo's album : "Earth to Ether" - but the live version was much extended!!

 

I can play it pretty easily , but of course I insisted on learning that in my early days on bass and it build my hands up alot .

 

My viola version of this song is horrendous..... ;(

 

classical thump
every song is different for everybody...what i may catch on easily to, someone else might not, or what everybody else catches onto easily i may have trouble with...

as i just found out what this means,

ymmv

 

Steve Lawson is the TB resident pro - look in the Ask the Pros Forum!!

 

I think it's quite a challenge to pull the whole thing off well, to the average bassist that is. Wooten/Pastorious acolytes wouldn't have much trouble.
Try if you can to hear the live version from the Great Deceiver box, John Wetton plays on it and it's more audible and complex...

It's very satisfying once you've nailed it, good luck!

 

I think the unison part after the 6/8 section is the toughest part. Start counting!

 

I think it is very hard to play with good accuracy. I think it would give everyone a challenge, even "Wooten/Pastorius acolytes" to play with precision.

 

I played the tune in a cover band in the 80's. The same time April Wine put out a very clean version in 1979 on their Harder...Faster album. I was able to break that down a lot easier as the bass was a bit more audible, no layered Fripptronics bleeding through. A very modern mix at the time. The bass player as well as the rest of the band did a good job w/it for a "Rock" version.

 

The bass couldn't be more audible on my CD of "In the Court of the Crimson King"...

 

You're absolutely right Bruce, it IS VERY audible. I initially learned it from the original release. I had 2 of those albums cuz I wore one out. It just clarified it for me listening to the AW version and I probably should've mentioned previously that the other guitarists were able break it down and arrange it easier as we didn't have winds and/or other extra terrestrial instruments. I very much prefer the original KC version. IMO that mix was way ahead of it's time!