Anyone here (still) playing "Low Rider?"

[Pocket Dave]

Great tune, no matter how repetitive - Been playing it in one form or another for at least 3 decades.

Even an instrumental version - Here's one from 10 years ago - me noodling on the Telecaster, Jon Echols on bass and the incomparable Buddy Whittington just tearing it up on the Strat.

 

[Scarysharkface]

The

BL wants to learn "Low Rider." He's started playing harmonica on a few songs and that song has harmonica on it. I've playing it before, but not on bass, in another band and it never went over very well, and it's old, but that's okay, at least it's a song that's new to us, so we'll see.

I think I can do the bass part even though it's super repetitive and boring, but my question is about the guitar part. It's on the right side in the headphones and plays that one part throughout the entire song. Does anyone know what that part definitely is? YT video has something similiar but different from what I'm hearing.

I'm pretty sure our guitar player will (1) not work on the song at all, just planning on winging it, and (2) of course not hear and pick up on that part, which I think will add to the song, instead of just playing the chord. BTW is that song in G or Gm or just one of those where the 3rd is undefined?

I'm trying to decide whether to mention it to him or not.

Band I've been subbing in plays it to a packed dance floor every gig.

John

 

[iiipopes]

YES!!! With horns. Crowd pleaser. Remember that even though the song is in G, the first note of the riff on the downbeat is F to the G. Then play the riff until your hand drops off your wrist.

 

[Five or Six]

You going right into "Jesus Just Left Chicago"? There is no harp in the song Low Rider but, if he wants to step up and solo it and see if it pans out, go for it. Play the song, it's a no brainer. If "the band" is concerned about it, everybody express that to the BL!

 

[coyote1]

I performed Mustang Sally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times. Yeah it’s a bit humdrum, but back in the day folks loved it. Low Rider? Never performed it once. Syncopated rhythm aside, there’s nothing interesting about it.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Low Rider is a cringe boomer song

 

[GrapeBass]

We play Low Rider. It's one of those songs that rely on keeping the groove and keeping it simple. Easy to play but not easy to pull off.

 

[jpmcbride]

Listening to it and I hear, very soft on the right channel, a repeated single note riff played by a guitar, something like (not the real notes) D-F-G, Bb-C-D, or something like that. Is that what you're talking about?

Also, I don't hear a lick of harmonica in the whole cut (I'm talking about the 3:10 minute studio cut we all remember). There's a repeated horn riff (trumpet and alto, it sounds like) and right at the end before the fade-out it sounds like a horn solo starting, with a few long held notes, alto I think. Listened to it twice now and NO HARMONICA. You could certainly extend the tune and put a harmonica solo in, it'd fit if done well.

The harmonica is playing with the horns.

 

[turf3]

The harmonica is playing with the horns.

OK, I just flat don't hear it, on the one studio version I listened to. I hear alto, trumpet, and something mallety that's probably a keyboarrd patch. But your ears may well be better than mine (probably are).

 

[turf3]

Low Rider is a cringe boomer song

As I said earlier:

"Like a lot of WAR's songs, there's practically nothing there, except extreme hipness. If you don't have the 'tude, it's gonna sound like a big ball of nothing."

Trust a child not to be able to recognize hip when they see it, just "a cringe boomer song".

 

[jerry]

Low Rider is a cringe boomer song

Wow, just wow. People who diss music here on Talkbass should have to offer up an example of what they think is superior music in their minds before making such bold statements.
Op, that songs in so much of peoples DNA, just hit that groove hard and the dance floor will respond. New band name for us old timers: the Cringy Boomers

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Wow, just wow. People who diss music here on Talkbass should have to offer up an example of what they think is superior music in their minds before making such bold statements.
Op, that songs in so much of peoples DNA, just hit that groove hard and the dance floor will respond. New band name for us old timers: the Cringy Boomers

Not really that bold of a statement. You just took it very personally. I love the Animals. That band was epic. Low Rider just got played out like James Brown I Feel Good (I know that's not the actual song name) or in every movie a road trip required Born to be Wild. If you're watching a Vietnam movie cue up All Along the Watchtower.

 

[DaMoose]

You going right into "Jesus Just Left Chicago"? There is no harp in the song Low Rider but, if he wants to step up and solo it and see if it pans out, go for it. Play the song, it's a no brainer. If "the band" is concerned about it, everybody express that to the BL!

No harp in Low Rider?? Lee Oskar would beg to differ.

From an interview in the Guardian:

A unique factor in War’s sound was the decision to place Oskar’s harmonica in the context of a horn section along with saxophonist Charles Miller. The two players created the 12-note call-and-response in Low Rider that remains one of music’s most recognizable, and coolest, hooks. “We loved to create those counter-melodies,” Oskar says.

 

[Pocket Dave]

As I said earlier:

"Like a lot of WAR's songs, there's practically nothing there, except extreme hipness. If you don't have the 'tude, it's gonna sound like a big ball of nothing."

Trust a child not to be able to recognize hip when they see it, just "a cringe boomer song".

Wow, just wow. People who diss music here on Talkbass should have to offer up an example of what they think is superior music in their minds before making such bold statements.
Op, that songs in so much of peoples DNA, just hit that groove hard and the dance floor will respond. New band name for us old timers: the Cringy Boomers

Someone expresses a personal opinion based on fractional relative experience and you want to do what? Change their mind? Be right?

When I was young, I had opinions, lots of opinions.

Nowadays I can look at my own extensive history of being wrong, and I'm grateful to evoke my contract's non-participation clause under the circumstances - I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

Plus, I love the adage, "never argue with an idiot lest you be mistaken for one". The only idiot I have to one-up is the idiot I was yesterday.

 

[51PRI]

Not really that bold of a statement. You just took it very personally. I love the Animals. That band was epic. Low Rider just got played out like James Brown I Feel Good (I know that's not the actual song name) or in every movie a road trip required Born to be Wild. If you're watching a Vietnam movie cue up All Along the Watchtower.

The Animals?

The

Band I've been subbing in plays it to a packed dance floor every gig.

John

Cool. I hope it does for us.

...There is no harp in the song Low Rider...

The harmonica is playing with the horns.

Interesting that in a forum of musicians we can't decide what instrument is playing the signature lick.

Wow, just wow. People who diss music here on Talkbass should have to offer up an example of what they think is superior music in their minds before making such bold statements.
Op, that songs in so much of peoples DNA, just hit that groove hard and the dance floor will respond. New band name for us old timers: the Cringy Boomers

I like that. Can I use it?

 

[klyph]

Low Rider is a cringe boomer song

“Cringe” is purely a term of projection, and a pretty stupid one at that.
I’ve played the song to packed dance floors in a band that ranged from classic rock to oldies, playing for an older crowd. People love it , as long as the drummer doesn’t drag and it’s presented with the right attitude (as others have mentioned).
I now play in a band that plays T40/modern country to classic rock for younger crowds (20’s). I really wouldn’t anticipate that song going over well. It’s not one I would even pitch to the other guys. I could be wrong, but there are so many other easy tunes that I would pick first.
That’s a little more diplomatic, I think. Of course, I speak from experience…

 

[Ben Esparza]

There was no better combination of Lee Oskar on harmonica and Charles Miller on sax. That combination was their signature sound, other than the fine percussion work of Papa Dee Allen. I don't know where any of you are getting that there's no harmonica on the original.
Always a crowd pleaser, too.

While that acoustic guitar single note riff is part of the original, the guitarist should do some rhythmic comping during the verses and join in on the sax/harp lick. Give a listen to the harp/sax duo on "Slipping Into Darkness". War was my first concert at 14-years-old and they capped off the concert with this tune.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

The Animals?

Eric Burdon was their front man. Also WAR's front man.

 

[MegaSwing]

Gm7

That’s all anyone needs to know. The harmonica player is on his own.

Note: It helps to have a drummer/rhythm section comfortable with Afro/Hispanic grooves. (That’s something that differentiated War from the majority of its funk contemporaries.)

 

[Freekmagnet]

I actually play Low Rider fairly regularly with the (current for 30+ years) drummer of War. We don’t have a harmonica player, so the horn section covers that. So far, no one has complained. In fact, our rendition of Low Rider pretty much kicks ass every time.

I have to disagree with the OP on one point; while the baseline may be repetitive, it’s definitely not boring by any stretch. Unless you consider packing a dance floor while playing a killer groove no fun.