Bass intro to "You're So Vain"

Sounds like an E chord rake after first striking an open low E . Did you know Mick Jagger is on backing vocals ?

 

I played that song a million years ago, and someone else taught it to me. So, I don't think I ever sat down and learned it off of the record.

That said, I think it's built around an Am chord. Goes something like:

open A to C (fifth fret, G string) A (seventh fret, D string) twice, to E (seventh fret, A string) to A (fifth fret, E string).

That is the whole riff spelled out, which is played maybe four times before the vocal comes in.

 

I think it was Klaus Voormann, the same one who played on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Through the Night".

 

ric stave,

Everything I said was from memory - a long time ago! It has a "raked" feel to it, IMO. The open A is more flowing, and the A on the E string is easier to mute for the end of the phrase (possibly). But I have no idea how it is really played.

I'm pretty sure you can google a bio and discography on Klaus Voorman. i looked him up to find out who he was, after watching the "Concert For George" DVD.

 

Yes that was Klaus Voorman...very underrated bassist. I love his style.

He was the same bassist on George Harrison's concert for Bangladesh.

He actually has a history as an aquaintence of the Beatles before they were famous...I guess he and the original Beatle bassist had the same girlfriend for a while.

 

That's correct. And by the way, he also designed the album cover of the Beatles' "Revolver":

 

That's right, I forgot about the album art.

I love his meaty P Bass tone. Pretty much what I consider Perfect P
Currently listening to this;

 

It's kind of funny to see this thread now as my band is getting ready to cover this song and we're going over it tonight for the first time. It seems at first blush, it's simply a rake...Hit the open A string, and then rake down a minor pentatonic shape, starting on the C on the G string, and raking through the A and G on the D string. It sounds pretty correct rhythmically, too. We would never have thought to cover it, but Foo Fighers did it recently on the Grammy nomination show (they sang horribly), and we thought it would be cool based on our singer's voice and piano playing.

 

This is how I play it.

G------5-5------5-5
D----7----7---7----7
A--0--------0--------0
E----------------------

The
5-5
----7
riff is a triplet and the open A is on the beat.

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but...

I recently saw this: http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=136655

And I was watching how Klaus plays this - It looks like some kind of barre chord. Does anyone know what he is playing here?

This looks close:

But I think it's not quite it... Looks like he is hitting the A on the low E at the 5th fret as well...

 

Bass Player transcribed this intro a couple years back...IIRC, no OPEN strings.

 

Yeah I think the open A in that tab there is really the low E at at 5th fret.

 

Here you go.....barred at 5th fret and fingerpicked quickly. Klaus Voorman played on some great records.

T I M R M I T I M R M I T = Thumb, Index, Middle, Ring. Place each finger in order over the fret.
--------5--------------5--------------
-----(5)---5---------5----5-------------
--(5)--------(5)--(5)--------(5)------------
-5--------------5---------------5-------

 

I am sorry to be dense, but what are the parens for? *ducks and runs*

 

So you are saying he is just playing all the strings with the 5th fret erm - Fretted? It looks like he is fretting 2 more notes around the 7th fret in the video maybe?

 

No, not according to me, but according to Klaus Voorman, in an interview as published in BP.