Ain't spelled "Cocain" neither. ;-) I personally like to rapidly alternate E's in different octaves under that most recognized part of the main riff. People tell me it sounds cool. High-E followed by three quick Low-Es, played legato.
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Bass lines that almost everybody plays wrong...
- Thread starter Socrates
- Start date
I've actually heard a lot of really great players play "My Girl" wrong. They follow the guitar line in the verse. I live in Boston so we get called upon to play "Dirty Water" and you just try to stop most bass players from doubling the riff. It's supposed to be quarter notes on the low e string, just hammering the roots.
Maybe for top 40 stuff... but, look at the jazz world. Standards are re-done and reworked all the time. I guess I'm lucky to play in a band that does originals and covers (i.e. classic rock) but we approach them as others do jazz standards: this is the song, the structure, chords, and words we let our musicianship breathe a fresh life into them.
We get fewer gigs, yes, but we have a great time playing together and challenging ourselves to other musical levels. Sooner or later playing the same songs, the same way, and being concerned about sounding like the record, gets boring and limiting.
Its true...I play YYZ wrong all the time, but I am smart enough not to do it in front of people.
I admit, I am the lazy bass player that hasn't heard the song he is playing. I played "Low" with my band for months before I ever heard the the actual song.
Here is the way I play it, and the girls dance.
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I play "Respect" like it was a Gospel song.
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You can laugh at me but I have fun.
Here is the way I play it, and the girls dance.
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I play "Respect" like it was a Gospel song.
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You can laugh at me but I have fun.
I always did the chorus correctly, cos i could hear him doing the fills, but never heard the correct verse line until i heard the solo track, and i was listening/playing the song for years.....hetfield covers all!
anyway, my take for covers is: use the recording, learn the song 99% correctly, and save the 1% for your own style, except if you're in a tribute band and try and get as close to 100% as you can.
I used to be in a kings of leon tribute as a guitarist, and i tried as best i could to play the parts 100% even down to the same positions. it made a difference.
Heh-heh... Nice. You pwnd him.
(Hint: the bass line doubles the horns halfway thru the verse.)
Since I play in a 3 piece band, I have to cover lots of parts including bass, guitar, keyboards, and even harmonica parts all on bass sometimes. We stay true to song arrangements as much as possible but not always the exact notes. We say there is the original version and our diversion of the songs. However, since we are a very tight and polished band, nobody ever says that our renditions don't sound good. We are usually told that they sound great and sometimes better than the originals. Our approach is to never take away from a song and never overplay but add to them tastefully to fill them up and put our own stamp on them.
Wow, good one.
SOME quarter note pounding is involved.
The bass/horn unison lick...that's "intricate"? C'mon, everyone plays that part...it's the verses that usually get embellished.
Depends. He certainly doesn't do triplets or "gallops" during the main riff/verses like a lot of bassists who cover the song do. But he definitely follows the rhythm guitar for the most part. He'll throw in some extra notes but still stick to the main rhythmic pattern.
Having lived in or near Pittsburgh all my life and having had "Play That Funky Music White Boy" thrust at me for almost 40 years as the ultimate example of "blue-eyed soul" I would wretch if I had to play that song -- which luckily I have avoided.
I've always wondered why. I do it, true, but never seen anyone else do it like Cliff.
Rickett Customs
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If "wrong" = "not like on the record" I play most thing wrong. I'm a bass player, not a karaoke machine FFS! Can't you just play what you think fits with what the rest of your band is playing?
How many bands play their own stuff live exactly the same as on record? Don't things develop with time, don't you get new insights? Don't you go to gigs to hear a new take on an old favourite? Why not stay home and listen to a CD and drink reasonably priced beer? They'll always get it "right" then...
How many bands play their own stuff live exactly the same as on record? Don't things develop with time, don't you get new insights? Don't you go to gigs to hear a new take on an old favourite? Why not stay home and listen to a CD and drink reasonably priced beer? They'll always get it "right" then...
I wonder what's up with that. For those who have heard it done wrong, what are the bass players doing? How is it typically played wrong?
The bass drives the song, and is mixed WAY up front, and is not technically "hard". Why not listen to it and learn the thing, or even play something with the same sort of vibe, as others have mentioned.
Rickett Customs
Commercial User
Some folks "Do it their own way" I suppose. Lazy or stubborn? I don't know. I'm pretty much a stickler on these things, pay off in the end.
Same here. Are people having a good time? Are we getting invited back to play again? Is the song tight? If those three requirement are fulfilled, that's all that matters. I make every reasonable effort to learn every song note for note and to play it how it's played on the album, but sometimes a riff or a note is too obscure or sometimes a song is just boring---Brown Eyed Girl for example. Played live like it is on the record makes for a plodding song that's not a lot of fun, but if you push the tempo a little bit and add in a few extra notes, then it makes the song jump and the audience enjoys it more. And that's what's important. I care about what the audience thinks.
There is no drunk, no loud chick, no tiny stage, no room with horrid acoustics that's as bad as seeing a musician judge you when you're playing.
Here's how much people pay attention in clubs: Back when "Stairway to Heaven" was THE song, my band recorded our version on a four-track, then played it back through the PA that night, miming to it. At the break, where it gets rockish, everyone in the band traded instruments. The drummer took the guitar, I took organ, etc. When we took our break, people came up to me and said "I didn't know you could play organ." Same thing with the other guys. So -- you can be pretty much assured that very few people will know if you don't play the "right" bass part. Still, that's not gonna stop me from playing "Dear Prudence" note for note or drive me to "make Funky Broadway my own." There's a reason those parts were played the way they were.
Now, if you ask me to play straight eighth notes on just the roots "just like the record," I'll argue with you.
Now, if you ask me to play straight eighth notes on just the roots "just like the record," I'll argue with you.
