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Bass lines that almost everybody plays wrong...

#81
biggs1249 said:
that's stupid. playing bass lines note for note off records isn't making music. sure learn the parts just to develop your ears, and your concept, but why play them out like that? who benefits? those notes might be the "perfect" notes. but they are perfect for that performance. The music will be better in the moment. the crowd knows when great music is made in the moment and they respond to that more than nailing the correct lick variation in bar 106.
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Nobody is talking about nailing every fill. But if you don't play the main riff correctly, 99.99% of players are not "making great music in the moment", they are just plain wrong. You can usually tell when somebody has altered a part deliberately. It's almost always that they couldn't hear the difference. I hear this in cover bands all the time, and not just in the bass lines.
 
#82
chris.gotfunk said:
I have to throw in What's Goin' On by Marvin Gaye. Bob Babbit himself said that no one (including himself) have ever played that song the way Jamerson played it. There is actually a guy who was able to solo the bass track and I have that recording. I still don't think I could ever get it right. But, what a great tune to play!
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Glen Lesch has a solo'd version of that in one of the Hal Leonard books, Killer. I'm working on it and it's kicking my butt.:D
 
#86
Wow. I think alot of you guys are splitting hairs. This is coming from a guy with OCD. Anyone who is trying to play every nuance of every bass line of an entire song has way, way too much free time. I was referring to specific "parts" of a bass line that are crucial to the song. The intro to "Sweet Emotion" is a very specific, carefully crafted line. When people play it incorrectly, it's not because they are trying to improvise; it's because they don't know they are playing it wrong. Also, I don't think anyone would argue that by playing the "I Feel Good" hook off 1/2 step you are somehow incorporating your own style into the song. That line was arranged to fit with the horn parts (or vice versa) and when not played this way it sounds so rigid and whitebread. If you were to find someone playing those lines wrong then teach them the right way, I'll bet they would never try to play it the wrong way again. Improvising in a musical way is what makes a bass player a musician and not just a bass player.
 
#92
I try to avoid listening to the original recording(s) as the practice only deepens my inferiority complex. I do, after 4 years, know the little quirks (strengths and weaknesses) amongst me and my bandmates and we make every effort to arrange material so as to best complement the collective talent. Its never note-for-note...not even close in many instances....but, then again, we're a cover band not a tribute band.

Even the original artists like to mix things up once in a while. Take a listen to Steely Dan's recent live versions of "Reelin' In The Years".

Oh, one more thing....they say you can't polish a turd but, given a little effort, you can make it look like a Tootsie-Roll.

Riis
 
#95
Febs said:
If you want to be pedantic, it's "I Got You (I Feel Good)."
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True - but you can file it with those wonderful first line requests:

"Look at Me"
"Just 17"
"Jo Jo"
"Teenage Wedding"

Goes back to the classic - if someone asked you to play "Memories", what would you play?. Would it be?

Memories are made of this (Perry Como): Sweet Sweet, the memories you gave to me ....

Or

The Way we Were (Barbra Streisand): Memories, like the corners of my mind .....

Or

Memory (Cats): Midnight, not a sound from the pavement, has the Moon lost her memory?, she is smiling alone ....
 
#96
"Welcome home" by Coheed & Cambria.

Most tabs suggest it follows the rhythm guitar and, in turn, produces a more melodic bass line. The truth is, the song is bassically slapping an open E string 90% of the time then some very minor intricate riffing towards the end. Which, of course, is ignored in the tabbed versions online.
 

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