Bass on "let's dance" by Bowie

[AltGrendel]

Stevie said in later interviews that he just pretended he was Albert King for Bowie.

I also read that it was a "one take" solo and that Stevie was just warming up to get a feel for the track. Looked up from the run through, said he was ready and Bowie said "No, that's exactly what I want". Funny how often that works out.

 

[Bob_Ross]

He did not play on any track on that record (though he's great too and did the tour I believe). All guitar on that record is Nile or Stevie.

Ah, cool. I remember seeing the Serious Moonlight tour (on videotape) and it had Carlos Alomar on rhythm and Earl Slick on lead; probably got that confused with the original album credits.

 

[Ross76]

Now and again I play in a Bowie tribute outfit and I use an MXR M288 octave pedal with everything set to about 1 o'clock to mimic the "Let's Dance" tone. The pedal's tone is right synthy and it's a fair match. I wouldn't say it's a cheap way to get the tone, but it's not crazy expensive, plus the pick you're gonna need is only 33 cents.

Thanks a lot Jasonmack, great advice, the sound of that pedal seems to cut through the mix quite well. If i were only to play it on a regular natural bass, the sound wouldn't cut through on some very famous "phone speakers".. And to my opinion the drive of this tune is the bass. The guitar sounds is supposed to feel more like a loop but the bass is really talking to us through the song/story like no other song i've heard before. Magic tunes are made of magic moments and magic musicians.

 

[sowilson]

I used a Boss SythBass pedal on my Warwick Streamer splitting the output - synth bass to an overdrive pedal then Ensoniq DP-4, clean bass to the preamp (SM-900) then sent to an Ensoniq DP-4 where chorus was applied to the clean side and mixed with the syth bass (plus reverb), amount of mix being controlled with an expression pedal. Sounded pretty good, well at least everyone was dancing. Used a similar setup on ZZ Top's Legs (no chorus though)

 

[Ross76]

I used a Boss SythBass pedal on my Warwick Streamer splitting the output - synth bass to an overdrive pedal then Ensoniq DP-4, clean bass to the preamp (SM-900) then sent to an Ensoniq DP-4 where chorus was applied to the clean side and mixed with the syth bass (plus reverb), amount of mix being controlled with an expression pedal. Sounded pretty good, well at least everyone was dancing. Used a similar setup on ZZ Top's Legs (no chorus though)

Very interesting setup. The split is a great idea indeed. Synth bass on one side and clean/chorus/delay on the other side.
I will certainly give it a shot. Thanks a lot Sowilson

 

[Mr_Martin]

Nile Rodgers talks about the recording of "Let's Dance" (starting 27:30).

 

[mups]

Resurrecting this thread as I'm practicing the track for a concert, I hear many little details indicating that the bass definitely is doubled by a synth. Listening to the demo, one could think the synth came first...
Any Moog-ish style of envelop filter effect should do the trick.
Side note : this is the first time I ever hear about the part being played by Tommy Shannon. It doesn't sound anything like him (but totally Rojas) and Bowie respected his musicians too much not to credit him !