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BrownMark, Prince, and Ghost Notes

Dr. Cheese

Dr. Cheese

Supporting Member
Mar 3, 2004
57,287
120,425
Metro St. Louis
#1


I remember when Prince was interviewed in Bass Player back in the late 1990’s or maybe 2000, and Prince specifically said he disliked ghost notes. Back then, I thought this was funny, because Prince bass lines sounded like they had more than a few ghost notes to me. Now BrownMark is spilling the beans and demonstrating the ghost notes in those Prince bass lines.
 
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#2
I’m guessing it’s because the players were putting them in by themselves and he didn’t like that. I noticed today while learning a song with the band that I started adding ghost notes to the arrangement to help me keep my rhythm. The BL didn’t say anything but a more discriminating one might have told me to cut that out.
 
#3
WestyBassBob said:
I’m guessing it’s because the players were putting them in by themselves and he didn’t like that. I noticed today while learning a song with the band that I started adding ghost notes to the arrangement to help me keep my rhythm. The BL didn’t say anything but a more discriminating one might have told me to cut that out.
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That is certainly a possibility.
 
#6
Dr. Cheese said:
Prince probably disliked other playing them because he certainly used them himself.
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Sure. He probably wanted you to play it exactly as he wrote it and recorded it because the only reason Prince would need a bassist is because he can’t play every instrument on stage. I can’t imagine Prince saying “just play what feels right” to anyone except someone like Flea.
 
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#7
WestyBassBob said:
Sure. He probably wanted you to play it exactly as he wrote it and recorded it because the only reason Prince would need a bassist is because he can’t play every instrument on stage. I can’t imagine Prince saying “just play what feels right” to anyone except someone like Flea.
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Apparently he and BrownMark had a very strong intuitive connection, but they grew up together playing.

The other thing to remember is that Prince’s supposed dislike of ghost notes came up in an interview where he was yanking a journalist’s chain. The next to current issue of Bass Player is a Prince tribute, and the journalist talked about his experience interviewing Prince.
 
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#8
Anyone who know Prince bass sound knows it’s full of ghost notes. He was displaying his sense of humor ( sarcasm).
They interviewed obviously didn’t catch that and it went right over his head. Prince probably laughed when he read the interview.:smug:
 
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#9
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
Anyone who know Prince bass sound knows it’s full of ghost notes. He was displaying his sense of humor ( sarcasm).
They interviewed obviously didn’t catch that and it went right over his head. Prince probably laughed when he read the interview.:smug:
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The sad part is that all of these years later, he still has not gotten the joke.:smug:
 
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#15
There was yet another Bass Player interview, this time with a woman who played with him very late in his career (sorry, I can't remember her name) and she also said that he didn't want ghost notes. She said that he felt that the grooves were stronger with total silence between the notes.
For all of his funkiness, his music did have a certain machine-like precision.
 
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#16
dougjwray said:
There was yet another Bass Player interview, this time with a woman who played with him very late in his career (sorry, I can't remember her name) and she also said that he didn't want ghost notes. She said that he felt that the grooves were stronger with total silence between the notes.
For all of his funkiness, his music did have a certain machine-like precision.
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Rhonda Smith ? I mentioned her above.
Or Ida Nelson perhaps. Maybe that’s what he wanted on the later songs like he did with 3rd EYE Girl .
 
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#17
dougjwray said:
There was yet another Bass Player interview, this time with a woman who played with him very late in his career (sorry, I can't remember her name) and she also said that he didn't want ghost notes. She said that he felt that the grooves were stronger with total silence between the notes.
For all of his funkiness, his music did have a certain machine-like precision.
Click to expand...
I think perhaps Prince had a very distinct idea of what ghost notes are. We all know that funk is the result of result of staccato short notes. But I think what he’s getting at here is up still need proper articulation between each note. Even if they are coming quickly and you must of course keep your rhythm. So what he’s saying here is hit your notes. Don’t just ghost over them.

so again like a lot of BLs he expects his bassist to play the bassline as composed and ghost notes in his view are the result of sloppy play.

Composing music with ghost notes is different. It’s a more percussive sound. So perhaps Prince felt that was best left to the drums.
 
#18
My impression is that Prince was prone to changing his mind in a very hard-lined fashion. So he could very well have decided at some point (for whatever reason) that he didn’t want his bassists playing ghost notes.
 

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