Does "Tennessee Whiskey" have a difficult bass part?

[zubrycky]

If a song needs a simple and repetitive part, I'll play it to death. No variations.

The challenge here isn't to know how to play the part. That's the easy part. To paraphrase Mr. Allan Slutsky's words on his book about James Brown, the challenge here is to play the same figure over and over again for the necessary amount of time, to lock with the other instrument and to make it feel good.

As an example, without this kind of commitment it's impossible to play reggae.

I don't want to sound rude and I'm not talking about someone here but, IMHO, if a bass player has problems with such parts, or there's a lack of concentration or there's a lack of interest or there's is an ego problem or, sadly, he's unable to enjoy the beauty of simplicity and the mantric joy of repetition.

 

[51PRI]

+1. This is a conversation that was repeated for years between a guitarist friend and myself. The songs in question varied. I used to play different live recordings of same song and artist in an attempt to illustrate that no one performance in this music is “correct” or sacrosanct.....

While live performances of many songs can be found in which parts are changed or extended, most folks are most familiar with the recorded version of songs. If you listen to the live version of "Tennessee Whiskey" from the CMA's from a few years ago the song actually starts with the bass part, and the drums I'm sure, while Brad Paisley is still doing the introduction, THEN the guitar lick comes in, starting the song. The bass player is, to my ears, playing the correct bass part.

...I saw a band recently and the bass player played nothing but the the A and B root the entire song. The bass part is what makes the song groove, imo.

Absolutely. Without the correct bass part the whole songs sounds off, imo.

I roll my tone knob down, lock in with my excellent drummer and done. My singer does a great job on this and is very close to Stapletons voice. People enjoy us playing it because of his vocal, so my job is to support and stay out of the way. Am I wrong???

Nope.

All I know is to stay off the 7 when playing fills for that song, natural 7 or flat 7, both sound wierd. And as Two Fingers said it’s 1-2m-2m-1.

That's the chord progression, but the bass part is the same through the entire song as far as I can tell.

 

[dangevans]

Less is more on this one. Problem is many players don't have the patience for that. I used to dress it up, but it lost its feel so I just play the actual part now- easy, boring, but so what- works perfectly for the sing.

 

[pappabass]

No, if you can't play it as the original, make it your own. Which is fine

 

[bass12]

You've never heard "Tennessee Whiskey?"

I’d never heard it until I had to learn it for a gig last year. I haven’t been conscious of hearing it since.

 

[dtripoli]

For me it's like when I've played with bass players who played along with the guitar part on "Cocaine" and "Smoke on the Water" instead of actually playing the bass part. Is it horrible? Probably not. Does the crowd know? Maybe not, but it completely changes the feel of the songs for those who are aware, and if the band members can't be bothered to be aware, and play it right, then, as in that other thread, good enough is good enough, I guess.

Guilty as charged your Honor. The first 5 or so years of playing bass I'd just wing it and usually play the guitar lines.
It wasn't until a skilled guitarist pointed out to me that I was mirroring his lines and I might want to listen and learn the correct bass lines to our songs.
He said listen to Jack Bruce, Ron Wood on Jeff Beck's Album "Truth" and ZZ Top's first few albums. Pay attention to the bass lines only.
I did and wow, a light bulb came on directly above me head...and it was a 1,000 watt flood light!
It took me awhile to unlearn my incorrect bass lines and learn how to hear and play the actual bass parts.
I started out as a guitarist in bands and tended to try and cover all the bases. This was back in the days of vinyl records and AM radio.
What could you do if you didn't own the album/record of a lot of the songs we played? I also owned a small record player where the bass barely could barely be heard. I figured out using headphones helped and borrowing albums did too.
As for Tennessee Whisky, I had never heard the song before. Got a text message from our vocalist saying we were going to play it the next night, assuming everybody and their mother already knew and could play that simple song. I winged it but also knew it was best to keep the bass lines sparse and only support the guitar. Don't add any fills, thrills or trills. Song came off beautifully and I had only one listen through before we played it.

 

[MrLenny1]

Nope, not hard at all. I've played it on gigs.
Slow tempo with 2 changes. Some guys can't
play slow tunes that are not 1,4,5. lol

 

[Gustopher]

Simple answer is no. Not unless a person is a total beginner and even then, I would say this is a good candidate to learn.

 

[dtripoli]

Nope, not hard at all. I've played it on gigs.
Slow tempo with 2 changes. Some guys can't
play slow tunes that are not 1,4,5. lol

...and might I add, songs at a lower volume.

 

[DWBass]

Simple repeating bassline. Here's my band playing it. My challenge is singing BGV's while playing. I have to concentrate.

 

[51PRI]

Good job!

 

[datasmog]

I played the song seems like hundreds of times years ago, the way George Jones did it.
I was unaware of this version until this thread.
And if you say you don’t like George give a listen to He Stopped Loving Her Today. If that don’t move you you’ve got no soul.

 

[RyanOh]

Had no idea there were other versions of it, lyrically. Then again, I'm not a country boy.

Tennessee Whiskey (song) - Wikipedia

 

[turf3]

The challenge of this song, which I have never heard before, is that there are slight melodic/rhythmic variations throughout the song. For me it's not the actual part per se that's challenging but trying to remember to play all the parts like the recording.

Our band is learning a John Mayer tune, "Who do you think I was". There are many different riffs through out the tune. For me playing them is way easier than remembering where and how to play them if that makes any sense. This seems to be more of a problem as I get older.

Great tune and great part.

Play the different patterns wherever they sound good to you. Make up some of your own.

This ain't Beethoven, folks. At base it's a mixture of African-American improvised music and Scottish/English/Irish improvised music.

 

[51PRI]

Play the different patterns wherever they sound good to you. Make up some of your own....

I guess it's okay if the singer makes up some of his own lyrics, too?

And what about that intro guitar lick? Is that an important part to keep or can the guitar player just wing it?

 

[datasmog]

I guess it's okay if the singer makes up some of his own lyrics, too?

And what about that intro guitar lick? Is that an important part to keep or can the guitar player just wing it?

look, it’s a song and you’re talking about one persons interpretation of the original which apart from the lyrics is nothing like the original. So what’s wrong with you and your band being a bit original also, instead of slavishly copying?

 

[turf3]

I guess it's okay if the singer makes up some of his own lyrics, too?

And what about that intro guitar lick? Is that an important part to keep or can the guitar player just wing it?

Well, yeah, it's not a Schubert lied either.

Have you ever heard of "floating lyrics"? Those are the ones that end up getting found in multiple songs because they're just out there in the consciousness. One classic example: "If you see me coming, heist your window high... [repeat] if you see me going, hang your head and cry") Have you ever listened to anything recorded by the Carter Family, or Jimmie Rodgers? Have you ever noticed that some of the words don't seem to make sense? That's because they needed something to go in a spot and they did something. "Twine with my mingles"?? Really? I'm sure originally it was "twine with my ringlets" but somehow Sara Carter got "mingles" in there, and it's still there almost a hundred years later. Somewhere along the way "Can the circle be unbroken" got changed to "will the circle..." No one pitched a fit.

Moving a little closer to the current day, how many people do you think have played and/or recorded "I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry"? Do you REALLY think that every one that didn't play and sing it exactly like Ol' Hank did, was doing it "WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!" ??

I often sing a song by the Delmore Brothers called "Fast Express". I've written a couple extra verses, humorous in intent, to give a little more space for instrumental solos between verses. Are the Delmores going to call down the wrath of Jehovah on me from their seats in heaven? Do I need to be worried about lightning bolts?

Come off it. What you've got there is a song - as someone pointed out, if we're talking about Stapleton's version, he's already changed the basic song from from the most well-known version (Jones') - that is a very simple chord progression, played quite slowly in 12/8. I would frankly be astonished if the bass player on that recording needed more than two times through the thing to nail it. Any professional studio bass player would walk in, hear "we're playing "Tennessee Whiskey" but I'm going to do it as a I-minII-minII-I - liike that Etta James song" and the key, and would play the part you hear on the recording. There were not written charts. The bass player made that up out of his head. Basically, if you want to play a Chris Stapleton type Tennessee Whiskey, you play very simply in 12/8, and you're done.

I'm willing to bet that the preparation for recording that song, the recorded version of which you want to enshrine as the one true way to play it, consisted AT MAX of Stapleton banging out the chords one time on the guitar so everyone knows how he wants it to go, and MAYBE having a piece of paper with all the lyrics in front of him just in case he blanks on a line.

For the vast majority of popular music, there IS NO ONE TRUE VERSION. Not understanding this is why people get all wrapped round the axle when singers want the tune in a key they didn't learn the one true bass line in.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Yeah, pretty much this. ^ It's the difference between playing a song and playing a recording (which is only one snapshot of a song).

Mind you, there are plenty of contexts where it might be perfectly reasonable to stick close to the best-known version of the song--for instance, if people are likely to complain or throw things if you don't, or if you just prefer to roll that way--but there's nothing inherently more musically "correct" or "right" about doing so. This isn't classical music, for goodness' sake. NFN from a record is just a choice that may work for you or may not.

 

[51PRI]

Yeah, pretty much this. ^ It's the difference between playing a song and playing a recording (which is only one snapshot of a song).....

What about bands like The Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and others, who play songs in concert pretty much just like the record?

look, it’s a song and you’re talking about one persons interpretation of the original which apart from the lyrics is nothing like the original. So what’s wrong with you and your band being a bit original also, instead of slavishly copying?

"The original" is actually "I'd Rather Go Blind" which has the signature guitar lick AND bass part. I feel sure that Chris Stapleton just changed the words to the "Tennessee Whiskey" words rather than the other way around.

...What you've got there is a song - as someone pointed out, if we're talking about Stapleton's version, he's already changed the basic song from from the most well-known version (Jones') - that is a very simple chord progression, played quite slowly in 12/8. I would frankly be astonished if the bass player on that recording needed more than two times through the thing to nail it. Any professional studio bass player would walk in, hear "we're playing "Tennessee Whiskey" but I'm going to do it as a I-minII-minII-I - liike that Etta James song" and the key, and would play the part you hear on the recording. There were not written charts. The bass player made that up out of his head. Basically, if you want to play a Chris Stapleton type Tennessee Whiskey, you play very simply in 12/8, and you're done.....

The Chris Stapleton version of "Tennessee Whiskey" is so similiar to Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind" in form, chord patterns, and bass and guitar parts, that I feel pretty sure that Chris Stapleton just changed the words to the "Tennessee Whiskey" words, likely when they were playing the song live.

Yeah, pretty much this. ^ It's the difference between playing a song and playing a recording (which is only one snapshot of a song).

Mind you, there are plenty of contexts where it might be perfectly reasonable to stick close to the best-known version of the song--for instance, if people are likely to complain or throw things if you don't, or if you just prefer to roll that way--but there's nothing inherently more musically "correct" or "right" about doing so. This isn't classical music, for goodness' sake. NFN from a record is just a choice that may work for you or may not.

Are there any parts to any song that you think have to be there for the song to be "the song", or is it all open to interpretation?

For example, does "Sweet Home Alabama" have to have that little guitar kick off lick, or can that be dispensed with?

 

[reverendboom]

Here is an interesting version.