Favorite Double Stops

[LeeNunn]

A recent thread on playing chords on a bass got me to thinking about great examples of double stops. What recordings made you start using double stops or changed your approach to them? These examples might give TBers new to doublestops some context for what works. If you have several you might group them by the type of double stop (or triple or whatever). I'll give this some more thought, but some that come to mind are:

5ths: School Days (title track), Stanley Clark
10ths: Watermelon Man on Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, Paul Jackson
Tritones in high register (usually b7 and 3 of 7th chord): too many to list

 

[okcrum]

3rds (Jaco; everyone since uses 'em)
6ths (blues/jazz)
9ths (chord sweeteners)
Unison/octave (Whole Lotta Love, fattener)

Dunno. I don't hear too many people play 6ths or 9ths but there are places they definitely work for me.

 

[jamminology101]

Whitesnake "still of the night" bass track uses the great 1-5 power diad(double stop) in the slow break section right before the guitar solo that sikes is using a bow to play on the video(ala jimmy page). Great choice for them in a rock song.

 

[jamminology101]

Bullet boys bassist uses the 1-4 barre diad to great effect in the tune " hard as a rock"(frets 12/12-13/13-14/14 on the D and G string in a quick 3 note succession to introduce the chorus.

 

[johndough247]

First person I remember hearing do it that made me take notice was Chuck Rainey doing mostly dominant 7th (tritone) and minor 7th stops on lots of Steely Dan stuff; the intro of "Peg", in the verses of "Kid Charlemagne", intro of "Josie") and of course the sanford and son theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhRwfhxco7A

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

Scott does some great examples of Pino Palladino's double stopping approach in this video,

 

[johndough247]

Also Pino Palladino on Tears for Fears "Standing on the corner of the third world" (although some of those licks I'm pretty sure came from Jaco)

 

[Kyle_S]

Mike Watt - "Big Train"

 

[Big Mother]

Geddy at the end of Red Barchetta, thats what turned me on to double stops

 

[LazyGecko]

Victor Wooten -u can't hold no groove. He uses tritone double stops in the beginning of each verse. It's just a very short moment but its so darn groovy

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Victor Wooten -u can't hold no groove. He uses tritone double stops in the beginning of each verse. It's just a very short moment but its so darn groovy

He is voicing a dominant seventh chord, just using the 7th and 10th. That is why is wreaks of funk. They are a tritone away though.

I personally love this stop, Jaco uses it during Birdland after his sweet little fill leading up to the G.

 

[Rev J]

Tim Commerford (Rage Against the Machine) Killing in the Name:



There is just something so funky about that Low E-12th Fret E-Chromatic slide 3rd and 7th he does every 4th repeat of the riff.

C/S,
Rev J

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Tim Commerford (Rage Against the Machine) Killing in the Name:



There is just something so funky about that Low E-12th Fret E-Chromatic slide 3rd and 7th he does every 4th repeat of the riff.

C/S,
Rev J

Woah... that tempo is all over the place. Great live energy though, and damn do they look young there.

 

[oldcatfish]

Whitesnake "still of the night" bass track uses the great 1-5 power diad(double stop) in the slow break section right before the guitar solo that sikes is using a bow to play on the video(ala jimmy page). Great choice for them in a rock song.

I never noticed that before, and I used to play that song on guitar. I'll have to listen again and learn it on bass!

 

[frisbieinstein]

He is voicing a dominant seventh chord, just using the 7th and 10th. That is why is wreaks of funk. They are a tritone away though.

I personally love this stop, Jaco uses it during Birdland after his sweet little fill leading up to the G.

Yah. I first noticed that on Weather Report's Cucumber Castle. I thought it was SO cool. Alphonso Johnson. I still like it.

 

[FaithNoMan]

@:57 - although it may be more than double-stops, I like the chords there.

 

[kerrycares]

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[GastonD]

I also dig RATM's "Bullet in your head". The main bass riff includes mean tritone double stop.

If I am allowed to blow my own horn, I used three consecutive double stops (minor 3rd-4th-5th) during the verses in this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIj6bybf2hE

No, that's not me in the video, I had already left the band by the time they filmed it. It was still my bass though...and it had been replaced in the meantime, too

 

[seang15]

Great thread.
-Chuck Rainey, on about everything he has done.
-School Days
-Red Barchetta and YYZ, Ged.

And believe it or not, real early on (I was 16 or 17), the bassist of Scandal used a nice open D/F# major tenth thing. That took me a long time to figure out, as it was a rarity in pop. Then I heard Peg with Chuck Rainey, and it was all over the place

Jaco's live version of Continuum nicely rounds things out for me

 

[LeeNunn]

Here's another of my favorites. Start listening around the 4:20 mark.