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Footloose is a monster!!!

Curse this Audio Worm inducing thread.
Beware the worm
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Oh, wait......
This is supposed to be in the advice thread.
:smug:
 
The funny thing about learning that bass line “note for note” is that I doubt Mr. East played it that way twice. Probably 80%ish - and any differences would be just differences, not goofs or dumbing down - and the feel would be 100%, always.
Any way, great playing that doesn’t at all feel like stringing together fills and licks as some busy lines do.
 
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I had to play it, once, for an audition. And i COMPLETELY dumbed it down. Like single note walkups and walkdowns in the Chorus. And it was still a difficult song for me to play.
My audition is tomorrow and I think I’m good if I just repeat the first chorus every time. If they call me back, I’ll worry about it then.
 
Quote From Daryl Hall(Hall and Oates) on his show 'Live from Daryl's house'.
They were rehearsing the song Footloose with Kenny Loggins the writer and Daryl said, "Who knew Footloose was this difficult to play"
or something similar was said. Nevertheless it's a tough song to play well without charts or sheet music.
Just the composer telling you what your part is and when to play it
 
Quote From Daryl Hall(Hall and Oates) on his show 'Live from Daryl's house'.
They were rehearsing the song Footloose with Kenny Loggins the writer and Daryl said, "Who knew Footloose was this difficult to play"
or something similar was said.
That was fascinating to watch – thanks for mentioning it. Loggins humbly says: "It's one of those things...I know it, but I don't know it!" He also references the intro to Bowie's "Modern Love" (1983) – released just a year prior to "Footloose."
 
An old band of mine decided to do Freeze Frame. After the first run-through at rehearsal, they all looked at me and said "WTH were you playing?". I said "the part, listen to it" and they were shocked when they listened carefully. It's another fun tune to cover for the bassist.
I've had too many of those moments. It's either "I never heard all that in there" or "the old guy didn't do it like that" :rollno:
 
The funny thing about learning that bass line “note for note” is that I doubt Mr. East played it that way twice. Probably 80%ish - and any differences would be just differences, not goofs or dumbing down - and the feel would be 100%, always.
Any way, great playing that doesn’t at all feel like stringing together fills and licks as some busy lines do.
Totally agree!!! I think that happens in quite a few songs with crazy bass lines... i.e., “The Lemon Song”.
 
For those tuning in, the old "copy and paste the first chorus over all choruses" seemed to do the trick. It was one of those auditions where they already talk as though you're in the band before you leave, but then all you do is wonder if they were just being nice so you'd leave. I was expecting a cattle call, but a couple of the members drove hours to jam with me, then left. I sent a "thank you" message and asked for more songs, so... I guess I'll let you know when I hear back.
 
So, I quit playing in cover bands back in April, but an opportunity has presented itself and I find myself having to learn Footloose for a slot in a wedding/ party band. I am generally a note for note kinda dude, but this song is kind of killing me. I had no idea it was so fun and full of sweet runs and fills. I can tell it will soon be a favorite. But dang.

Here’s a cover of some dude jamming the first half:


Yeah we do that song. I had to dumb it down a little on the chorus - the recorded part is just too much for me especially when the drummer kicks it off 20 BPM too fast (almost always). Previous bassist refused to play it near the end because of his arthritis - as soon as I started working on it, I understood why.

I don't worry about being note for note on covers - I try to honor the original groove, but in my own way. This approach works very well in a larger (5 piece) band - there's just no need for busy bass parts anyway - sound just gets muddy when I depart from simple.
 
I've had too many of those moments. It's either "I never heard all that in there" or "the old guy didn't do it like that" :rollno:

Yeah, I was lucky in that band. The players were all good players without big egos, and wanted to get it right as a starting point. The best thing was that with the internet we could call up the tunes right on the spot, and listen to them to work out the bits of the original recordings we really needed to keep the feel of the tune.

There were a couple of Cars tunes we did that were similar, but those were overdubbed bass or baritone guitar parts that I'd figured out how to play both parts. I simplified those parts, since one of the guitar players could play the other one. Ben Orr was a killer pick player.
 
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