Get Down Tonight: microtonal?

[BassUrges]

It was probably a mistake they forgot to fix in post-production.

I’m too young to have heard the original when it came out, but I like mechanical watches, 1911 pistols, air-cooled VWs, and recordings that sound like human beings playing instruments and singing.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

agree that there are lots of differences in this 'repeated' riff in that recording. there is a bit of improv going on there.

For the sake of my "enthusiasm", I wonder how many official bass transcriptions of that song notate the first note in Verse 1 (Measure 9) as Eb not F.

 

[okcrum]

For the funkmeisters of TB, a question.

I bought the sheet music for Get Down Tonight, because yes, I buy sheet music for funk (my ear is not all that it could be). There are a bunch of sections that look like the picture below, with an A marked with a descending slide.

View attachment 3662481

I have struggled to make this sound right compared to the recording. At first I though the problem was playing on fretless, so I switched to fretted, and it got worse. I tried playing it as a Bb, no good. So I tried bending it up, and it was a bit better.

Back to fretless, I'm sliding up a bit to get something in between A and Bb, and I think it's close.

Am I crazy here or is that actually 25-30 cents sharp in the recording?

Have you considered that the band tuned to a keyboard on the original recording? ISTR Rick Finch played a fretted P with flats. The tune always sounded right when my first touring band did it. I don't hear the recording sounding any different than my P bass did then.

Maybe you should try tuning one string to an A and tuning the others with harmonics. Something like that might get you closer.

The riff in question is F-G-G#-A and sometimes G-G#-A on a P bass with flats. 9th to 10th chromatic was a standard funk thing. Our Julliard-schooled keyboard player would most certainly have corrected me if I were playing it wrong.

 

[jza57]

I learned back in the 70's not to trust commercial sheet music . I was lucky to have been a band brat so I took a lot of music theory in both High School and College . Best to ask someone you know that has more music theory knowledge and get it close. Even when you hear the big boys perform they still alter chords and changes to their liking.

 

[iiipopes]

That recording is not the only one. Before Sir Macca allowed the bridge of his Hofner to be adjusted in later years, he was sharp on almost all of the Abbey Road album with the Rotosound nylon tapewounds. Don't worry about going sharp. Focus on slotting the mix.

 

[DavC]

maybe it's some vibrato ... or really squeezing that neck ... or maybe just all the coke back in the day ..?!

 

[Brad Johnson]

I learned back in the 70's not to trust commercial sheet music . I was lucky to have been a band brat so I took a lot of music theory in both High School and College . Best to ask someone you know that has more music theory knowledge and get it close. Even when you hear the big boys perform they still alter chords and changes to their liking.

Most of it back in the day was laughably bad. Particularly Stevie Wonder books. I guess it was to at least get you in the ballpark. When I played what was written it usually sounded corny... wrong notes, wrong rhythms. Really highlighted the point of developing my ear.

Playing songs like this note for note is fairly pointless, no offense. Internalize the groove and work the variations. They work. You can do octave drops in the same place you can do the flat 7, 4 root drop.

"That's the way (I like it)" is another fun one, it introduced working a flat 5 seamlessly into a minor groove. Definitely not run of the mill for that time or even now.

 

[BAG]

For my ears, it’s a clearly pronounced phrase - notes on the last beat - two 16ths - G and F - a slide, followed by the 8th note of Eb - most probably, Hammered.
Also, in that particular measure, the bass does not play G G# to A.
It plays two G’s and then , A.

You, sir, are a freak...... and I appreciate every time you chime in on threads.

 

[okcrum]

For my ears, it’s a clearly pronounced phrase - notes on the last beat - two 16ths - G and F - a slide, followed by the 8th note of Eb - most probably, Hammered.
Also, in that particular measure, the bass does not play G G# to A.
It plays two G’s and then , A.

Listen at half speed. That particular bit around 0:52 is G-G-G#-A and it's easy to hear, instead of the F-G-G#-A. Four notes. The thing is, when you hit the first note muted (false) or sufficiently staccato, it's just about impossible to tell the difference.

 

[2F/2F]

Sounds like you might have an intonation problem. It's a 3 you're finally landing on, so if it's slightly out of tune, it can easily sound sour (as opposed to a 5, or even a 1, which gives you more room for slop in terms of intonation). Try checking your intonation, and if you still have the problem, just vibrato the hell out of the note (it is in the recording anyhow).

And you're also overblowing the "slide" down. You just sort of quickly fall off the note at the end – not a big slide. I wouldn't have even notated that if I was the one transposing. It's more about the phrasing of the way you kill the note than it is an actual pitch thing.

And yes, the G# is definitely there. It makes the phrase – you're doing a semi-staccato walk up from 2nd to 3rd (the 2nd is doubled at the beginning of each riff, as opposed to the first note being the high 1, as you might expect). The G# is not always plucked clear as day, but it's always an intended part of the movement from G to A. Like much funk bass, you're playing a "true" bass part low, sparsely, with a second upper voice doing often-harmonic background phrases and forurishes, much like a low brass horn (e.g. trombone) might do in many arrangements.

 

[Guitalia]

okrum's suggestion above---to play the recording at half speed---should help clear up the problem in no time.

And stop telling yourself your ear is "not that good." That just means you're listening carefully enough to become frustrated by parts that are hard to hear. I have a great ear (intimidatingly so to some of the lazier people I've played with), but I usually slow recordings to half speed (by changing the speed setting in YouTube videos; click the little sprocket symbol below the video) to work out parts---especially with bass parts, which are often very hard to hear even at half speed.

By the way, I just listened to about the first 30 seconds or so of Get Down Tonight (I'd forgotten that it started, ironically, with that guitar noodling that had been recorded at half speed to sound twice as fast and an octave up at normal speed), and I don't know why your sheet music is notated with a downward slide at the A note. In any event, there's nothing microtonal going on. Just play the G-G-G#-A, like everyone who else has ever covered that song on bass.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

For the funkmeisters of TB, a question.

I bought the sheet music for Get Down Tonight, because yes, I buy sheet music for funk (my ear is not all that it could be). There are a bunch of sections that look like the picture below, with an A marked with a descending slide.

View attachment 3662481

I have struggled to make this sound right compared to the recording. At first I though the problem was playing on fretless, so I switched to fretted, and it got worse. I tried playing it as a Bb, no good. So I tried bending it up, and it was a bit better.

Back to fretless, I'm sliding up a bit to get something in between A and Bb, and I think it's close.

Am I crazy here or is that actually 25-30 cents sharp in the recording?

This is a fairly common figure.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Listen at half speed. That particular bit around 0:52 is G-G-G#-A and it's easy to hear, instead of the F-G-G#-A. Four notes. The thing is, when you hit the first note muted (false) or sufficiently staccato, it's just about impossible to tell the difference.

Around 0:42 - G G# - A (and a slide back through Ab - Gb and ends on F)
0:51 - G (a pickup/grace note((only) of G#)) and A.
0:52 - I've commented.
0:57 - G - G# - A
1:01 - G - (dirty) G# - A
1:05 - G - (dirty) G# - A - A
1:25 - G - G# - A ...
I could continue but there is no reason for it.
All those nuances are interesting for a fanatic only (It's me). As Brad Johnson mentioned earlier, "It pointless", it changes NOTHING.

instead of the F-G-G#-A.

Where did I mentioned that note F(???) going up/ascending?

That note F appears during that descending sliding from A!

 

[okcrum]

All those nuances are interesting for a fanatic only (It's me). As Brad Johnson mentioned earlier, "It pointless", it changes NOTHING.

I think I pointed that out sufficiently well in my first post in the thread. Call the second G on the 4 notes a pick up. dually, hybrid, or whatever you like.

My interest was in answering the OP's question correctly, explain why they might hear notes not quite in whatever temperament they were expecting, and enabling them to hear it themselves. The rest is irrelevant.

 

[GonzoBfiddy]

For the funkmeisters of TB, a question.

I bought the sheet music for Get Down Tonight, because yes, I buy sheet music for funk (my ear is not all that it could be). There are a bunch of sections that look like the picture below, with an A marked with a descending slide.

View attachment 3662481

I have struggled to make this sound right compared to the recording. At first I though the problem was playing on fretless, so I switched to fretted, and it got worse. I tried playing it as a Bb, no good. So I tried bending it up, and it was a bit better.

Back to fretless, I'm sliding up a bit to get something in between A and Bb, and I think it's close.

Am I crazy here or is that actually 25-30 cents sharp in the recording?

Ive played this tune in a lot of corporate bands.....and if I recall correctly, either the versions on YouTube or both the original AND YouTube versions are in-between pitch. There are several other bands from the '70's & '80's that have major hits that are sharp or flat. (EWF, Kool and The Gang, Pointer Sisters, etc.)

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I play it sliding down from the A at the end of the phrase and it sounds just fine. I find slides and little subtleties hard to notate, so I generally simplify it a little and just play along to the music.

Get Down Tonight always does well for us and is a consistent dance floor filler!

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I play them all pretty much like this:

 

[BassUrges]

You guys are great, thanks!

i should have it down well enough to think about improv next wee, then I can deploy my “Give up the funk” score.

 

[yodedude2]

By the way, I just listened to about the first 30 seconds or so of Get Down Tonight (I'd forgotten that it started, ironically, with that guitar noodling that had been recorded at half speed to sound twice as fast and an octave up at normal speed),

and all this time i thought that was a keyboard synth...

 

[JimK]

and all this time i thought that was a keyboard synth...

Not really a thing at that specific point in time...