Is there any point trying to figure this out note for note???

[capnjim]

My favorite bass tune...I know it, but every now and then I try to figure out some of the exact riffs and its really hard.
Is it worth it try to nail it?? I do love some of the licks, and they sound easy...but I can't actually play along close to the bass. There is nobody on Youtube playing even remotely close to what Jack plays. For instance, at 47 seconds he does this weird little note, and I just can't seem to find what he is doing......
Cheers

 

[Stumbo]

Do you have a software slowdowner?

I use the PC paid version(MAC available) Song Surgeon Pro. It has a 31 band eq with 30db cut and 20db enhance to isolate pretty much anything. You can also change the pitch easily. Sometimes I increase the bass line an octave to make it easier to hear when I slow it down.
There's a free trial version.

There are several other slow downers for all platforms, free and paid.

Imo, learning bass lines note for note is good training.

 

[JTE]

It's useful as ear training and to learn how Jack thought 50 yesrs sgo. Utterly pointless if the idea is that THIS is only waybto play "Crossroads", because they never wanted to play it the same twice.

 

[40Hz]

Sounds like he's just dropping down a half step from the note he was playing for two notes at the 0:47 mark.

 

[bolophonic]

In my opinion, it would be well worth your effort to set a goal that is slightly beyond your reach and work towards nailing it. Think about how awesome it will feel.

 

[songwriter21]

@capnjim

Regarding that note at :47, just hum or sing the note until you find it. That's how I've always learned (by ear).

 

[jchrisk1]

That note sounds like the min7 to me.
If you want this song to be your project, then sure, learn it note for note. If not, then do your own interpretation of it. Which is what most people do, I think. He certainly never played it the same way.
I would listen to the song without a critical ear and find the parts that stand out to you. Then learn those parts. For instance, the second part of the first solo is a huge part of the song. Learning key parts like this, I feel, are important.

 

[Axstar]

I think the mystery note is a G, and I'm not sure it is even meant to be there. It sounds like he hits an open string (maybe) or just frets a G on the D for whatever reason, before getting back into it.

If you don't want to spend any money, install Audacity and simply isolate the left channel. You get some guitar in the mix, but the bass is panned nicely into this channel.

 

[capnjim]

That note sounds like the min7 to me

Could you be a bit more specific? My theory is non-existant. Thanks for the replies. I do plan on playing it my way. I just want to learn some of the riffs he does and generally try to follow along.

 

[jchrisk1]

It is a G. But, I don't think that is an important part of the song. Just Jack being Jack.
Learning some basic theory will go a long way for you. Knowing your scale intervals and how to build chords (chord tones) will make things easier. This will give you an idea of available notes, and why they work, when learning songs.

 

[sanwin17]

My favorite bass tune...I know it, but every now and then I try to figure out some of the exact riffs and its really hard.
Is it worth it try to nail it?? I do love some of the licks, and they sound easy...but I can't actually play along close to the bass. There is nobody on Youtube playing even remotely close to what Jack plays. For instance, at 47 seconds he does this weird little note, and I just can't seem to find what he is doing......
Cheers

This is the recording that convinced playing bass would be cool. I've been playing this I first started on bass in 1969. I still hear something new every time I listen to it. This was the pinnacle of their live performance era. They were still fresh, no pun intended, inspired and not yet jaded from the fame and hype. It still gives me goose bumps. If you have slow down software increase to pitch by 24 semitones. You may be able to hear the bass isolated though two octaves higher.

 

[Fuzzbass]

This is the recording that convinced playing bass would be cool. I've been playing this I first started on bass in 1969. I still hear something new every time I listen to it. This was the pinnacle of their live performance era. They were still fresh, no pun intended, inspired and not yet jaded from the fame and hype. It still gives me goose bumps.

Amen. I didn't start learning it until the 80's, but as you said, still thrills me when I hear it.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Imo, learning bass lines note for note is good training.

Absolutely: there IS a point to learning bass lines note for note, even if your goal is not to play them that way. The ability to learn by ear is an incredibly valuable skill. Practice, practice, practice. Eventually you will get to the point where you can learn simple bass lines just by listening to them, no need to parse them out on your bass. Keep practicing, and you'll figure out intermediate songs by ear... you get the idea. I don't claim to have the greatest ear, I rarely play jazz or progressive tunes, but I can usually figure out the bass lines of the cover tunes played by my bar bands just by listening to them: I'm talkin' rock, pop, r&b, blues, funk, country standards. I don't miss the days where I had to hunt and peck to figure out bass lines. Even with trickier bass lines (Rush, Chili Peppers, etc), I'll have a good idea just by listening, even if I have to sort out the details later.

To learn by ear, it helps to know basic chords and scales, starting with major and minor. Dorian and mixolydian scales are also helpful, as are the pentatonic/blues scales, and basic blues walking. Get that basic training if you can, for starters.

In Crossroads, Jack mostly sticks to minor pentatonic scales (A, E, D), but there are plenty of exceptions such as chromatic blues walking, some cool F#s (A dorian mode), etc. The "mystery note" in question is definitely a G, as noted by others.

I don't believe anyone would argue that the Cream's Crossroads must always be played with Jack's bass line, however Jack created some really nice hooks that some non-musicians recognize and it's good to know 'em, and throw 'em in even if you're mostly doing your own thing.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Here is a great song to try and learn note for note!

 

[tlc1976]

Absolutely: there IS a point to learning bass lines note for note, even if your goal is not to play them that way.

I agree. Good for ear training, but also good for getting out of your comfort zone and playing in someone else's shoes. You'll learn to play things that you would have not played otherwise.

 

[myopia]

Amazing tune and amazing player. As others have said, you don't have to learn it note for note, but instead study the bigger picture of what he was doing in the song. He was super inspirational for me as well. The feel and nuance is really important. The color of the notes.

I stay away from YouTube in general, people sitting in their living rooms "covering" a song on bass is the worst way to learn.

 

[4ForAll]

I've always heard it as a double stop - he's just slid up from playing C on the A string (first position) to the D but also frets (bars across) the G on the D string (perfect fourth) - and his right hand strikes the D string first and the G is much louder. It also sounds like maybe he then hammers up to the A on the D string briefly playing a perfect fifth - before going back to the C on the A string and then pulling it off to the open A. I hear a lot of pull-offs to open strings in this song - he played acoustic bass first and like his hero, James Jamerson, carried over several techniques to electric. I got to meet him once and he talked about this (but not this song specifically - the last thing he'd ever do was dwell on details about a past performance - let alone one decades old). He did say he liked the feel of first position on the EB3 and when in doubt he probably went there (vs playing high on the E string)!

 

[Smoove-Groove]

The note or notes at the 47 second mark are d and g. He is playing 8th notes, d, g, d, g, d, g, d, g. Letting each note ring while playing them. I used to play this one alot and also strived to get it as close as possible. I actually had a guitar magazine back in the 90's that had it tabbed out. My favourite lick in the song comes at the 15 sec mark. He does this crazy octave jump and pull off from the g string. Took a little while to nail that one.

 

[jacromusic]

I'm pretty sure he's going up a half step to the flat 6 then chromatically on up to 1. He does the same thing again at 2:06.

 

[lz4005]

As others have said, you don't have to learn it note for note, but instead study the bigger picture of what he was doing in the song.

Big picture is key here.

OP:
Absolutely study Jack Bruce. Then listen to Clapton play the song 30 years later with Nathan East. Then 10 years after that with another bass player.
Listen to how each of them plays the bass part of the same song differently. And learn from all of them.
Then figure out how you play it, which will be different from each of them.

My Crossroads story: I was in the house band for a jam night. Every week the same guy would come up and want do do Crossroads. He was a decent guy, but a mediocre guitar player at best. Every week he would count it off. Slow. Really slow. Ponderously slow. Week after week the same tempo. Then one night he called it but didn't count it off. So I look at the drummer. We both smile. 2 3 4! And bang into it faster than that first Cream clip. The guy looked like a deer in headlights. Would have been a train wreck except there was another guitar player sitting in who could hang. We had a great time playing at speed for once. The guy who called it couldn't even sing it that fast, much less play it.

I ended up buying him a beer afterwards since we basically pranked him on his favorite song. He thought it was funny. Eventually.