Jackson 5 Basslines

[DougD]

+1

although, a few of Michael's later solo stuff have cheesy basslines.. but yeah, Quincy Jones... brings up the bass fo sho!

+1

 

[David Jayne]

'Blame it on the Boogie,' +1. also 'Off the Wall.' My fave.

 

[funkboy5]

Check out www.playbassnow.com to see how some of these lines go down. The web host is killer player. Or you can go to youtube and search (marlowedk jackson 5) to pull up this guy playing some jackson 5 lines.

 

[JimK]

MJ was fortunate (I guess) to have composer Rod Temperton on Off The Wall & Thriller. Temperton's tunes (like anything Heatwave did) pretty much had the bass provide a hook.
"Mystery" by The Manhatten Transfer (w/ Nathan East on bass, IIRC) is another of his tunes.

Another nice 'bass' tune-
"Rock With You" with Rufus bassist, Bobby Watson.

 

[Andrew Jones]

Like Jimmy said...they're all 'great' (even their Christmas album!).

Another favorite of mine is "Never Can Say Goodbye".
...not sure who played the bass part, it does have a Chuck Rainey vibe goin' on.

Yes, never can say is great! I forgot about that one,even though I transcribed it about five years ago.

Can anyone convert a finale file to PHF and post it?



Aj

 

[Andrew Jones]

How about the Classic Louis Johnson line Off the Wall!



Aj

 

[JimK]

Andrew-
Love it...although it sounds like a Rod Temperton written-out bass figure to me.

I would love to see your "Never Can Say Goodbye" transcription.

 

[Andrew Jones]

I don't have a full working copy of finale where I am so i can't work with the file.


if some one want's to take it convert it to PDF and Post/host it?


Aj

 

[SpankBazz]

MJ was fortunate (I guess) to have composer Rod Temperton on Off The Wall & Thriller. Temperton's tunes (like anything Heatwave did) pretty much had the bass provide a hook.
"Mystery" by The Manhatten Transfer (w/ Nathan East on bass, IIRC) is another of his tunes.

Another nice 'bass' tune-
"Rock With You" with Rufus bassist, Bobby Watson.

Hear this all the time "Quincy Jones!" and/or "Rod Temperton!"
While both men are legends, they get credit for things they did not do regarding MJ, simply because people don't read the liner notes to see how much of his own songs he wrote.
Rod's best bassline for MJ was Off The Wall.
Rock With You is a standard "bump. ba-bump" bassline but Bobby Watson elevated it.
PYT is great bassline. The song was written by the late great vocalist James Ingram, who was secretly a great keyboard player by trade. BTW, Quincy Jones' writing credit on that song is in name only.

When it comes to MJ, he wrote some great basslines. The notes are one thing but the feel is another.
Prime examples of this are Wanna Be Startin Something, Workin' Day and Night and Don't Stop Til You Get Enough.
The notes are easy but if you mess up the feel, the song is ruined.
Former touting bassist Mike McKinney did a wonderful job on these live


McKinney gets songwriting credit here along with MJ and Tito Jackson, so he probably wrote the bassline:


Easy notes, don't drop the groove. Written by MJ with Jackie and Randy Jackson. The great Nathan Watts on bass:


Written by MJ and Randy Jackson. Nathan Watts slappin on a P here:


Smooth Criminal and Billie Jean are no brainers were both written by MJ
Billie Jean is an endurance test because you have to keep the bassline going smoothly.
You can't cheat and play staccato notes.

Another no brainer is Get On The Floor which Louis Johnson wrote the bassline for.

Speed Demon was written by MJ but was played on a synth (probably a Synclavier) but some players can pull it off or get close:



The Destiny album had some nice bass grooves aside from Shake Your Body and Blame It On The Boogie
These were written by MJ with his brother Randy:



Guitarist Michael Sembello (former Stevie Wonder, the Maniac song from Flashdance) is on bass here. Songwriting was credited to MJ and his brothers but MJ usually performed it solo for TV performances:


Probably the most challenging bassline that MJ wrote was this one:
Written by MJ