• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Mark King plays Jack Bruce...on an EB-3

No, I'm not kidding. Phil Manzanera on the guitar no less. "Jam For Jack" fundraiser, held at the Gibson Garage in London on February 20th, 2025.


Very interesting, but why do people not use landscape mode when shooting video of a band? It’s so annoying visually. Also, the irony is that Jack used a Fender VI on Fresh Cream.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jerry
Very cool clip, and also a great example of how much personal playing style matters and that you need more than an EB-3 to nail the Jack Bruce tone/vibe. Gear isn't everything, the tone really is in the fingers. Don't get me wrong, the playing is great, and he really nails the song, but it doesn't sound even remotely like Jack Bruce. It sounds like exactly what it is: An 80s slap bassist playing Cream on an EB. Some of the higher notes actually sound almost like they're popped/slapped. Which is cool, but I have to admit I prefer the original.;)
 
Very cool clip, and also a great example of how much personal playing style matters and that you need more than an EB-3 to nail the Jack Bruce tone/vibe. Gear isn't everything, the tone really is in the fingers. Don't get me wrong, the playing is great, and he really nails the song, but it doesn't sound even remotely like Jack Bruce. It sounds like exactly what it is: An 80s slap bassist playing Cream on an EB. Some of the higher notes actually sound almost like they're popped/slapped. Which is cool, but I have to admit I prefer the original.;)
But if you are a legend yourself the curiosity becomes what your personal affectation is on the material versus how accurately you can duplicate it.

If we saw a video of Jimmy Page covering a Van Halen song, the question would be less "how much like EVH can Jimmy sound" and more "what does it sound like when Jimmy plays Van Halen."
 
Last edited:
Interesting how King seemed to keep his index finger on the root note while playing the upper notes with his other fingers. Never seen that before, not that I've seen him play that much.
Most of the time (under the E), he's playing the root either with his ring finger, or open.)
So you're probably talking about the D-chord (bVII)) phrasing, while singing "I~ feel" in the chorus.

Thing is, he's changed the phrasing so as to avoid the minor/natural/blues seventh of the chord (C, 5th fret of G string) right after the octave C, and do the major seventh (C#) instead, for an overall Dorian/Mixolydian feel, or probably because he preferred it that way.
The consequence of that being that his C# note (6th fret of G) variation gets fretted with the middle finger, not the index which can then stay at the 5th fret of the A string, ready to play the root D when needed.
 

Latest posts