Great thread, can't believe with all the Motown and/or Jameson fans amongst the guys on this forum the thread is so small! (by comparison the "worship and praise club" thread is 24 x 1,000 posts and on the 25th!
Big Jameson fan here, totally refreshed my Motown view over the past couple of years. Learning bass lines note-for-note, feel-for-feel (hopefully, this is, mostly, Jamerson!). Started with the famous Jamerson-centric SITSOM book which is one of a kind - you'll struggle to find anything comparable about *any* other musician on any instrument. If you're into Motown and Bass you absolutely must get a copy of this book and tracks. Highly recommended. I've also got a couple of other Motown-specific bass books.
Plus of course loads of good old music, hits and not so well known. In keeping with the 101 tradition of helping beginners to the subject I'd suggest
* learn early Motown hits (lot of double bass there, with simpler lines)
* get hold of the SITSOM book and focus on the easier transcriptions
Look for the predominantly fourth/eighth notes tunes, there are loads of them eg "My Guy, Baby Love". Lot of double bass. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" the Marvin Gaye is a beautiful composition, that can be considered a 101 song IMO.
Don't worry there are plenty of immensely challenging basslines with sixteenth notes but they can be savoured in "Motown 201" and higher ;-)
* focus on the feel, tone and energy.
After all these were Jazz guys and pop then wasn't much more than chord arpeggios. What they were starting to do basswise- and this was really driven Jamerson - was to create a new style of playing that was not pure jazz or pop. They didn't call themselves the Funk Brothers for nothing! Motown the label though was trying to be its own brand of pop, not R&B, they wanted to be successful and make serious money at the hit factory.
* some of the lesser known hits with Jamerson's electric bass work of minor complexity are nevertheless technically challenging physically, depending on your basses low end action and your chops, are well worth attempting. Songs like "I'm Wondering".
* get to know more about Jamerson that contributes to his unique style
He liked his action very high, he single-fingered right-handed ("The Hook") - his left hand was immensely strong, his right index finger very fast - he played with foam dampener by the bridge, his main basses were Precisions, he came from a Jazz double bass background and still played for kicks (and pay) in Detroit jazz clubs to the early hours through his career/heyday. At the time Motown considered Jamerson essential to a songs success - *any* song - he was always first choice in Detroit at least and considered a bass genius by his Motown peers, even then. Bassists loved his playing in the radio, even though they didn't know his name. He played down the low end a *lot*. In pop he pioneered amongst other things: the heavy use of sixteenths, chromatic runs and fourth/octave jumps in tunes - even in those with mid-high tempo. The body of work that comprise Jamerson's basslines contain, IMO, the most beautiful basslines ever played, most are in SITSOM, some of which are immensely challenging to play very well.
My personal take is that even getting close to the magic and genius of Jamerson's playing is always a very rewarding experience. Have a lot of fun!
Misc:
There are also some very good non-Jamerson Motown bass lines and playing too, but not anywhere in Jamerson's class which is stratospheric.
I'm not even half way through SITSOM yet consider myself an experienced beginner if that makes sense! Have a lot of time for Jamerson, any chat, comments, opinions, corrections - ping me!
Not exactly what I was thinking of for "Motown," but I still dig it... super chill. Would you guys classify this more on the R&B end of the spectrum?
