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Natalie Cole - Route 66 bass madness

#22
actually, you see, I started to look to that song only few days ago (took the chords down, found a line that worked on the chords, and went to the rehersals yesterday), not one year ago, so it seems to me that you mistook me for someone else.:eyebrow:
not that this justifies your "kind" manners towards someone you don't even know. ;)
What I hoped for is to find some more inspiring hint, see what solution was found by other people.
Yet, thx for your answer anyway ;)
 
#24
Lublin said:
Route_66-Nat_King_Cole_1946.png
Click to expand...
:confused: What is this mess?
 
#25
I think Ray Brown's bass line on Natalie Cole's version of Route 66 is worthy of detailed analysis. Not to play it note for note, but to understand Ray Brown's approach to jazz blues. I think it's one of the greatest jazz blues bass lines ever recorded.

It's recorded in F, and numeric charts above describe the chord changes. Ray uses just about every idea imaginable and constructs the bass line that is melodic. Plus, the intro and outro have some interesting rhythmic patterns.

Again, the idea isn't to play it note for note. That's not the spirit of this style of music. Instead, understand the function of each note so that you build your own library of musical ideas for a walking line.
 
#26
Tonegasm said:
Having a really hard time figuring out the bass line to this song. Doesn't help that I can't read music. :oops: Can anyone offer any tips that might help me out with figuring this out?

Click to expand...

I found this thread looking for the tabs, I've come no further than you in the walking bass part but as for the intro I'm pretty sure its this:

G l-----------------------------l
D l-----1--3--bend5--3-----l
A l--3-------------------------l
E l-----------------------------l

G l-----------------------------l
D l-----1--3-------------------l
A l--3--------------------------l
E l-------------bend3---1----l

then repeat the first figure
I hope this brings the thread back cause I need to learn the rest before next week
 
#27
Sigge said:
I hope this brings the thread back cause I need to learn the rest before next week
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I'm curious if you took a few minutes to read any of the excellent advice already given in this thread such as "learn the Blues Form chord changes so you can construct your own bass lines at will" or "find a teacher who knows jazz" or "buy Ray Brown's book where he teaches you to play exactly like him"?

Anyhow, the song is only 7 choruses (12-bar form) long, so if you learn 1 chorus per day, you'll be ready in a week. Assuming quarter notes, that's 4x12=48 notes to learn per day. Even if you are an ear training beginner and it takes you an entire minute to figure out just 1 note, that still leaves you with 12 minutes left in your hour practice session for warmups and other exercises. Please check back tomorrow and let us know your progress on the first chorus. :)
 
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#34
Play a major scale. Stick to 1,3,4 and 5. Play them up and back down a few times in time to the recording (in the same key, of course). See if this gets you to understand the basics of a walking bassline. Don't panic. It's jazz. Improvisation is allowed, especially at an audition. You can explain you are used to playing this version. Something like the exercise below may help. Don't forget to leave yourself enough room for a smooth transition between chords, not a tritone or the same repeated note, if possible. The note leading into the change is the most noticeable for the casual listener, so if that's not an obvious mistake, you should be okay.

F chord Bb chord F chord

F A Bb C Bb D Eb F F A Bb C Bb A G F
 
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#35
jamro217 said:
Play a major scale. Stick to 1,3,4 and 5. Play them up and back down a few times in time to the recording (in the same key, of course). See if this gets you to understand the basics of a walking bassline. Don't panic. It's jazz. Improvisation is allowed, especially at an audition. You can explain you are used to playing this version. Something like the exercise below may help. Don't forget to leave yourself enough room for a smooth transition between chords, not a tritone or the same repeated note, if possible. The note leading into the change is the most noticeable for the casual listener, so if that's not an obvious mistake, you should be okay.

F chord Bb chord F chord

F A Bb C Bb D Eb F F A Bb C Bb A G F
Click to expand...
Awesome advice for the person who asked about this....five years ago.
 
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#37
dreamadream99 said:
Awesome advice for the person who asked about this....five years ago.
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I was answering the poster immediately before mine (pbass74) and then decided to try to help the op in turn. Silly me for not noticing the date of the thread. That's what happens when you've been up all week with no sleep. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Hopefully the information will be helpful to anyone who happens to stumble onto this thread. Have a great night. :smug:
 
#38
Tonegasm said:
The audition is for a party/wedding band. This is the only real jazz number I see in their setlist. I feel confident with the rest of the music as it's not super jazzy/technical.

I may have to grab a lesson. I feel like this song was slipped into the mix to really weed out most weaklings auditioning (like me!).
Click to expand...

Get an app called Amazing Slow Downer.

If you already have Spotify, you can import your Spotify playlist into ASD.

This app will allow you to do two very useful things to music.

You can adjust the key both up and down without affecting the speed of the song.

You can also slow down a song without affecting the pitch.

Very handy.

The pay version of the app is well worth it.
 

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