Over the top bass playing or tastefully done?

[MuseChaser]

Awesome, a ridiculous Boomer comment has made its way to this thread. Hooray

And yet, you've managed to top, in ridiculousness, whatever it was you were attempting to ridicule. Possibly, just possibly, tastes and preferences occasionally....or even more frequently than that....transcend insulting chronological labels and stereotypes?

 

[5StringBlues]

And yet, you've managed to top, in ridiculousness, whatever it was you were attempting to ridicule. Possibly, just possibly, tastes and preferences occasionally....or even more frequently than that....transcend insulting chronological labels and stereotypes?

I was ridiculing the use of the word Boomer itself, not a comment made by a boomer. Have a nice day.

 

[MuseChaser]

I was ridiculing the use of the word Boomer itself, not a comment made by a boomer. Have a nice day.

I totally missed that and took your post 180 degrees from that, thinking you meant a comment BY a "boomer.". Sincerely, please accept my apologies.

 

[5StringBlues]

Not a problem my friend, I was very vague obviously.

I totally missed that and took your post 180 degrees from that. Sincerely, please accept my apologies.

 

[darwin-bass]

I think it was fabulous. Not just the bass (which was 100% on-point from start to finish) but the whole song. Vocals were fabulous. Drummer was in the pocket.

I assume y'all notice how the rest of the band was basically playing long notes. The bass made the groove happen.

Not danceable? Well, I submit this song was as much jazz as soul.

 

[Aussie Player]

Don't forget that Paul Mac, Jack Bruce and John Entwistle didn't walk that bass from the backline, all the way up to the front of the stage to thumb a root note here and there. They made it the driving focus it deserves, just like the piano gives equal share to its top and bottom keys. Hensforth, so be it.

 

[bigboy_78]

I'm listening on laptop speakers so can't hear the bass, but from what I watched the female vocalist was definitely "overplaying"

 

[Steve Cullen]

Nice but the drums are too loud and he's pushing in the first half of the song, which kind of spoils it a bit. Not a lot of swing and bit 'by the numbers' but still pleasant to listen to if not exactly ground-breaking.

 

[bigboy_78]

You can often tell by the comments who has actually worked in bands and who hasn't. Most working bands have elements of their live show where they put their own spin on a well-known song. If you have a good bass player it makes perfect sense to do an arrangement that gives them space to play cool stuff.

As for overplaying, uh, have you guys never listened to Jamerson? At the time he recorded this stuff you guys would have been SCREAMING that he was overplaying and a REAL bass player would never dare to play so many notes.

Yeah Berry Gordy kept a pretty good leash on the musicians at Motown. They were incredibly talented, but also prone to overplaying.

From his autobiography;

".. Many of these guys came from a Jazz background. I understood their instincts to turn things around to their liking, but I also knew what I wanted to hear — commercially. So when they went too far, I'd stop them and stress, "We gotta get back to the funk — stay in that groove." Then I'd make it as plain as possible: I would extend my arms a certain distance apart, saying, "I want to stay between here and there. Do whatever you want but stay in this range — in the pocket." But between "here and there" they did all kinds of stuff — always pushing me to the limit and beyond. Especially Jamerson."

"The session to lay the track down (Do You Love Me, 1962) was moving smoothly until I had a run-in with my stubborn, outspoken bass player, James Jamerson. As that session ground on, I had decided that Jamerson — with his jazzy licks and upbeats — had gone way past the boundaries I'd set. Though I had warned him several times, he continued to do it so brazenly that I had had more than enough....Look man," I said. "I've told you over and over again this ain't no f**ing' Jazz session. You've got to stay on the f***n' downbeat."

Berry Gordy, To Be Loved 1994.

 

[sokolasty]

After first minute: notes are good, wouldn't change it. I wouldn't play it better anyhow

I assume bass is overflowing the speakers by intention and gets tamed in the songish edit

 

[75Ric]

Yeah Berry Gordy kept a pretty good leash on the musicians at Motown. They were incredibly talented, but also prone to overplaying.

From his autobiography;


Berry Gordy, To Be Loved 1994.

From all accounts, Jamerson was a piece of work - even with his fellow musicians. Yet they all knew he was the glue that kept the Funk Bros together, allowing Hitsville to keep pumping out hit after hit after hit.

The story I've heard, which is apparently true: Marvin Gaye was recording What's Goin' On, but Jamerson wasn't there - he hadn't shown up to the session. Gaye stopped the session until Jamerson could be found. He was at the corner bar getting drunk. They fetched him and brought him back to the studio, but he was too drunk to stand or even sit upright. Jamerson laid down, flat on the floor. They handed him his bass, and he delivered the bass part, I believe in one take.

 

[75Ric]

A way to understand Jamerson:

 

[Goatrope]

I loved the playing. I thought he established a nice upbeat groove at first. He mostly stayed off the 2 and 4, so that helped open it up.

Still, he chose some tasty fills that I felt weren't needed, and as a bassist, drew my full attention away from the melody. We'll executed fills, but they struck me as something one would do on an audition.

As a bassist, I could listen to that guy all day. As a band member, I'm not feeling it.

 

[bearhart74]

I loved the playing. I thought he established a nice upbeat groove at first. He mostly stayed off the 2 and 4, so that helped open it up.

Still, he chose some tasty fills that I felt weren't needed, and as a bassist, drew my full attention away from the melody. We'll executed fills, but they struck me as something one would do on an audition.

As a bassist, I could listen to that guy all day. As a band member, I'm not feeling it.

This was kind of my take on it as well but i wanted to get the opinion of people with different ears than me. To me that song is all about the message and the vocals even tho the groove is as strong as a tank in the Marvin and Donny versions. I am a bass player so I am attuned to listening to that first and wanted to see if others thought his playing, while nice IMHO, took some of the focus from where i think it should be.

 

[Bassdirty]

I thought the bass was great.

That snare tone was distracting a heck though. (Or just maybe too loud?) IMO



T$

 

[FullumMusic]

Context is everything. In a different context that bass line would be too much. In another it might not be enough.

It seems like that band made an arrangement where that bass line is exactly what it needs and carries the song. It sounds like they clearly had a plan and made it work with that bass line and all the other instruments and the vocals.

 

[Fierzzaga]

That was beautiful. It's nice to have the bass take the lead on a song where it fits, and it certainly does on this song. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Medicine Man]

Willy Weeks version should be required learning.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Yeah, the Boomer bass players who are mad at some kid overplaying today are exactly who would have been the old-school upright bassists from the 40's upset that Jamerson was playing the bass parts wrong.

The Boomer bass players? Never heard that one before. that's an interesting box to put people in.

 

[MikeInSF]

Pretty good bass playing here, but... The focus of Marvin Gaye's version of the song was the song rather than the bass. The original had terrific bass but the tone was rolled-off and it sat better in the mix which prevented it from being overpowering. As a bass player, when I hear the original, I am drawn to song and then the bass, which is integral to the song itself. Here, the bass competes with the singers and the song which is both irritating and distracting.