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Paul McCartney

#21
It is my understanding John Lennon was also the bassist on "Helter Skelter", which would explain the "I got blisters on my fingers" yell at the end of the tune.

"Nowhere man" too busy? I think it's perfect! It's what I'd have played!
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(Well, maybe not, but I totally love it).

Will C.
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------------------
I'm not a genius. I'm just a hard working guy.
-BW


 
#22
I heard McCartney say that he liked to record basslines last from Pepper on because it let him be more "melodic." If you listen to most of the Beatles's demos (off of the anthologies), you'll notice a lack of bass at least up until some of the Abbey Road and Let It Be Stuff.

Harrison played bass on Helter Skelter, a Jazz I believe, and Ringo yelled, "I got blisters on me fingers" at the end.

I've never thought of Nowhere Man as a busy line. It's on the same level of "business" as Lovely Rita and Good Morning, both excellent bass lines-IMO
 
#23
If you want a good example of Paul's genius, check out "Something" off Abbey Road and listen to what he does with a song that most bass players would keep simple and play mostly root notes on. Paul plays all over the place BUT never destroys the groove or mood of the song. Busy but always in the pocket. A spectacular performance. (One of a multitude by him)
 
#26
I didn't know Lennon played bass on "Let It Be"; in George Martin's book(ALL YOU NEED IS EARS), Lennon is credited with playing the bass on "The Long & Winding Road"...Martin calls Lennon's "efforts" the equivalent of "musical sabotage".

John did play bass on those tracks and is also supposed to play bass on "Back in the USSR"
George played bass on Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight and, according to Paul, played bass on "She Said She Said."
 
#27
Did you guys know that he bought the Hofner once he was pretty muched forced into becoming the bass player at the last minute, because (1) He was self conscious about being a lefty and the Hofner is symentrically shaped, and (2) is was inexpensive, and he didn't think the band would make it past the end of the year - he didn't want to be out a bunch of money. The first time I saw that bass I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life.
 
#28
All this & he was great songwriter, guitarist & singer.
Makes ya sick, doesn't it!

He also played drums at some gig & I think did a decent job although he was too wasted to remember it. This prompted the joke:

"Ringo Starr wasn't the best drummer in the world.
He wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles!"
 
#29
Im 16 and a friend of mine that gives me some lessons and pointers has been a beatles fan since they first came out. He has a Hofner and Ric and really got me into Macca's lines. I always go back to hime , simplicity at its best. I consider him to be one of the best. I really love the lines on Hello Goodbye and All of Sgnt Peppers. Also about Macca's hofner. I was reading a Bob MArley book and it talked about FAmily man who made his first bass , which was crappy . The band he was in at the time , their manager was friends with Brian Epstein who gave the manager one of Macca's Hofners. So FAmily Man barrett played with one of MAcca's basses . A fEw years later Family Man was teaching a younger bassist to play and gave this bassist the Hofner. The recipient was Robbie Shakespeare.
 
#30
F-clef nice thread resurrection!

JHMAVRO said:
I heard some Beatles on the radio this morning and started thinking about Paul.IMO he's the man.His basslines were great. Nothing fancey or hard to play but, (how should I put this) tastfull ?
Click to expand...
Not hard to play, huh? You may want to learn some of them. :)

Try playing "Day Tripper" and singing it at the same time. Damn near impossible, at least on a 34" bass (Paul played it on a 32" bass I believe - though that may have been the Ric).

Next assignment: "I Saw Her Standing There". Again, playing and singing lead at the same time is required to understand the difficulty involved.
 
#31
gweimer said:
One of the really well-known ones (except it slips my mind now!) has a bass line that walks over the chords in passing and never stops. It's a concentrated effort from start to finish.
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That may be "All My Lovin" you're speaking of. Absolutely GENIUS bassline on that song. You need to play it and sing at the same time to appreciate the man's musicality.

And add "Drive My Car" which he has been playing a lot in recent concerts to the list of neat playing/singing stuff.
 
#33
The bassline to "Penny Lane" is a particular favourite of mine: a lovely thing, and deeply satisfying to play.

That's the beauty of Macca's work. On face value it seems simple, but it's really very intelligent stuff.
 
#34
Philbiker said:
F-clef nice thread resurrection!

Not hard to play, huh? You may want to learn some of them. :)

Try playing "Day Tripper" and singing it at the same time. Damn near impossible, at least on a 34" bass (Paul played it on a 32" bass I believe - though that may have been the Ric).

Next assignment: "I Saw Her Standing There". Again, playing and singing lead at the same time is required to understand the difficulty involved.
Click to expand...

Since I don't sing, I never thought about that -good point. I know the bass part has to be so ingrained that you simply don't think about it, so you can sing. The bass lines themselves are really not difficult to *play* but I, for one, couldn't *create* any of McCartney's really good lines.
 
#36
MrGump said:
Recently I heard all the basslines on Sgt.Pepper were recorded last,is this true?I think Paul is excellently melodic,but plays too much,and too varied(within the same line)I think he wouldnt get alot of gigs,if he was an unknown.Hes too busy.Listen to Nowhere Man.
Click to expand...

An old quote from an old thread, I know, but I thought I'd offer a little insight that I recently discovered.

Interviewed in 1999 upon the release of Run Devil Run, Sir Paul had this to say about creating basslines while with the Beatles:

McCartney: I lived near the studio and they'd all go home and I wouldn't put my bass part on until afterwards when I had a little time to consider.

Interviewer: Did you put a guide down?

McCartney: No, I wouldn't. I never wrote anything on bass. Nothing. Ever. I would write on piano or guitar and I'd like to put down the original groove. But did piss George off, particularly. And I can really see why. It must have been difficult for the other guys. I'd say, "Let's try and imagine the bass and we'll get it great . . . but without the bass." I can see now that it was asking a lot, actually."

So not only did Macca always lay his bass parts down later, but he never wrote on the bass. An interesting way to work from a bassplayers perspective. And it reinforces the idea (one which applies to me these days as well) is that McCartney was more a songwriter who played bass than a bass player who wrote songs.
 
#37
That makes a whole ton of sense. Having the luxury of laying them down later does go a long way to explaining the complexity of his later Beatles stuff. I can't agree with the idea that he's too busy, though. I never find his lines obtrusive or inappropriate. No matter how much they vary within the one song, they always fulfill the basic function of a bassline in supporting the song structure.
 
#38
Philbiker said:
That may be "All My Lovin" you're speaking of. Absolutely GENIUS bassline on that song. You need to play it and sing at the same time to appreciate the man's musicality.
Click to expand...

Too right Phil, also it was recorded in 1963 - shortly after his 20th birthday. How many pop bass players could come up with that line in those days, let alone someone just out of his teens?
 
#39
After giving some thought to the span of time in which the Beatles were together I am even more in awe of what they accomplished.

Consider that they only recorded for SIX years. From 63's Please, Please Me to 69's Abbey Road. And in that time they produced 12 (13 if you count the White Album twice) records.

IMO, the truly great work of the Beatles began with Revolver. And to think that they created Revolver, Sgt Peppers, The White Album, Abbey Road and Let It Be in just over three years is mind blowing to me. Yellow Submarine was also recorded during this stretch but I'm leaving that album out of this discussion.

I can barely think of artists today that record even TWO great albums in three years, let alone FIVE.

Amazing stuff.
 
#40
Paul's the man, no doubt about that. It's funny, though, that all the years that I listened to him and getting to know his bass lines in my head I knew they were complex and not run of the mill. When I finally got around to learning the bass (I am first and foremost a guitarist) and learning his lines I more often than not found myself overplaying and adding notes that he wasn't playing. When I actually sat down and really listened to what he was playing I found he simplified things quite a bit in the course of making them "busy", as the word seems to be now. He was complex and simple at the same time. I am very fond of his work with Wings. A great song to learn is Another Day. As far as Silly Love Songs, his bass line IS the song. You change that and the song just wouldn't grab you the way it does.
 

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