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Paul McCartney

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#83
Originally posted by bassmonkeee
Jeez....

We get it. You like Paul McCartney.
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At this point, I think I'll just have to assume he IS McCartney, as self-adoration the only thing I can think of that could explain this guy's obsession with Paul.
 
#85
Chris says "well cause what he plays tends to be easy"

yeah, and perfect. I double dog dare you to play and sing "I Sar Her Standing There" without getting a hand cramp. And I mean play it right, not some hack muso version. I don't know what's so easy about coming up with the signature bass line for about 200 of the world's best pop tunes.
 
#86
Boy Corin I light a fire under you! :) It's ok easy isn't always bad. I like his playing on Something even though I'm not a beatles fan. I like something Helter skelter I am the walrus and for the benefit of Mr kite. But his playing is easy. It's tasteful and what not. The notes he plays matches the chords. But it's definitley not something that I would have to take my playing to a new level physically to do. Besides I went and saw Paul when he came to the fleet center he only played bass on like 2 songs. He played (shudder) guitar for the rest of it. And some Piano. But I guess when you got Will Lee behind you, You don't need to pick up bass.

His Playings Easy. You don't have break your hands trying to learn it. I thought that was part of the appeal
 
#87
Oh yeah and in my opinion James Jamerson, and Chuck Rainey came up with the worlds best pop tunes bass lines so please don't state your opinions like facts. matter of factly, if there was no Jamerson, there would be no Mcartney. James was the bass player on all the songs that the beatles covered when they came to the US.
 
#88
I double dog dare you to play and sing "I Sar Her Standing There" without getting a hand cramp. And I mean play it right, not some hack muso version.
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Chris, I'm with corinpills here. I've gigged with a band that covered "I Saw Her Standing There" and I sang backing vocals and played it. Once I even sang it and played it when our singer was out. It is extremely demanding to play on the bass physically, and very difficult to sing in the high registers. That song killed my voice the night I sang it with the band. I pulled it off, but thank God it was at the end of the set because my chords were shot. And I agree, play it note for note exactly like Paul, not a hack version (easy to do) skipping some of the passing tones. Take some time and really listen, that song is tough. It's not superfast, but it absolutely never lets up not for a second, and takes a lot of concentration to play. I'm sure it's a bit easier on a 32" scale bass like Paul's Hofner, but do not make the mistake that all of Paul's songs are "easy to play". It's not true.
 
#89
It is true. Just to prove it I'm in the process of learning that song. I don't particularly like it but I'm learning it anyway. Compared to Tunes like "word to herb" by the screaming Headless Torsos, "Slink" by Vinnie Coliautia (I never spell his name right) "st alphonso's pancake breakfast/Father vivian oblivion" it's not so bad. It's not difficult it's just an endurance issue. Seeing as how I spent all this last spring summer and fall working on Tower of Power tunes and singing and playing "what is hip" my only issue with this is gonna be the vocal range since mine is slightly lower then his. actually the fact is I like spots of Paul's playing and I think he is very tasteful and a well mannered (musically speaking) bass player who always fit the band he was in. Don't make me pass judgement on his music
 
#90
Ok I got it. It's all a matter of being able to play 16th notes. Hell He throws eighth note breaks in there for a little relief. Go fingerstyle on "Streets have no name" by U2 and then play this I'm sure you will have allievated any hand cramping you would have encountered. I think it's just a matter of having the head room and endurance. It' doesn't mean your mentally a great bass player. It just means you got your 16th notes together. I like the little "boom boom ba dat" at the end. I still like his little bass line in "something" better. If you guys wanna hear an interesting take on that listen to the screaming headless torsos first cd on the very end they do a great version. as far as "standing there" goes, It's a fine bass line But I don't think it's difficult. You just gotta have the ability to play 16th notes. I say give it some practice and maybe clean up your technique guys and you should be all set. I even took the 8th notes out of the chorus and put in 16th notes there.
 
#91
but Chris, do you by any chance go that music school across the river from me where people actually listen to Vinnie Colluita albums? Not to assume, but I'd rather have written any Beatles song than claim copywrite for the one chord in "What Is Hip" or any of the other Tower of Power songs that nobody but musicians knows. Sorry man, I'm a musician for the people, not other bass players.

I love James Jamerson to death and back, and I'd never dredge up a topic that has been debated to death like this one, but I think old Paulie is a pretty slamming bass player and the man primarily responsible for the general public becoming aware that the bass guitar even existed. Before Paul McCartney, nobody gave a toss about being a bass player, most people didn't even know such a thing exosted. There was a huge, huge amount of people who took up the bass guitar in the mid 60s (and a gear explosion that went along with that) and it wasn't because of James Jamerson or Chuck Rainey. And that wasn't Will Lee playing bass at the Fleet Center.
 
#93
you got me :) But don't judge so fast man I play whatever I wanna play. But I've been trying to nail down this tune "Slink" for a while and it's been giving me fits. I think you oughtta give me a fair shake before you go judging whether or not I'm a wanker.

and as far as your judgement of what is hip your entitled to your opinion but, I've never had a bar or joint in detroit not go crazy when my band plays it. we can put that in also with any bass line that stemmed from nathan watts (which I helped myself to by the handful) of stevie wonders stuff. Man face it had it not been for the motown movement there would have been no british invasion. And before your ignorant rear end goes and tells me "there was no bass" before paul mccartney, I'd like to bring up Ray Brown, Charles Mingus, Jimmy Blanton, Slam stewart, Oscar Pettiford, Milt Hinton, and Ron Carter. They all played bass they all played on popular music for their time and one or two of them were even successful bass/songwriters. See I think your all offended I don't fall at Paul Mccartney's feet. I just think he's had some nice tracks. He's more of a songwriter to me then a bass player. I put him in there with Sting who's had some decent stuff, and Michael henderson who's a decent song writer and bass player. I'll even Pile Meshell Ndege Ochello in there they all kinda go in the same part of the brain. I have a lot of respect for each of them. I'm just saying what they play isn't mind boggling. the first time I heard it I didn't go "whoa ****!!!" Like I did the first time I heard Jamerson or Willie Weeks or Chuck Rainey or Rocco Prestia. and I bet audiences go just as crazy when I whip out "Sir duke" as they do for any of your beatles songs.


side note: being a decent singer doesn't make you a good bass player
 
#94
jack bruce and john enthwhistle go on that list as well with sting and Paul. My wife is such a good tune.

oh by the way I was just chatting with anyone and they said "yeah he's like that don't let it get to you" they also said that rent is due the first of the month and they love the bass line to "Get Ready" better then most beatles bass lines.
 
#95
and for number three on a side note feel free to swing down all asia cafe on monday night. I'm subbing for a friend In the Melissa Sobey band and she's pretty good from what I've heard. I'm probably gonna be straight up reading but if your in the boston area feel free to swing by. she loves the beatles.

Also making people buy a lot of equipment does not make you a good bass player. Is Leo Fender a good bass player? I had 6 students over the summer bring in that blink 182 bass, does that make him a good bass player?
 
#96
I think the mistake being made here is trying to isolate Paul's technical playing from his musicianship as a whole.

If you're going to do that, why not isolate even more and say Paul's fretting hand?

Know what I mean?

It's silly.
 
#97
Well thats what I'm saying to begin with. He's a good musician and It looks easy cause it is easy. I mean whats so hard to understand about that? I'm not insulting the guy or trying to bash what he does at all. He's a fine bass player. He does not play hard lines. I'm not saying he should. He just plays the McCartney sound.
 
#98
" And before your ignorant rear end goes and tells me "there was no bass" before paul mccartney, I'd like to bring up Ray Brown, Charles Mingus, Jimmy Blanton, Slam stewart, Oscar Pettiford, Milt Hinton, and Ron Carter."

Spoken like a true Berklee snob (went there so I'm allowed to bash it). Did I ever say that there was no bass? I don't think so. I said that there was very little perception of the electric bass amongst the general public before McCartney. A gazillion guys switched from baseball to rock muisc the day after the Ed Sullivan show. Here, let me explain it to you. The reason that there is a bass department at Berklee is because there was a huge explosion in the number of people who took up the bass after the Beatles. It created a demand for instruments and the infrastructure that goes along with it- including bass departments at colleges. The reason you can go to college for bass (and study all that jazz geek rubbish, he said affectionately), Chris, is that Paul McCartney was here to sell Motown back to Americans (meanwhile, it's notable that exactly 2% of the Beatles' recorded output was Motown covers). Study your history, man. Go ask Rich Appleman, the chair of Berklee's bass department, about McCartney's influence (and why he got rid of that lovely Guild hollowbody he used to play).

May I humbly suggest to you, dear boy, that your perceptions (and perspective) on this matter may evolve? I shudder to think about what an opinionated little twit I was when I was at Berklee listening to bad fusion and wearing my bass too high. It makes me question everything that I think I'm sure about now.

And if you don't agree with me, I'll force you to eat at Little Stevie's before sleeping. You'll have heartburn for weeks.
 
#99
I dont see paul MCcartney as a bassist.. well i do..but i see him as a musician..
But chris.. Your saying.. ya know Chuck and James a better than paul.. The truth is.. they aren't.. and paul isn't better than them. Not that they play a whole lot different. But those cats played bass. Paul plays EVERYTHING. plus he was a guitar player before he joined the beatles. His basslines prove hes not just a guitarist who trys to be a bassist. You can sit around and play root yeah. He went outside the root. Although I wont say that his talent was the reason why people started getting more into bass in the 60s. Id say cause he was the most popular member of the beatles. Everygirl wanted paul.. and every guy wanted to be like paul.
Hes about one of the best musicians that have lived though. Im not saying hes the best... or hes better than anyone else.. cause everyone has opinions. But i will say easily hes in the top 10.
 
#100
May I point out that, despite popular trends refuting this, the correct conjunction of you and are remains "you're"? Have we as a society agreed to abandon that and I've not been told? I'm not saying that I expect perfect gramar on a message board (and I spell like a complete maroon sometimes), but how can anyone not know that? Seriously. Do you understand that you're trying to make a conjunction out of the words you and are? "Your" is posessive. That's 3rd grade, right? I know, nothing to do with bass, but it's embarassing to read over and over.
 
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