Rufus Sweet Thing

[suraci]

I’ve always loved that track
Listening to it today - I say every single note is perfect . WHO is this bass player ? Bobby Watson? Or ?
For me, a young bass player ought to study that bass line and understand why it is so perfect. And his sound is the other thing . What bass is that?

 

[bholder]

For those unfamiliar...

 

[MIMike]

Yes, I believe it was Bobby Watson.

 

[suraci]

Bobby Watson plays this perfectly
I think less experienced bass players should study this line. More specifically: every single note he plays that are not a root of a chord - are smart*** choices. *** smart only the best players have the intuition to choose those smart notes. There are 100’s of options , other than the ones Bobby chose. But there are maybe hundreds of thousands of lessor choices.
In math we hear the term “given” . In bass playing the root of the chord, is a given. Millions of would be bass players can quickly figure that out. What is not so easy to find out is those “other notes” the notes outside of roots. I’m writing this because I think it’s important. James Jamerson was a god of many of us. Perfect match of roots and those “other notes”. JUST playing roots of chords is possible but many times it is considered boring or not creative - true. The better the bass player is the more he can play auxiliary notes to roots - without overshadowing the root. Ok I am sure tnis will be ignored as an old guy on soap box. Which I guess it is

 

[Michedelic]

Bobby Watson plays this perfectly
I think less experienced bass players should study this line. More specifically: every single note he plays that are not a root of a chord - are smart*** choices. *** smart only the best players have the intuition to choose those smart notes. There are 100's of options , other than the ones Bobby chose. But there are maybe hundreds of thousands of lessor choices.
In math we hear the term "given" . In bass playing the root of the chord, is a given. Millions of would be bass players can quickly figure that out. What is not so easy to find out is those "other notes" the notes outside of roots. I'm writing this because I think it's important. James Jamerson was a god of many of us. Perfect match of roots and those "other notes". JUST playing roots of chords is possible but many times it is considered boring or not creative - true. The better the bass player is the more he can play auxiliary notes to roots - without overshadowing the root. Ok I am sure tnis will be ignored as an old guy on soap box. Which I guess it is

Well, yeah…but I’ve heard Jemmott, Cogbill, Rainey, Hood, and many others play very similar lines on similar material, even before this song was released. Is Watson’s work solid, tasty and exemplary? Absolutely. But unique? Not really.

 

[J Wilson]

The 60's/70's bassists were transitional from Jazz/upright players they grew up listening to, and carrying that into a maturing rock era. So the best could play the tunes, yet craft lines that were creative without ever 'losing the plot' of the groove.

For me a great example was Carl Radle's work on LAYLA. Listen to the back half of each verse on 'Layla', where he starts on the 2 way up high, then tumbles through the 2-5-1-4-2-5 changes to set up the chorus. Or the second melody he builds under the chorus of 'Bell Bottom Blues'.

I mean, you can't make this stuff up. Wait a minute, they DID!