Songs that epitomize a particular bass tone?

[cassanova]

Anything off Queensryche's "Operation Mindcrime" and "Empire" have everything you listed. Except for maybe clean.

 

[DrPepper09]

well all of these are IMO but any corrections are welcome since I ain't no tone expert and yeah I just love Casiopea

****in' Asians how do they work?

 

[peledog]

Mod/Punk

Bruce Foxton uses a pick and a Ricky fat/punchy/overdriven - I think he played through Marshalls. Very melodic too.



Foxton is playing an Aria bass. This sounds 'punchy' too.

 

[peledog]

The Jam - Town Called Malice

The first 8 bars and you know what song it is - I'm not sure if it defines a bass tone though.

 

[redbeard74]

Wow. Thanks for all of the responses! Can't wait to dig into them this weekend.

 

[dcr]

Anything by Bob Marley will get you into "Dub" tone.




dcr

 

[taphappy]

Maybe we can have a sticky thread (eventually) that has a list of examples that will present a common lexicon of language for us all. Then there would be communication and peace throughout the land.

Yay Team Bass!

 

[Meddle]

Hands Of Doom - Black Sabbath. That bass intro is warm and tubey. It typifies (imho) flats played the Geezer way up over the end of the neck.

Yes - Yours is No Disgrace. Typical Rickenbacker clank (the most musical clank I can think of!), warm tubey tone again but with roundwounds played with a pick. Very clear on this track.

 

[ga_edwards]

For another classic P bass example, look no further than Queen's 'Crazy Litttle Thing Called Love'. Esp that little descending run after the handclap a cappella break.

 

[GM60466]

Badge: Punchy

 

[Lincoln]

thick, warm, powerful.

Basically, anything that Jamerson did with a P-bass for Motown. Off the top of my head I'd say Stevie Wonder's " I was Made o Love Her"...

 

[mid_life_crisis]

Okay, most of you need to edit your posts and add the description he asked for. "Awesome", "amazing" and "incredible" are not tones.
Right now what comes to my mind is "Sunshine of Your Love". Jack Bruce's bassline in that to me is "thick" or "solid". If you could walk on sound, that would be it.
I'm informed that he does it all with nothing more than the instrument, technique, and a little overdrive on the amp.

 

[nostatic]

Okay, most of you need to edit your posts and add the description he asked for. "Awesome", "amazing" and "incredible" are not tones.

Who are you, the tone police?

Those tone descriptions are just as viable as any other. "Punchy" doesn't really show up in a music theory/history class...and is just as subjective as "awesome."

 

[Plstrns]

Bright, round, growl, punch- in that order.

 

[dmclane]

PHAT!

 

[Pilgrim]

Sorry, sounds totally dead to me.
Needs to be a lot brighter and clearer.

To each his own, I guess.

Yup, that must be it.

The bass line from Soul man by Duck Dunn is the lead for the whole number - defined the sound of Sam & Dave's instrumental section - and Soul Man was a number one Pop Hit (Cashbox: November 11, 1967) and has been recognized as one of the most influential songs of the past 50 years by the Grammy Hall of Fame, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Rolling Stone magazine, and RIAA Songs of the Century.

So if it sounds "totally dead" to you, perhaps it's time to start working on how to achieve a totally dead sound when it's needed! You could sound "alive" the rest of the time.

 

[line6man]

Yup, that must be it.

The bass line from Soul man by Duck Dunn is the lead for the whole number - defined the sound of Sam & Dave's instrumental section - and Soul Man was a number one Pop Hit (Cashbox: November 11, 1967) and has been recognized as one of the most influential songs of the past 50 years by the Grammy Hall of Fame, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Rolling Stone magazine, and RIAA Songs of the Century.

So if it sounds "totally dead" to you, perhaps it's time to start working on how to achieve a totally dead sound!

I guess this is subjective, but it's not what I would call punchy and bright at all.

 

[Engine207]

The Ric sound:



Bass kicks in at around 1:40
Starts to really rip at 3:15
Heats up again after a synth break at 5:39
The epitome of a Rickenbacker 4001 at 6:33
Final flourish at 9:47

It would be good to know how much money Rickenbacker made in 1978 and 1979 as a direct result of this song...

 

[Pilgrim]

I guess this is subjective, but it's not what I would call punchy and bright at all.

I do think it's quite punchy, but I didn't claim it was bright at all - it's not. It's a classic 60's P-bass sound, including flatwounds. I agree with you that it's pretty much the opposite of bright. (To me, that's one of the major reasons it sounds good.)

To me, "punchy" does not necessarily also mean "bright". That's part of the challenge in achieving mutual understanding of such terms, which is something the OP was struggling with.

 

[line6man]

I do think it's quite punchy, but I didn't claim it was bright at all - it's not. It's a classic 60's P-bass sound, including flatwounds. I agree with you that it's pretty much the opposite of bright. (To me, that's one of the major reasons it sounds good.)

To me, "punchy" does not necessarily also mean "bright". That's part of the challenge in achieving mutual understanding of such terms, which is something the OP was struggling with.

You said "not too bright", which implies there is brightness, but not too much that it becomes excessive.

I can't think of any P bass examples off hand, but things like this are my definition of bright and punchy.