• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Style question followed by Instruction question

Audiomicrowave

Audiomicrowave

Jan 14, 2009
232
717
Round Rock, TX
#1
This will no doubt sound like a stupid question. What would you call the musical style of artists like Earth, Wind & Fire (September, for example), Jackson 5 (I Want You Back, specifically), Bill Withers, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder and similar. Seems to have parts of R&B, Funk, Soul...lots of things put in a blender. 70's Gold, maybe? All of these have one thing in common for me - great basslines. I'm at a point that I'd like to learn that style of playing, but don't even know where to begin.
Could anyone point me to online lessons they've found useful? Or, if you are an instructor in this style, in the Austin, TX area, please let me know. I have a pretty strong background in classic rock and blues, but want to stretch my wings. Thanks for your time.

B
 
  • Like
Reactions: JRA
#2
How I would break it down:

EWF=R+B/Funk

Jackson 5=Pop (people might say Motown, but a lot of their records were recorded in LA with not many, if any, Funk Brothers)

Bill Withers=Soul/Blues

Otis Redding=Soul

Stevie Wonder=R+B/Pop/Funk

Of course, these distinctions are not static. And what defines each genre is fairly fluid.
---
Check out "Sign, Sealed, Delivered". It is pretty easy and allows for some options to try things out.

"September" is a pretty square part without anything too flashy. With that one, you have to focus on where notes are not played. Given that, the whole song is not many parts. I learned it off YouTube.

There is a guy who plays and tabs it out as you listen. Very helpful. I don't really like most of the above artists with the exception of Otis. But I had to learn a lot of these types of songs for a wedding band, and I think it expanded my playing quite a bit.

These are the tutorials I was referring too. They require some skill to play along too. But since it repeats, you can kind of memorize it and work it up to speed.



"I Want You Back" is a tricky song to learn, but I guess it is worth it. I still don't like playing that song because I think it makes a good song to hear on the radio but not the best song to play at a gig. It is kind of "up" and exciting except not really danceable.

Anything Otis Redding is fun. Check out Wilson Pickett too.

"I Heard it Through the Grapevine" by Gladys Knight and the Pips is a fun tune to improvise around. It is almost like an R+B/Gospel Soul feel.

I think a thing to remember with a lot of these tunes is that the bass players didn't always set out to play a very exact part. That might happen, but a lot of the time they are grooving around ideas that comeback around but don't always get repeated exactly later in the song.

"Play That Funky Music" is a funny song because the bass line almost never changes. It is funky I guess, but lacks a lot of the noodling that funk and R+B sometimes have.

"I Got You" James Brown. Fairly easy but makes you work on the rhythm.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AGCurry, Artman, Reedt2000 and 1 other person
#3
They really are "all those things put in a blender". I don't think you can draw a hard line between R&B / Funk / soul, they all overlap too much. Making a concise distinction is not as useful as learning the songs you like. Pick a recording or two and learn the bass line. Then find the chords and analyze how the bass line supports the chords. Rinse and repeat. The more you learn the bigger your r&b/Funk /soul vocabulary grows.
A solid understanding of blues and basic jazz harmony wouldn't hurt.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Vinny_G and Audiomicrowave
#4
Jeff Hughes said:
How I would break it down:

EWF=R+B/Funk

Jackson 5=Pop (people might say Motown, but a lot of their records were recorded in LA with not many, if any, Funk Brothers)

Bill Withers=Soul/Blues

Otis Redding=Soul

Stevie Wonder=R+B/Pop/Funk

Of course, these distinctions are not static. And what defines each genre is fairly fluid.
---
Check out "Sign, Sealed, Delivered". It is pretty easy and allows for some options to try things out.

"September" is a pretty square part without anything too flashy. With that one, you have to focus on where notes are not played. Given that, the whole song is not many parts. I learned it off YouTube.

There is a guy who plays and tabs it out as you listen. Very helpful. I don't really like most of the above artists with the exception of Otis. But I had to learn a lot of these types of songs for a wedding band, and I think it expanded my playing quite a bit.

These are the tutorials I was referring too. They require some skill to play along too. But since it repeats, you can kind of memorize it and work it up to speed.



"I Want You Back" is a tricky song to learn, but I guess it is worth it. I still don't like playing that song because I think it makes a good song to hear on the radio but not the best song to play at a gig. It is kind of "up" and exciting except not really danceable.

Anything Otis Redding is fun. Check out Wilson Pickett too.

"I Heard it Through the Grapevine" by Gladys Knight and the Pips is a fun tune to improvise around. It is almost like an R+B/Gospel Soul feel.

I think a thing to remember with a lot of these tunes is that the bass players didn't always set out to play a very exact part. That might happen, but a lot of the time they are grooving around ideas that comeback around but don't always get repeated exactly later in the song.

"Play That Funky Music" is a funny song because the bass line almost never changes. It is funky I guess, but lacks a lot of the noodling that funk and R+B sometimes have.

"I Got You" James Brown. Fairly easy but makes you work on the rhythm.
Click to expand...

Dang, leave room for other people to chime in :smug:

Seriously, a really good, comprehensive explanation and suggestions.

(In other words +1 :roflmao:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Audiomicrowave
#5
Audiomicrowave said:
This will no doubt sound like a stupid question. What would you call the musical style of artists like Earth, Wind & Fire (September, for example), Jackson 5 (I Want You Back, specifically), Bill Withers, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder and similar. Seems to have parts of R&B, Funk, Soul...lots of things put in a blender. 70's Gold, maybe? All of these have one thing in common for me - great basslines. I'm at a point that I'd like to learn that style of playing, but don't even know where to begin.
Could anyone point me to online lessons they've found useful? Or, if you are an instructor in this style, in the Austin, TX area, please let me know. I have a pretty strong background in classic rock and blues, but want to stretch my wings. Thanks for your time.

B
Click to expand...
Funk, Motown, soul, rhythm and blues, blues.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Audiomicrowave
#9
For me Earth, Wind & Fire is more Disco than Funk, but I agree with @mambo4, these are styles that overlap and are part of this larger genre that is Rhythm & Blues. In addition, some of these artists have tried all these styles, sometimes in the same album. Stevie Wonder, for example, did Gospel and Reggae songs, when you wouldn't instinctively put him in those categories. IMHO, YMMV ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Audiomicrowave
#10
Audiomicrowave said:
T 70's Gold, maybe?
Click to expand...
No. There is a ton of great 70's music that has nothing to do with the musicians you named. We used to call it soul music before people decided we need 100 sub genres of everything so everyone would feel special and have their own little sub category.

Just my opinion, but these arguments are like arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

If you want to learn it, learn it. Just transcribe it and practice. No need for a specialist to teach you, assuming of course that you already know how to play the bass.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kevindahl, Audiomicrowave and Vinny_G
#12
Those are some of the songs that made me want to play bass. "Staying Alive" and "Disco Inferno" were early ones for me too.

I just got tabs for what I could find and played along with them until I was locked in. This was right before YouTube so it's even more accessible now. You're on a good path though, if you search 70's gold/Dance hits you will get bass lines for years. Isley Brothers, O'Jays, and Gap Band were ones my dad told me I should learn. He doesn't play any instruments but he was right lol :thumbsup:

Ok I'm ramblin' now but @Jeff Hughes Gave ya gold. Have fun and get down! :cool:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Audiomicrowave and Reedt2000
#17
nnnnnn said:
Genuine struggle. (Sadly missed opportunity for wordplay: I should've said it doesn't feel good.)
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the verse or the whole thing? Where are you playing it on the neck? For the verse, I usually do kind of a hammer on hammer off action for the eighth notes rather than plucking each eighth note since the drummers I play with usually play it slightly faster than the record. It seems other people pluck every note though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Audiomicrowave
#18
Jeff Hughes said:
Are you talking about the verse or the whole thing? Where are you playing it on the neck? For the verse, I usually do kind of a hammer on hammer off action for the eighth notes rather than plucking each eighth note since the drummers I play with usually play it slightly faster than the record. It seems other people pluck every note though.
Click to expand...
Is the "I feel good, I knew that I would now" part the chorus or the verse? That's the bit that sounds least groovy when I play it. Haven't played it lately, but from memory I was playing it at the 5th fret for the D chord and 3rd fret for the G chord.

To my ear on the recording it sounds like those eighth notes are all plucked, but in my own playing I get a nicer groove with a combination of plucking and pull-offs, or even just plucking the first in each bar and using pull-offs and hammer-ons for the rest.

For the other section of the song with the descending line I think I was playing it starting with my little finger on the fifth fret and that section sounds better.

I doubt I'll ever be a real groove master, but there's just something about this song that I have trouble with even though I'm fine with other more technically difficult songs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Audiomicrowave
#19
Jeff Hughes said:
...These are the tutorials I was referring too. They require some skill to play along too. But since it repeats, you can kind of memorize it and work it up to speed...
Click to expand...

This video series has some great stuff on there! Thank you for sharing.

fbafa077733c468f92d4625e72eb31c3.jpg


B
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back