The Perfect Song for Learning Advanced Bass

[N4860]

Hey guys,

I have just been in the process of transcribing the bass part to an obscure prog song that many of you have probably never heard. It is certainly going to be quirky to most but this song is a very good exercise in learning many different techniques. It doesn't have any slap or tapping but it has most other techniques and approaches to playing bass, featuring many cool rhythmic changes, fast fills, pick playing, finger style jaco-esque grooves, and even a decent amount of cool lead fretless parts thrown in.

I can post my transcription here in the next week or so when I finish it if anyone is interested. Here's the song (yeah, it's a long one):

 

[Spidey2112]

Here's the song (yeah, it's a long one):

In all fairness, you did say 'prog'.

 

[Scottgun]

Small world. I transcribed this back in the aughts, but on paper so I didn't uploaded it and lost track of it. I did it so I could impress a friend who was a huge Flower Kings fan, and be like "Hey, check it out!" and rip one of the Jacoesque arpeggios. Then I heard the live version and all the fretless was gone. Ripoff!

 

[lordradish]

Jonas Rheingold absolutely kills it on this album.

 

[N4860]

Jonas Rheingold absolutely kills it on this album.

Yeah, he really does. That album and Adam and Eve are my favourites of theirs. Such an underated bassist.

 

[N4860]

Small world. I transcribed this back in the aughts, but on paper so I didn't uploaded it and lost track of it. I did it so I could impress a friend who was a huge Flower Kings fan, and be like "Hey, check it out!" and rip one of the Jacoesque arpeggios. Then I heard the live version and all the fretless was gone. Ripoff!

That's awesome. I've been wanting to transcribe a few of their songs for a good 15 or so years but never got around to it until now. Jonas really has a unique way of playing in my opinion, and just this tune alone has gotten me a lot more comfortable using a pick.

Check out the live version on the Meet the Flower Kings DVD (it's on youtube). He does switch to his fretless for the first verse but I think the rest of the song he just plays some of the fretless parts on his fretted and it sounds good. There are parts from the studio recording missing, particularly the parts where he would have fretted and fretless bass at the same time for obvious reasons.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Well, have fun with that!

No sarcasm intended. Just sayin', it's above my pay grade! Cool tune from a band I hadn't heard of. Influenced by Yes, but they do their own thing.

 

[roccobass]

Cool beans, dude. I dig the Flower Kings. They don't get as much love as Yes or Rush. I listen to them on my FK Pandora channel and "The Truth" gets some air time.

Don't know if you've thought about it, but you might try transcribing this one. It's more Chris Squire-esq, but you could probably Geddy it through with no problem. I believe it’s Michael Stoldt on bass here.Love this one by them.

 

[BassicJazzy]

Yeah, well, that's prog, with a fretless. You don't usually hear fretless on prog. I only listened to perhaps 6 minutes, heard some things that reminded me of early Genesis, some Yes, Jaco, etc. Nice playing on the fretless. Like much prog, a lot of segments to learn, but it's playable.

Let me suggest one for you: "Above and Beyond" by Curved Air, 1972, from the Phantasmagoria album. More challenging but has more continuity which would make it easier to learn as a song. Rhythmic changes on it are pretty complex, but it was the high point for that outstanding early prog band. It's a lot of fun to play, at least the parts I have learned, and doesn't use fretless (just a J bass).

 

[micguy]

Yes, that's a difficult song. But....my two cent's worth - I wouldn't spend time learning that song, unless I had to play it for a gig. Learning a bunch of techniques and intricate stuff may help your ego, but learning a bunch of simpler tunes would probably be a better use of your time - practice is an investment of time, and the usefulness of the outcome is always worth considering. Blazing technique (or knowledge of obscure Prog songs) is not required on most gigs; the ability to play a bunch of different more "normal" tunes with various chord sequences will get you much further.

Do what you want, but I don't have the time to learn stuff like that - I have gigs to prep for.

 

[N4860]

Yes, that's a difficult song. But....my two cent's worth - I wouldn't spend time learning that song, unless I had to play it for a gig. Learning a bunch of techniques and intricate stuff may help your ego, but learning a bunch of simpler tunes would probably be a better use of your time - practice is an investment of time, and the usefulness of the outcome is always worth considering. Blazing technique (or knowledge of obscure Prog songs) is not required on most gigs; the ability to play a bunch of different more "normal" tunes with various chord sequences will get you much further.

Do what you want, but I don't have the time to learn stuff like that - I have gigs to prep for.

Well I did suggest that this would be a good tune to learn for learning advanced bass. Yes, there are lots of simple songs that would be useful for standard bar cover band gigs. I learned a lot of those many years ago when I was first learning bass. I suggested this song as an example of something a bit more advanced, more so for people looking for a challenge. It has nothing to do with ego. I don't even think it's really all that blazing in speed aside from the unison with the keys at around 25:50 which is tricky IMO. I really found transcribing it to be interesting in the bass players use of basic scales in a musical way while keeping the rhythm interesting throughout.

I'm super jealous you have gigs to prep for, I wish I could say the same. For now I will just practice the tunes that I like to play.

 

[BassicJazzy]

Yes, that's a difficult song. But....my two cent's worth - I wouldn't spend time learning that song, unless I had to play it for a gig. Learning a bunch of techniques and intricate stuff may help your ego, but learning a bunch of simpler tunes would probably be a better use of your time - practice is an investment of time, and the usefulness of the outcome is always worth considering. Blazing technique (or knowledge of obscure Prog songs) is not required on most gigs; the ability to play a bunch of different more "normal" tunes with various chord sequences will get you much further.

Do what you want, but I don't have the time to learn stuff like that - I have gigs to prep for.

I agree. That's a reason I don't learn complete songs. Why crowd the aging memory banks with things I do not need? I do play things that resonate in my memory, perhaps some interesting cadences or segments from some of the old prog numbers, then I jam on them, or improv new phrases off of them. I find just using standard jazz forms to be better practice space. Bebop blues, tritone sub blues, variations of minor jazz blues, etc. 90% of my practice time I'm just walking, working on coming up with new lines, improving fluidity and speed. For me, that beats just learning to cover songs.

 

[MrWolf14]

Hey guys,

I have just been in the process of transcribing the bass part to an obscure prog song that many of you have probably never heard. It is certainly going to be quirky to most but this song is a very good exercise in learning many different techniques. It doesn't have any slap or tapping but it has most other techniques and approaches to playing bass, featuring many cool rhythmic changes, fast fills, pick playing, finger style jaco-esque grooves, and even a decent amount of cool lead fretless parts thrown in.

I can post my transcription here in the next week or so when I finish it if anyone is interested. Here's the song (yeah, it's a long one):

What an incredible song!
I have to admit I didn’t know them, but yesterday evening I invested some time to listen to the whole song.

I see how working on this 30’ of music can be instructive for a bass player: it covers many different aspects.

Let us know how you progress!

 

[N4860]

What an incredible song!
I have to admit I didn’t know them, but yesterday evening I invested some time to listen to the whole song.

I see how working on this 30’ of music can be instructive for a bass player: it covers many different aspects.

Let us know how you progress!

I pretty much finished transcribing it all yesterday, just need some time to clean up things a little bit. It was very inciteful to figure it all out IMO.

 

[N4860]

Rough sheet music transcription is attached below for both the fretted and fretless parts if anyone is interested. I can also upload tab versions if anyone prefers.

I didn't really go in and put key changes in yet so it might be a bit messy in spots.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Hey guys,

I have just been in the process of transcribing the bass part to an obscure prog song that many of you have probably never heard. It is certainly going to be quirky to most but this song is a very good exercise in learning many different techniques. It doesn't have any slap or tapping but it has most other techniques and approaches to playing bass, featuring many cool rhythmic changes, fast fills, pick playing, finger style jaco-esque grooves, and even a decent amount of cool lead fretless parts thrown in.

I can post my transcription here in the next week or so when I finish it if anyone is interested. Here's the song (yeah, it's a long one):

Wow. Kudos to you for transcribing a 31 minute song!
What do you think about transcribing a bass-line (played by Adam Nitti) from a pop song that's only 4:40 minutes long?

The bass line from that track is trulydrool a very good exercise in learning many different techniques.
I would be so grateful to you.



And here is the same (extracted) bass line with a metronome in the background.