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The Predictable Bassist

#66
I play whatever is the most difficult thing I've learned at that point in order to impress the largest number of people possible :D.

After that ;), I play a chromatic exercise to test for any obvious fret buzz. Then I play:

Penthouse And Pavement (check it out if you don't know it -- delicious bass wankiness!)
And The Beat Goes On
Square Biz
Never Too Much
Forget Me Nots
some original lines
some classical etude whose name I don't know
Just A Touch Of Love
Rio

Wow... I'm realizing I have a long list of tunes I play when trying out basses, so I won't continue to bore youse with all of 'em. :)
 
#67
Unprofessional said:
When trying out a bass or other equipment, why would you not use and re-use bass lines or snippets that are familiar to you? These are your sonic references and you have a solid idea of what they should sound like in your opinion and how they should feel.
For instance, if I were trying to decide between two basses, I would certainly play the exact same line, riff or snippet on each and play each through the same rig and settings. IMO, you want to eliminate as many variables as you can that aren't connected to the bass itself for as clean an A/B test as you can muster in the store.
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But but but, it's not cool. Wont somebody please think about being cool? That's all that matters!

Seriously though, I'm with you. I play the same riffs whenever I go to GC. If I'm looking at basses it always the following:

-Slap and pop in E (yup, don't care if it drives the elitists crazy)
-The first minute of Anesthesia-Pulling Teeth (never learned the rest)
-Eastbound and Down by Jerry Reed

If I'm looking at guitars (guitard by trade for 25 years), I'll usually screw around by jamming with the kid on the next isle. Inevitably, there will always be a 13-16 y/o kid playing either:

-Master of Puppets
-Smells Like Teen Spirit
-Stairway to Heaven
-Smoke on the Water.

I'll listen for them to find the grove and then start playing leads over the groove. Sometimes one of the clerks will catch on and have a good chuckle over it.
 
#69
gumbynotpokey said:
My old standby is the riff of Heart of the Sunrise.
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+1 to this. I love this bassline, it's a great way to check out a pretty huge chunk of the neck, and since it's not in E, A, or D it really messes up guitarists who try to follow along.:D

After that, I'm recycling the same Geddy riffs that everyone else does...Freewill, Vital Signs, Force Ten (for double-stops)...followed up by Bach's "Air and Bourree." I learned it in high school and it never fails to turn heads. Besides there's a lot of neck covered in that piece of music!
 
#70
Malak the Mad said:
Blame it on the fact that I'm still learning, but I'm guilty of over-using a few riffs…whether it's to warm up or to try out a bass hanging on the wall;
  • The incredibly simple slap-line of "Urgent" by Foreigner
  • "Notte In Bovisa" by Calibro35 (great jazz-groove song…if you haven't heard it, look it up)
  • The intro of "Defender" by Manowar
  • "Let's Groove" by Earth Wind and Fire

Maybe, someday, I'll actually be proficient enough to start coming up with my own riffs, licks and chops. But until then, I'll keep pathetically falling back upon my "old reliables".
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I forgot to include these little ditties;
  • "I Want Your Love" by Chic (we miss you, Bernie & Tony!:bawl:)
  • a slightly more funked up version of "Things Can Only Get Better" I've been working on…with heartfelt apologies to Howard Jones :o
 
#73
I suppose in large part it depends what i'm looking at. What I have in my hands.

Generally though, if i'm looking at something in the realm of a Jazz, i'll play some "Portrait of Tracy" and some Rage Against the Machine like "Bulls on Parade" or more often "Bombtrack."

If it's of the Precision variety i'll usually go old school with "I'll take you there" by the Staple Sisters and "I want you back" of the Jackson 5

If it's got a B string. I'll go with Deftones "Rocket Skates" and "Swerve City" or "The Package" by A Perfect Circle.

If it's got a C string. Obviously I go with "Solar Groove" and "Panic Attack" from Dream Theater.

No matter what is I play some Tool to check out the mids.

If it doesn't necessarily fit into one of those categories I just let the bass speak and see what comes out.
 
#75
Intro to Limelight and/or Spirit of Radio, sometimes Ceremony or Age of Consent by New Order, Should I Stay Or Should I Go, random noodling in F#, sometimes the bass riff from U2's Get On Your Boots. Oh yeah, if it's to try a fuzz box, then Sabotage.
 
#76
I have a couple of more obscure Rush riffs that I do - Ghost Rider and the quiet part of Something for Nothing. Sometimes Cygnus.

I'm really not good enough to do most of the well known ones :help:

Otherwise, some 80s stuff my last band did.... Rio, The Metro, Back on the Chain Gang. Didn't play this one, but the riff from ABC's "Poison Arrow" is fun and sounds more complicated than it actually is.
 
#77
Whatever pops into my head. Some that do are:

Black Magic Woman
I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown
Cold Sweat - J.B.
That's The Way God Planned It (which is kind of "scale-like")
Funk 49
Ramble On
No Woman No Cry
Santeria (guilty pleasure!)
 

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