Top Five Bass lines You Think Every Player Should Know

[drlndrve]

OK, I've been playing long enough to ask it....give me the top 5 bass lines you feel any player (amateur or pro) should know. I realize that based on your own level of playing--and your expectations of others--your lists will no doubt differ. But, if a civilian just came up and said "Hey, what tunes should every bass player know?" What would you list?

 

[JohnPaulSmith]

I'll take a partial stab as a novice but am more interested in the veteran's responses. I would say you should know lines from different genres. I would go with Pink Floyd's Money, Country song of your choice that is R-5 and, I don't know, Brown Sugar?
Partial stab as promised.

 

[socialleper]

Black Sabbath's NIB (intro riff)
Iron Maiden's Wrath Child (intro riff)
Anthrax's Caught In a Mosh (intro\chorus riff)
Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls (Intro Solo)
Megadeth's Peace Sells (intro riff)

 

[Oddly]

Stand By Me (ben e king),
Under Pressure (queen),
Another One Bites The Dust (queen),
Feel Good Inc (gorillaz)
& Down On The Corner (creedence clearwater revival).

Off the top of my head...

 

[Jeff Elkins]

Not enough information to answer the question. I'd ask the civilian for more information. There needs to be a qualifier:

...to impress chicks/dudes?
...to audition for a [insert genre] band?
...to get a handle on Rhythm changes?
...to work the muscles in their fretting hand left pinky?

But my mother taught me that there are no "shoulds," so here's a stab at "...to have fun on the bass while also having a long opportunity learn." If I could only play 5 or 6 tunes for the next 12 months, these would keep me busy and engaged:

* YYZ or Roundabout (either)
* St. Thomas (chords and head)
* Santa Fe, from RENT! the Musical (but maybe this one because I learned it last year and I still dig the arpeggios)
* Trading My Sorrows
* Stormy Monday

Also something by the Beatles, but I can't put my finger on the best one to pick.

Disclaimer: limited exposure to rap, classical, and heavy rock genres here, so I'm certainly not spanning the available catalogs of all good bass music, ever.

 

[CGremlin]

The theme from "Barney Miller"!

 

[drlndrve]

The theme from "Barney Miller"!

Funny you'd say that--I played that tune for years on trumpet back in the seventies, but am working on that bass line right now.

 

[drlndrve]

I'll take a partial stab as a novice but am more interested in the veteran's responses. I would say you should know lines from different genres. I would go with Pink Floyd's Money, Country song of your choice that is R-5 and, I don't know, Brown Sugar?
Partial stab as promised.

Had three of those on my list--we must think alike

 

[Fat Freddy]

Mustang Sally....Brown Eyed girl....Stand by me...etc....etc....

 

[Jeff Bonny]

You need to know dozens of tunes to be competent in just one genre. If you play several genres you need to know hundreds of tunes. There is no top five.

 

[drlndrve]

Mustang Sally....Brown Eyed girl....Stand by me...etc....etc....

Thank you-- I was feeling guilty for thinking of those

 

[drlndrve]

I bet if I asked non-bass players 5 of the most recognized bass lines, there would be a lot of agreement.

 

[zontar]

Five bass lines they wrote.

 

[Burwabit]

I'd add My Girl, I Want You Back, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and Have You Ever Seen the Rain...
...to Brown Eyed Girl and Stand By Me.
Well, that's 6.

 

[gbrooding]

Rio Funk(Lee Ritenour) Bassist Abraham Laboriel
Good Times(Chic) Bassist Bernard Edwards
Rise(Herb Alpert) Bassist Abraham Laboriel
Paradise(Sade) Bassist Paul S Denman
Phone Booth(Albert King) Bassist Gus Thornton

 

[pedroims]

I don't know about songs but every bassist should know the mayor and minor scales and what I–V–vi–IV means

 

[GoLeafsGo]

Well, for starters:
Hi baby, come here often?
What's your sign?

Lot's of others, but I prefer the classics.

 

[Jeff Bonny]

Rio Funk(Lee Ritenour) Bassist Abraham Laboriel
Good Times(Chic) Bassist Bernard Edwards
Rise(Herb Alpert) Bassist Abraham Laboriel
Paradise(Sade) Bassist Paul S Denman
Phone Booth(Albert King) Bassist Gus Thornton

Really? I've been playing over forty years doing gigs in a bunch of genres and I know NONE of these tunes....I might have played one or more on a gig at some point but certainly none get called regularly. So why exactly should I know these particular songs?

I'm not really hacking on you for your answer either, people are posting lots of stuff I've never been asked to play let alone learn....the question is fundamentally flawed.

 

[gbrooding]

Really? I've been playing over forty years doing gigs in a bunch of genres and I know NONE of these tunes....I might have played one or more on a gig at some point but certainly none get called regularly. So why exactly should I know these particular songs?

I'm not really hacking on you for your answer either, people are posting lots of stuff I've never been asked to play let alone learn....the question is fundamentally flawed.

I am not saying these are songs that will get played by cover bands. I am saying that I feel these bass lines are some of the best lines I have heard. The bass line to Rise by Abe Laboriel became one of the more sampled bass lines in hip hop. The line by Bernard Edwards in Good Times influenced many famous songs(Rapper's Delight, Another Bites the Dust, etc). Check these songs out and let me know what you think of the bass lines in each song, I personally think they are fantastic.

 

[Achille]

Sabotage Beastie Boys
Birdland Weather Report
My generation Who
Tribal dawn Mick Karn
Money Pink Floyd