What is a nice little tune to show off bass skills with?

i just learned the intro to "calm like a bomb" by RATM, it's pretty impressive IMO.

 

"I Heard It Through The Grapevine" as recorded by Gladys Knight and the Pips (as opposed to the Marvin Gaye version). This is a really cool JAmes Jamerson bass line. It's written out in th "Standing In The Shadows of Motown" book.

Or "100 and Rising" by Incognito. The bass line is fairly easy but sounds really cool.

Peace,

James

 

Uhhh don't we already have "What's your showoff riff"? Oh well. Uhhh, Southbound Pachyderm by Primus. Nothing drives the ladies wild like Les Claypool.

 

Calm Like a Bomb is a good one, but that's already been said.

A crowd pleaser, but not too impressive, is Rappers Delight by The Sugarhill Gang.

 

Impressive, to me, would be something like Stanley Clarke's solo in "Vulcan Worlds" (Return To Forever - Where Have I Known You Before).

 

RATM is always a winner but I am a girl so I just have to show the guy at the music store that i don't suck, Bombtrack is a good one to play, and clam like a bomb works too,
stand by me by Ben E king (i think..so many people..so many versions..) works when i have ti play for my gran aswell,

 

this thread has nothing to do with technique.
moved

 

no see... you HAVE to play Higher Ground... and you have to screw it all up... and not get the double thump right... and you have to play it a little fast... and then move up to the A string and do the same lick...

and then you have to look over your shoulder... and check out the guy next to you who's actually TRYING OUT A BASS, and wishes you'd turn the frick down... then, it would be good to have a friend or two, one with a red hat on backwards, come over, stare at your hands in awe, and then look around the store at other people... while you look around nonchalantly..

oh yeah, then play "rappers delight"... but of course incorrectly... and then try it again after you miff it the first time... then look around in awe...

oh yeah, and pick up an Ibanez because it looks cool...

 

Led Zeppelins 'Black Dog'.

 

a song thats not really showing off, but catches peoples attention is low rider. start playin it and u'll see like 10 people turn around, laugh, then carry on. if ur in front of a group of girls start singing the chorus and u'll make them all laugh. major points their. just in my experience.

 

I've been playing "Portrait of Tracy" alot for some reason, I guess it's because I like the song. That seems to impress people who aren't totally into rock.

 

Classical Thump by Vic Wooten

 

Yeah, i'd play Classical Thump too...

if I could...

 

lounge act - nirvana. sounds good, looks hard to play to people with no skill, but to anyone who knows what they are doing, it aint that tough. then, just go crazy on your bass. mad solo. just hit as many strings as possible in as many frets for at least 30 secs. do it in slap, if ya can.

then say bass is gay and go play a banjo.

then, ask to play the 7-string and do the same thing you did before. then go in a vicious loop of it all till they kick you out.

(now, im assuming your in a music store in this scenario...)

 

Do, lilke, the Stanley Clarke "Lopsy Lu"/"Working Man" riff. That get you dem shorties, no doubt, yo.

 

The best way to impress people is to put down the bass and go pick up a guitar...

 

Why do you care about impressing any of the schlubs that work at a music store anyway? I always thought that people that bang on one bass after another, with every gratuitous bass lick they have ever heard, look like total blow-hards! There they sit, thumping away on a bass that they'll probably never afford, while their scrawny, stringy-haired blonde girlfriend drools over 'em.

What I usually do, is go in and play a few scales, in different positions on the fretboard and then I move on to a few recognizable little "riffs." About the time someone starts to notice me, I leave.