What makes a great Blues bass player.?

[Bobhmcs]

I agree.

Listen to how Gus Thorton's bass drives this song. He locks in with the drummer. Even though you have Albert King and SRV trading licks, it is the bass that makes this song. Not a busy bassline, but it just fits in the song.
BTW, it was Duck Dunn who played bass on this song on AK's original studio album.

Per themselves it was Duck Dunn and Steve Cropper that wrote Born Under A Bad Sign. Not bad for a couple of Teenagers from Memphis.

 

[Playbyear]

wrote Born Under A Bad Sign

Booker T Jones with is credited with music (so of course Dunn and Cropper were in on it)
William Bell, another Stax vocalist is credited with the lyrics.

 

[IamGroot]

Being firmly locked in the groove doesnt always mean you have to be dull.

The bassline for the Clapton version of Hideaway has some clever nuances. Worth studying. I was amazed to see John McVie was the bassist.

 

[Bengal1]

Here's what BB King thinks:


BB King Interview


Guitar.com: What do you look for in a bass player?


King:

One that will play what I want. That's what I look for. I'm a blues player. I like one-three, I mean I, IV and V. Them blues chords. And I want the guy to spell them out, play 'em for me where I can hear em. Of course I'd like him to have a little more knowledge, so we could, you know, everything we play is not 12-bars.


Guitar.com:

Right, you do so much more than I, IV and V, he's got to know a little more than that.


King:

But if he's good with I, IV, and V, I still can live with him because I can teach him the other. If he's good with that I, IV, and V, he's my guy. And I want him to drive. I want him to be like the drums: I want him to drive. And that's what I like in a bass player.


Guitar.com:

When you say you can teach him the rest what if the guy comes to you just playing I, IV, and V? Where do you take him from there?


King:

I'd teach him how to play eight bars. Eight bar blues has many changes. I'll teach him, that ain't no big problem. If he want to learn, I'll teach him.


Guitar.com:

Some of the jazzy turnarounds and things?


King:

I don't think of it as jazzy turnarounds, it's just different from 12-bar blues. It always kinda gets my nerve when a guy says, "I'm a jazz musician." I don't like that. Or "I'm a blues musician." I don't like that either.


Guitar.com:

You prefer to just say you're a musician.

King: Yeah. If it's something I want. For example, if I came to town, and I was looking for somebody to play, I want em to play what I want. I ain't looking for no jazz musician, I ain't lookin for no blues musician. I want the guy to play what I want. Now if he studied jazz, fine, cause most jazz musicians are better with blues than actually the blues musicians, cause they're more familiar with chords.


Guitar.com: Right.


King:

So that's fine with me. But I don't want a guy to say, "Yeah, I'm a jazz musician. I don't play them old blues." I put a X on his name. (laughs) Or "I'm a blues musician. I don't play no jazz." I put a X on his name too.

BB was quite a guy. Super friendly and down to earth. He could play more with less notes with extreme taste than most players.

 

[MichelD]

Being firmly locked in the groove doesnt always mean you have to be dull.

The bassline for the Clapton version of Hideaway has some clever nuances. Worth studying. I was amazed to see John McVie was the bassist.

Why? After his stint with Mayall, first with Clapton and then with Peter Green on guitar McVie was in on the formation of the original Fleetwood Mac band by Green in 1967 as a blues band.

How did he learn to play the blues? Listen up kids.

According to Wikipedia "under Mayall's tutelage, McVie, not having had any formal training in music, learned to play the blues mainly by listening to B.B. King and Willie Dixon records given to him by Mayall. Also John McVie was the band's bassist for four and a half years."

 

[Lagado]

You dun better been eating them chitlins to know blues like you oughta should.

 

[IamGroot]

Why? After his stint with Mayall, first with Clapton and then with Peter Green on guitar McVie was in on the formation of the original Fleetwood Mac band by Green in 1967 as a blues band.

How did he learn to play the blues? Listen up kids.

According to Wikipedia "under Mayall's tutelage, McVie, not having had any formal training in music, learned to play the blues mainly by listening to B.B. King and Willie Dixon records given to him by Mayall. Also John McVie was the band's bassist for four and a half years."

I think of Johns work with the Stevie/Lindsey Fleetwood Mac. Very solid but not stuff I need to study.

 

[Playbyear]

If your studying the blues bass, Willie is the man.

Quoting Willie Dixon

"The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It's better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues."

 

[IamGroot]

I study Willie Weeks.