What's Lisa doing now...or help, I need to pick some music!

I'd go with Led Zep - there are some great riffs for bass, I started off bass playing when I was 13, going through the book "Led Zeppelin complete I -V" and learning all the tunes.

I think my favourite (not too hard) riffs were "HeartBreaker" and "The Ocean". Black Dog is a classic riff, but can be hard to "get" with the little triplet thing in the middle.

 

Pink Floyd's Money, off of Dark Side of the Moon.

A classic bass line that people will recognize instantly.

 

Bruce-
I've probably mentioned this before...I also cut my teeth on that Led Zeppelin Complete Songbook(bought mine from Morning Glory Music). Though the charts weren't entirely 'accurate', there was enough info to 'play' the tunes.
"The Ocean" is cool; it has a classic riff that alternates between 4/4 & 7/8. The end has some pseudo-Swing goin' on.
BTW, last weekend, I was attempting to goof around with "Good Times, Bad Times"(& it's two little bass breaks!)...man, that's tough!

 

Amen! Good times bad times is a tricky little bastard...it sure as hell sounds simple but isn't when you sit down and actually play it accurately. Lots of subtle drum/bass things going on in that song...

The first bass break after the first chorus is definately an electric bass classic.

/lovebown

 

LB-
...I was goofin' around with "GTBT" again today; some definite R&B-ish stuff goin' on(a 'little' during the 1st chorus & A LOT during the F# change immediately after the first bass 'solo'). JPJ, no doubt, dug Jamerson & Motown.

 

Yeah very much so. His tone is really big-warm R&B too. I think I read somewhere that JPJ's main influences was Duck Dunn, Jamerson and Motown in general. His playing on Led Zeppelin 2 is really R&Bish and I think it's his finest bass work...

/lovebown

 

I agree w/ JT's suggestion of "rock and roll" as a good starter zep tune. Some of the other stuff is pretty challenging.

Following the thread on down, you might want to look at some Duck Dunn (stax/volt rnb). From the jumping jive of "Who's Making Love" to the almost vocal duet character of "Dock Of The Bay", it's all good.

 

I think "Rock & Roll" is a bit dull to play just on your own - the riffs like Ocean and Heartbreaker have their own interest and are recognisable as the tune - even with just the bassline.

If Lisa was talking about playing with band, then "Rock & Roll" would be a good starter, but I think the riffs are more fun to work on and as JimK pointed out they do have musical ideas that you can apply to learning music - like triplets, different time signatures, etc.