Bass Nation

So it’s been five days since I got my electric upright bass and I’ve been trying to play it at least a little bit each day. The other night I was just messing around with it unplugged and noticed a buzz on the lower notes of the lower strings, so I played around for a really long time adjusting the bridge height and the truss rod. I at least isolated the buzzing to 2 notes on one string which are less noticeable when it’s amplified, and I can get rid of it if I hit the string just the right way. I’m not sure if this is something that a simple professional setup might fix, or if it’s something I can eliminate through proper playing technique.

And speaking of proper technique, I’ve decided to take a few lessons just to make sure I don’t develop bad playing habits so early on. I think I may have found somebody who I can afford on craigslist.

But just messing around and playing simple lines on it at least is starting to sound good. Besides trying to develop some of my own grooves on it, I’ve been covering Hey by the Pixies and Walking on the Moon by the Police (links go to bass tabs). They’re both really basic but also very melodic and involve a little bit of sliding. Hey has a nice little walk to it as well. My sister took some great pix of me playing which I’ll post once I get them, and once I’m a little more confident on it I’ll take some video.

I thought I’d focus on an Irish band with it being the day after St. Patrick’s Day and all. The most obvious would be U2, and it’s not them. It’s not the Pogues. It’s not Van Morrison. It’s not even the folks who made the film Once, even though it’s the best indie rock low budget musical this side of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Nope, I’m talking about Thin Lizzy . While their most notable musical sound is that of dual lead guitar riffs, they’re also a band fronted by their bassist, Phil Lynott. They were both multi-racial and also featured members who were both Catholic and Protestant. The race thing certainly isn’t a big deal these days, but at the time they were the first hard rock band fronted by a black guy (I can’t say African American since he was Irish, so I’m not sure what the correct term is) to get big. The mixed religion thing was definitely a big deal at the time, and probably still would be to some people today as those wounds run incredibly deep.

So for your listening and playing pleasure, here’s their biggest song, The Boys Are Back in Town. It’s one of those great rock and roll party anthems, and that dual guitar riff still gives me tingles. Here’s the tab , and below is a YouTube to play along to. While you’re having a drink to celebrate all things Irish today, be sure to hoist a pint in the memory of Phil Lynot, who died in ‘86 from years of hard living.

Black Sabbath’s bassist, Geezer Butler, was another one of my big early influences. He played real low (Sabbath tuned all of their instruments down one and a half steps, so the E string was actually a C#, giving them that extra low sound and requiring really heavy strings), bluesy and slightly distorted. He uses flatwound strings which gives his tone more warmth and depth. Most of his basslines went along with Tony Iommi’s iconic guitar riffs with a little added flourish which makes those songs incredibly fun to play. The thing with Black Sabbath, at least the classic original incarnation before Ozzy got too fucked up on drugs, is that it’s all built on these riffs that have since become part of the rock and roll lexicon. Anyone even with some casual listening can hum most of them in their sleep. And that’s also what makes them so fun to play. And then there’s the intro to N.I.B. Tune down, throw on a slight flange or chorus and a little bit of fuzz and give this one a try. It’s fast and dark and like all of their early stuff just sounds a little bit evil.

Here’s the tab. Below is  a youtube of just the music. And here’s a version of it done by Primus with Ozzy on vocals! Enjoy.

I haven’t had the opportunity yet to do a full post on Geddy Lee who is one of my major influences from very early on. Rush is another one of those bands that people either really love or really hate, and while I may not love them like I did in high school and college, I still have a great appreciation for a lot of their stuff and their amazing musicianship while recognizing that some of their stuff was just really cheesy. There’s a great debate over when they jumped the shark, and it seems that people see Moving Pictures as the line where all things previous were great and all things post were meh. I would go a few albums after that. I actually really liked Signals, and my favorite song from that album is Digital Man. It’s somewhat epic, with a reggae infused chorus and just insane basslines throughout. I don’t get how Geddy could play lines like that while singing. It boggles my mind when I can’t even play those lines yet. Want to learn them? Here’s the tab. Here’s video of a guy playing along. And here’s Rush doing it in 83. And while owning a scalpel does not make you a brain surgeon, here’s Fender’s Geddy Lee signature Jazz Bass .

Back in the 70’s, The Police burst onto the music scene with their reggae-infused new wave, and their first big hit was a little song about a hooker named Roxanne. While the drumming is insanely intricate (Stuart Copeland is one of my favorite drummers ever) and the vocals test the limits of Sting’s range (he wasn’t able to hit the highest highs when I saw them in 07), the guitar and bass are incredibly simple. During the verse the guitar is your typically minimal reggae rhythm guitar playing on each of the four beats while the bass just plays a descending line, two quick notes at a time on the 2 beat. Then the chorus kicks into double time and everyone is rocking out the eighth notes. While the notes themselves are really easy to play, the placement of them is what drives this song. You’re sort of straddling that 2 beat with each note and not letting the second one ring out too much until the last note of each descent (”I won’t share you with another boy…” that’s where you let it ring). Tone-wise, this dub-style bass is all about boosting your lows and cutting your mids and highs, just deep and dark and low.

Have fun and give this one a try. Here’s the tab. And below is a YouTube with just the lyrics to distract you.

Silly me! I did a whole post about some famous, iconic sitcom basslines and didn’t bother to offer a way for you to learn to play them. Like a lot of songs, they’re not as hard to play as they sound and a little bit of practice will go a long way with them.

So, first up was Barney Miller. Be sure to give it a listen from my previous post because this one has some funky rhythms to it.

G---------------------------------------

D-----------------------------2---------

A---------0-1-2-2/4-5-4-2-0-----4-2-----

E-0-2-3-4-------------------4--------0--then some crazy guitar and trumpet kick in but you play the same thing over and over

Then there’s Night Court. Slap the lower strings, pop the upper strings, hammer on between the 3’s and 5’s at the end and you’re funking out 80’s TV style. Now where’s Bull?

|-------------------------3-
|----5----------------3-5---
|-----------------3-5-------
|--3----1-2-3-3-3-----------

And lastly, we’ve got Seinfeld. For slap tabs, S means slap and P means pop, though it should be pretty self explanatory. This is a good one to play all the time. When you and your friends are sitting around bullshitting about something, just bust out one of these riffs.

Riff 1
G|-----8---------------|-----7--------------|
D|----------10--8------|----------9--7------|
A|---6---6---------11--|---5---5--------10--|
E|---------------------|--------------------|
     s p s   p  p   p      s p s  p  p   p
 Riff 2
G|-----------------------------|------------------|---------------------|
D|-----------------------------|--------------2---|-----------------7---|
A|--------------5--------------|------------------|---------------------|
E|-0---0--3--5--------3---5--5-|--3---2--1--0---0-|-2--2--3---4---5-----|
   S   S  S  S  S     S   S  S    S   S  S  S P S   S  S  S   S   S P

And just because we’re doing TV theme songs, here’s the tab to Black Flag’s classic TV Party , which I think would be real fun to play and incorporate actual TV theme songs. And below is a YouTube to play along with.

Sometimes I feel basslines are (bomp bomp) complicated. I just want (bomp bomp) simplicity and quarter notes on just three of my strings…

Simple basslines are not always the most interesting thing to play, but sometimes it’s just what a song calls for. Case in point: Tainted Love. Originally a minor 60’s soul hit for Gloria Jones, this song got huge in the early 80’s with a cover by Soft Cell that also incorporated Where Did Our Love Go by the Supremes. This is about as simple as it gets. It’s all quarter notes on the root, and it only uses 2 frets on 3 strings. Just look at the intro:

         q  q  q  q     q  q  e  q.

G---||---------------|---------------||

D---||*--------------|--1--1--------*||

A---||*--------1--1--|--------1--3--*||

E---||---3--3--------|---------------||

How can one of the most recognizable basslines ever be that simple? But it is. And the verse and chorus are even more simple.

VERSE:  Sometimes I feel (etc)

       q  q  q  q     q  q  q  q

G---|--------------|--------------|

D---|--------------|--------------|

A---|--------------|--1--1--1--1--|

E---|--3--3--3--3--|--------------|Drive into the heart of me (back to VERSE)

q  q  q  q     q  q  q  q     q  q  q  q     q  q  q  q

G---|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|

D---|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|

A---|--------------|--------------|--1--1--1--1--|--1--1--1--1--|

E---|--3--3--3--3--|--3--3--3--3--|--------------|--------------|

CHORUS:  Once I ran to you (etc)

q  q  q  q      q  q  q  q    q  q  q  q     q  q  q  q

G---|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|

D---|--1--1--1--1--|--1--1--1--1--|--------------|--------------|

A---|--------------|--------------|--3--3--3--3--|--3--3--3--3--|

E---|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|

q  q  q  q     q  q  q  q

G---|--------------|--------------|

D---|--------------|--------------|

A---|--3--3--3--3--|--3--3--3--3--|

E---|--------------|--------------|

Yes, it’s that easy. Any beginner can play this song and sound awesome doing it. Just remember to play the bomp bomp part a little harder (and if you don’t know what I mean by that, listen to the song - it’s pretty obvious). Check out the tab here (though the whole thing is above). Below is a youtube without any distracting video.

Steely Dan are considered a guilty pleasure by many. People either really love them, or totally hate them, finding them cheesy and overproduced. Count me into that first camp, with no guilt in my pleasure. I’m an unapologetic fan. Their musicianship is top notch. The songs are catchy as hell. The lyrics are interesting. And sure, there’s a great deal that goes into the production and ridiculous amounts of studio musicians playing on it, but the producers are also the main songwriters so it’s exactly how they want it to sound. Don’t hate them for being perfectionists!

Peg is a fun song, most notable for having Michael McDonald’s amazing backup vocal harmonies. But the bass line is pretty sick and super fast with a bit of slapping and popping. Here’s the tab . Below is a YouTube without any distracting video so you can play along. Here’s video of somebody playing along on bass and here’s a clip about the making of this song which is great stuff for all the real hardcore music geek types.

Here’s a a real quick song. The Minutemen got their name for their song lengths usually coming in around a minute and a half. But they pack a whalloping amount of musicianship in such a small package. While their speed, aggression and lyrical themes put them in the early 80’s hardcore punk scene, their music has more in common with jazz and funk than punk rock.

This little song has you going all over the neck very quickly in a funky groove. Rhythm is everything here. Sometimes you’re playing on the beat, but you’re also playing around it a lot which is what gives it the funk groove.

The tab is here , and a youtube clip without any video distraction is below. If you want to see somebody trying to play it, that’s here , and some really roughold beaten up footage of the Minutemen playing it is here.

Here’s a real fun song to play. It’s got three finger galloping and synthesized tapping. And it’s just a great song. I remember when I first heard Muse that they sounded like a bit of a Radiohead ripoff, but when I heard the whole Black Holes and Revelations album it rocked my world. It’s proggy and poppy at the same time and there’s some really great musicianship. They rely a great deal on synthesized bass tones. I’d really like to pick up a bass synth at some point. There’s one in particular called the Moogerflooger which is basically an analog Moog synthesizer without the keyboard. I ran my bass through an old friend’s Moog and it sounded ridiculous. Of course, those things are not cheap and I have other gear needs ahead of that. But anyway, back to Knights of Cydonia…

Here’s the tab. I usually like to provide a YouTube link that doesn’t have any video so you’re not distracted when you try to play along, but the sheer awesomeness of this video made me feel the need to include it.