Bilbo

This one took a wee while but it was a labour of love. I remember when I must have been about 14 (no idea really) and, for reasons I cannot recall, I went into town with my mate's older brother. At this point, my knowledge of music was essentially Pop driven, like most young kids. This 'older guy' was about 16 or 17. When we were out, he bought two LPs 'Time And Tide' by Greeenslade and 'Close To The Edge' by Yes. He loaned them both to me soon after and I have loved both LPs ever since even after 40+ years of hearing other things. Technology was not what it is now back then and we didn't have YouTube etc so I never really spent much time playing along to CTTE as I couldn't really hear the details enough to play them. Roll forward to 2020 and we discover the wonders of 'Isolated Bass' tracks on YouTube. 40 years later, I give you Chris Squire's bass part to arguably THE most important Prog track of all time. Lots of lovely surprises in the exercise for me, not the least of which is the realisation that most of the track (but not all of it) is in 3:4. Time signatures and bar lengths-wise, this transcription is how I hear it and there may be other ways of putting it together. Either way, I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it down. Note: There is no bass during the 'I Get Up, I Get Down' section. Close To The Edge Bass Part.pdf

Charles Benavent invented Flamenco bass. There are some great recordings out there with him on but one of my favourites is Gil Goldstein'Zebracoast.

This just landed on my YouTube feed. A Spanish bass player who has taken traditional Flamenco guitar technique (the most sophisticated approach to the instrument in the world) and transferred it to six string bass. I love Nuevo Flamenco as it is but this is astonishing. The guy is called Juan Farjado Louva and is new to me. Makes most slappers look a little silly. Enjoy.

I love the music from Noggin The Nog.

I always thought of it as a Telecaster bass because of the headstock. It is important to acknowledge that such details have never really interested me.

Over-rated: almost everybody but special mention goes for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Snarky Puppy, Van Morrison, Jacob Collier, Modern Jazz Quartet, Rappers (all of them). Underrated: Me. Massively

Colchester Arts Centre

I was turning old demo cassettes into mp3s over the weekend and this came up. I am pretty sure that this is the first time I ever recorded with my Wal (1986?). I vividly remember taking it to a rehearsal soon after I bought it. As a bonus, the track features singer Grant Nicholas from Feeder and, on guitar and keyboards, Brian Sperber, producer, engineer and arranger for the likes of Moby, Ric Ocasek, Whitney Houston and Blues Traveller.

Ovation Custom Legend and Ovation 2058 Tx 12 string. I also have a Takamine CD132SC nylon ac. electric and an Epiphone 335 Dot (red). I actually practice guitar more than bass nowadays. So few bass gigs, there doesn't seem to be much point.

More Chris Squire. This track often gets a b ad rap from Yes fans but I could never see what was wrong with it. I guess it may be because it came when the Punk thing was fresh in people's minds and may have sounded a bit naïve at the time. I find the bass part interesting, though. As an aside, when I recorded this from ipod to PC, the lead was dodgy so the recording massively favoured one half of the stereo mix. It was the half with the backing vocals on and I heard things I have never heard before despite having listened to the recording for decades. This is a complete transcription of Squire's bass part to 'Circus Of Heaven' from the LP 'Tormato'. Circus Of Heaven Chris Squire Bass Part.pdf

Some more Paul Chambers. This time, it's his solo on 'Almost Like Being In Love' from Red Garland's 'Piano' album. The solo starts at around 3:08 on the track. Watch the phrasing as PC is pushing and pulling the time all the way and this makes transcription very subtle and the nuances difficult to accurately capture. Almost Like Being In Love Paul Chambers Bass Solo.pdf

Yeah. A dream come true for me.

Everybody's favourite Chris Squire bassline from Roundabout from the Fragile LP. Listen to the record on this one because there are nuances in the picking that are hard to put down on paper. This is how I hear it so you may hear it differently. Roundabout Chris Squire Bass.pdf

First section of the cello part of Bach's Double Violin Concerto transcribed and tweaked so it can be played on a bass (electric or double). Just an exercise but a wonderful example of Bach's genius. Just noticed the last note is a low D so you will have to move that up an octave to play it on a four string. Bach Double Violin Concerto - cello for bass.pdf

Major, Minor, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Diminished and Augmented. The rest are just variations of the above (and the natural minor is actually a variation of the major but a really important one). In all keys. That's 52. How many more could you need. 😎

Another one of our own lost to the virus. https://www.wbgo.org/post/henry-grimes-bassist-avant-garde-pedigree-and-storied-return-dies-covid-19-84

An odd little album that I always felt was less than the sum of its parts but I liked his track enough to want to transcribe it. This is the Jeff Berlin bass part for Unt from the Kazumi Watanabe album 'The Spice Of Life'. Some nice lines in it and some strong shout choruses. The attached video is a live version whereas the transcription is the recording but it is not on youtube so try finding it on Spotify or some other website Unt Jeff Berlin Bass Part.pdf

If you write it down in 12:8, you will find it a lot easier to put the transcription together.

In my experience, keep at it until it is second nature. If you can't play it smoothly straight off, it is simply because your chops are not there yet. Kepp playing it and it will get smoother and smoother.

Does anyone have Henry's contact details? Please PM me if you do. Many thanks

Another Jeff Berlin/Bruford classic - I have previously posted the head but this chart is the FULL transcription of the tune. I 'learned' this wjen I was starting to get into Jazz and Fusion bass players (I must have been about 19?). I could not get the detail at that point and never go past the head. It was fantastic to be able to slow it down and hear every detail on the pedals etc. I will try and do the second version of Pump It at some point but not today It was interesting to note that the 'solo' section in this performance was not improvised (he repeats it twice exactly same). Joe Frazier Bass Complete.pdf

My transcription archive in the Theory and Technique section exists for this very purpose, to provide more interesting material to practice reading.

I preferred his take on 'Little Wing' (2.18) https://youtu.be/iT0M5pk9ci8

I SO wish that we had had Transcribe software when I was learning to play the bass! These Jeff Berlin parts were so important to me when I was learning but all I could ever do was try to approximate and I couldn't get hold of any of the details. Now I can slow things down to 25% without changing the key, I can hear everything! This is Jeff Berlin's bass part to 'Gothic 17' from the 'Gradually Going Tornado' LP. As I recall, the title is from the name of the synth patch Dave Stewart is using. Hope some of my fellow travellers can find some of the secrets that had previously eluded them as they had me. Gothic 17 Jeff Berlin Bass.pdf

He is like me and just transcribes what floats his boat or catches his ear rather than popular stuff.