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Examples of 'Less is More'?


Annoying Twit
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I could suggest the late great Tom "T-Bone" Wolk.
He was always a tasteful player and had a knack for finding just the right moment for his subhook IMHO.
He has a long list of credits but I'm particularly partial to his work with Hall and Oates.

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wolk"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wolk[/url]

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[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfdo56CafP4[/media]

Bassline comes in at about 1:15. It's just 3 notes, but it's the [i]perfect[/i] 3 notes.

Also this (linked because of naughty language):

[code]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96O8SM20y7U[/code]

Edited by bobbass4k
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"Less is more" is the best bass playing in my opinion, but that really means is seriously better timing.


If you can play this right on bass.... you've got the Funk....

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJVmWhDYR8Y[/media]



Less would be nothing....

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxTn1om6sWE[/media]

Edited by chris_b
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Just as a summing up of this thread, I've been putting the lessons I learnt into practice. I've been developing basslines for songs on a Bruce Cockburn solo performance CD. (Just him and the guitar, but there is a fair amount of music as at some points he seems to be fingerpicking three independent lines at once). I've deliberately chosen a solo acoustic album where I haven't heard the original arrangements so that I'm not influenced by them.

It does take some restraint not to choose lines that are too busy. On a song called "World of Wonders" I've compromised by making the chorus more rhythmical, but holding back on the verses. Even then, I've been trying to add in some sophistication by having alternate patterns in four bar blocks so that there's subtle variation going on, and I've added some occasional slides, trying to sound a bit fretless (though I don't have one so I'm playing on a fretted). But overall I'm aiming for simplicity. Even in the more rhythmical chorus line, I'm only using roots and fifths.

Still haven't come up with anything for "lovers in a dangerous time", and I hope to continue through the album.

But, thinking about the examples I've seen in this thread and applying these lessons is helping. Subtle timing and dynamics can make an otherwise simple line seem much more sophisticated to me.

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[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1389458117' post='2334386']
[media]http://youtu.be/pJV2pWFyfn4[/media]
[/quote]

Arrgh! My tutor tortured me on this one! So simple, but try and play the entire track, keeping the timing and feel perfect all the way through!

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