Larry Graham - Hair

[mlauritsen]

Hello!

(I posted a [url="http://www.talkbass.com/threads/hair-larry-graham.296024/"]very similar question to talkbass.com[/url], but the thread was ancient, not sure whether anybody will read it there.)

I've spent a couple of weeks trying to figure out the main riff in Larry Graham's "Hair", and I'm close, but I've been trying to put it on paper, and there just seems to be a sixteenth too much in the main riff, no matter what I try:

[font=courier new,courier,monospace]
One -e- and -a- Two -e- and -a- Three -e- and -a- Four -e- and -a-
E0 R R E0 E3 D5 E5 D7 Ex E0 A5 E0 A7 Ex /D7 Ex /G7
[/font]

I left out the hammer-on A5-A7 for readability, and it doesn't seem relevant.(?)

I wrote the main riff down as a single bar, which makes it ~78bpm with most of the notes sixteenths... That seems to fit with the basic drum groove (Snare on 1+3, Kick on 2+4, and some tasteful hihats sprinkled around. :-)

I have read and listened to everything I could find on the net, including the excellent:

[url="http://playbassnow.com/song-tutorials/how-to-play-larry-grahams-hair"]http://playbassnow.c...ry-grahams-hair[/url]

Really, I have listened to this song (and the above video) many many times, and no matter what I do, the last note spills into the next bar, which is not groovy.

The notes on the beats above (The first E0, the E3 on Two, and the dead note on 3 all seem good to me, which just means that the Ex slide to D7 Ex slide to G7 on the fourth beat just do not fit.

I considered tripletsOne -e- and -a- Two -e- and -a- Three -e- and -a- Four -e- and -a-
E0 R R E0 E3 D5 E5 D7 Ex E0 A5 E0 A7 Ex /D7 Ex /G7
and grace notes, but the flow of the riff is very even - it really is all sixteenths.

I'd be very grateful for any clues!

Edited September 15, 2015 by mlauritsen

[NoirBass]

Watch this:

https://youtu.be/7EwonPfOlwE

It tells you all you need to know.

[mlauritsen]

Hello!

That's the same video I linked to myself. :-)

I watched it many times, and I can't make the riff fit within one measure - a sixteenth spills over at the end, and looking at the video, I'm playing it like he says.

As I hear it, the A7 falls on the fourth beat, making the fourth beat:

1. A7
2. An open E
3. A slide up to D7
4. An open E
5. A slide up to G7

Played as 5 sixteenths, I just can't fit that into one quarter beat (assuming the time signature is 4/4 around 78bpm - which feels right when listening to the drums). I listened to how he plays it in the video many times, and when I play it the same way, the notes just don't fit in.

Obviously, I'm doing something wrong, the video (and Graham) play it and it sounds just fine... I'm just trying to figure out exactly what I'm doing wrong?

Edited September 15, 2015 by mlauritsen

[NoirBass]

oops, I should have spotted the video.

I make it this (change file extension to .pdf to view):

[attachment=200806:Hair.pdf] Edited September 16, 2015 by NoirBass

[mlauritsen]

Beautiful - thank you so much!

I was hoping for somebody to post exactly what you did (proper music notation), that's the simplest way to really nail it in writing.

This riff is even cooler now that I understand how it works. (Absolute genious, with a popped sixteenth "spilling over" like that!)

If you need a lawn mowed or something, let me know (little chance of that in London I guess). ;-)

[NoirBass]

No problem, if you enjoy playing it half as much as I do then I'm happy just to have passed it on, although really we should be thanking Mr Graham (and Marlowe DK for demystifying it).

That said, my lawn could do with a mow .

[PawelG]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_1k-66_t5Q