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Organ Bass Lines


Hobbayne
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Our drummer has always wanted to cover 'Break On Through' as he is a huge Doors fan.

However, I can take or leave them.

But unlike Riders On The Storm there is no bass guitar, only an organ.

Has anybody tried this? I just wondered if I Could get away with it. 🤨

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Hmm. I was just wondering whether or not it might sound empty with just one guitar and a bass, bearing in mind the organ is playing the chords too.

Oh well. The only way is to give a go. 🤨

Edited by Hobbayne
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I think some of the organ bass parts on Doors recordings were played with the foot pedals on the Hammond, as were numbers by players such as Jimmy Smith. Some of them can be a little tricky, but definitely doable and fun to play, on bass as a result. Give it a go. If you want it to sound close to the original, keep that tone rolled back and don't allow the notes to sustain for too long.

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4 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

. . . . . . . . If you want it to sound close to the original, keep that tone rolled back and don't allow the notes to sustain for too long.

IMO the op is worrying about the wrong thing. It's a cover band and he's the bass player so he should be playing the bass lines and they should be his interpretation of the original. His personality should be in those lines.

I always listen to the original lines, then I'll decide how close I want to stick to them. IMO as long as you don't compromise the spirit and feel of the song, get in there and make the songs yours.

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Make the song yours and put your personality in the lines? How about a spot of slap? Or a nice buzzsaw heavy metal bass sound, played with a pick? Should sound great on Riders on the Storm...

Roger Ruskin Spear used to hold up a notice that said "Wow. I'm really expressing myself" whilst playing a dodgy sax solo in the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band. Says it all, really.

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Perhaps, but if it ain't broke.. Playing music in bands, especially if playing covers, is not about putting your "personality in the lines". It's not me-me-me, it's us-us-us. I'd love a pound for every time I've heard someone say "that's my interpretation" when playing something badly/wrongly. Before you can "interpret", you need to understand the original language properly.

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4 hours ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Are you sure it's Manzarek's left hand on the studio version? I can get pretty close to that sound on a Precision with a bit of overdrive, and the tone control opened up to "angry goose" levels.

The Doors did use bass guitar players to some extend (not live AFAIK), but in this case it's Manzarek's left hand on the Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, and through some electronics. He might just be overdriving an input, Idunno.
I've never seen him use organ pedals with his tiny combo organs, but that doesn't mean he never used them.

I agree with EliasMooseblaster about the idea of a bass and an overdrive. The exact sound is hardly important for this song even though the overdrive part seems important to me. Me, I'd use a compressor as well so as to govern the decay as well as the oomph. Oh, and playing one octave closer to where the dust starts. 😃

 

BTW, for those few that might be interested, and I'm aware I'm being a foot fetish nazi here, there's no such thing as "foot pedals", much like there are no "hand pedals", "hand manuals" or "foot manuals".
@Teebs, have you seen my nazi TLRT? Must've mislaid it.

Edited by BassTractor
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