Al Krow Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 (edited) You know the one that you always used to (or still!) dread before it came up each time in the set and still have a huge sense of relief when you've got through it and not balls'ed it up? Full disclosure: ulterior motive is that I'm sure this thread will give me and anyone else "grounded" at home by this bloo*dy virus a chance to work on some challenging new material with some of the extra time we have on our hands. If you want to post a clip of you playing it or the actual original track then please do! [Edit] Been some interesting themes coming up so far, so if you don't fancy scrolling through the entire thread (which let's be honest is actually more than half the fun, right?) then here's a summary: BC's hall of difficult to play bass lines [TO FOLLOW SHORTLY...] Edited March 20, 2020 by Al Krow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Not technically difficult but got to get the feel and timing right and remember the solo bits which one starts in where on the Fretboard. And hope the guitarist and drummer also get it right, or if we get anything wrong we all make the same mistake together! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Not so much dread but tend to get too excited about when we come to play it is Footloose. It's all over the shop and when I get too excited I tend to dig in and so it becomes more difficult than it should be. Cracking bass line and I always should "yeah" when it gets to the last bit and I've managed to not make a complete pigs ear of it 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassfan Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 (edited) The beginning of sweet child was my nemesis for years! No idea why... the most complicated bass line we play now is probably Never too much, although I love it I don’t dread it! Somebody else’s guy used to send dread through me, Stevie wonders I Wish, took some getting used to as well. What yours? Edited March 19, 2020 by bassfan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnR Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 What is Hip? With a jazz big band. Just to make it even more challenging they have changed the key which means I don't have the benefit of the occasional open string. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted March 19, 2020 Author Share Posted March 19, 2020 9 minutes ago, bassfan said: The beginning of sweet child was my nemesis for years! No idea why... the most complicated bass line we play now is probably Never too much, although I love it I don’t dread it! Somebody else’s guy used to send dread through me, Stevie wonders I Wish, took some getting used to as well. What yours? I used to regularly get some bit of Sweet Child wrong, perhaps 'cos it was our encore number and after 2 hours late at night with a pub full of drunken air guitarists, I (mostly) got away with it - although very little escapes the attention of our drummer! Recently the guitarist got the intro muddled and it was very much an "at last it's not me" moment!! Two tracks I kinda enjoyed but found very demanding were Keep the Faith by Bon Jovi and Higher and Higher - Jackie Wilson. Certainly the Wilson riff wasn't particularly technically difficult but maintaining just one riff metronomically precise for 4 mins was quite a challenge, for me anyway! We've not played them live yet but I think Muse's Hysteria, Duran Duran Rio and quite a few Jamiroquoi numbers will require a fair bit of work to nail. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassfan Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 6 minutes ago, Al Krow said: I used to regularly get some bit of Sweet Child wrong, perhaps 'cos it was our encore number and after 2 hours late at night with a pub full of drunken air guitarists, I (mostly) got away with it - although very little escapes the attention of our drummer! Recently the guitarist got the intro muddled and it was very much an "at last it's not me" moment!! Two tracks I kinda enjoyed but found very demanding were Keep the Faith by Bon Jovi and Higher and Higher - Jackie Wilson. Certainly the Wilson riff wasn't particularly technically difficult but maintaining just one riff metronomically precise for 4 mins was quite a challenge, for me anyway! We've not played them live yet but I think Muse's Hysteria, Duran Duran Rio and quite a few Jamiroquoi numbers will require a fair bit of work to nail. Good luck with the jamiroquai numbers!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 The toughest one we do has to be The Real Me by The Who, not too bad if I busk it a bit but nail the important runs in the verses, but a lot of people in our audiences expect it to be bang on all the way through as they've seen the opening scene to Quadrophenia so many times they know every bit. But I'm not sure Entwistle ever played it the same twice. That said, the one that I've balls'd up with the most frequency is the bass breakdown in Special Brew by Bad Manners. It's not difficult at all and in rehearsal, or at any other time, I can just play it without thinking, but for some reason my mind goes blank whenever we gig it. I think it's because we do it at the end of a medley starting with Chasing Cars (of all things) which starts slow but gets skanked up, flows into Lip Up Fatty and then into Special Brew, and I have the whole medley to start thinking, 'oh shite, I can't remember that bass part', and we all know what happens when you start thinking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Just now, Maude said: That said, the one that I've balls'd up with the most frequency is the bass breakdown in Special Brew by Bad Manners. It's not difficult at all and in rehearsal, or at any other time, I can just play it without thinking, but for some reason my mind goes blank whenever we gig it. I do exactly the same thing with that song! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 29 minutes ago, bassfan said: The beginning of sweet child was my nemesis for years! No idea why... the most complicated bass line we play now is probably Never too much, although I love it I don’t dread it! Somebody else’s guy used to send dread through me, Stevie wonders I Wish, took some getting used to as well. What yours? Yes! I got asked to play it on a dep with naff all notice a few years back and I said OK if we miss the bass intro bit. They seemed to forget about it so I made something up there and then that seemed to pass... I am twice the age of the rest of the band, probably why I'm out of shot for the video! 😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 (edited) 39 minutes ago, bassfan said: The beginning of sweet child was my nemesis for years! Try humming the theme tune to Last Of The Summer Wine in your head while your guitarist starts the intro, that should completely ruin any chance of getting it right. In a band a long time ago I used to play Last Of The Summer Wine instead of the proper bassline to wind up the singer/guitarist. Edited March 19, 2020 by Maude 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassfan Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 8 minutes ago, uk_lefty said: Yes! I got asked to play it on a dep with naff all notice a few years back and I said OK if we miss the bass intro bit. They seemed to forget about it so I made something up there and then that seemed to pass... I am twice the age of the rest of the band, probably why I'm out of shot for the video! 😂 Well blagged Sir 👍🏻👍🏻 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger2611 Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 it's probably not that difficult a bass line but The Jam's Going Underground was always the one that I was pleased to get right, there are a fair few different parts to it and some unusual note combinations 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 22 minutes ago, Al Krow said: We've not played them live yet but I think Muse's Hysteria, Duran Duran Rio and quite a few Jamiroquoi numbers will require a fair bit of work to nail. In our acoustic (but amped up) band I have to play Rio on doublebass, and I'm sure we do it even faster than it's supposed to be. At a gig I'll glance at the setlist, see it's next and just think 'oh fook, here we go'. 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beely Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Two spring to mind, not because they are particularly difficult bass lines, more because I'm singing at the same time. Backing vocal on Fleetwood Mac's Say that you love me and lead vocal on What's so funny about peace, love and understanding. The latter I made difficult for myself by working out a bassline first and then, much later, worrying about if I could sing at the same time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 11 minutes ago, bassfan said: Well blagged Sir 👍🏻👍🏻 It's in the wrong octave but hey, if you know you aren't getting it 100% right why even try to get 90%? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 I Wish by Stevie Wonder - if you breathe wrong while playing that...it’s game over. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 In my current non-gigging band set up it has to be Dazed & Confused by Led Zep. None of the parts are actually that difficult, but the middle break part is finger energy sapping, requires a lot of concentration to not drift and keep with the drums. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harlequin74 Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Always pleased if the guitarist, keys player and me manage to sync the solo on Sir Duke! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gt4ever Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 38 minutes ago, Rich said: I do exactly the same thing with that song! Maybe it’s because the breakdown comes right after the sped up part that you know you have to nail. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 (edited) 1 minute ago, Harlequin74 said: Always pleased if the guitarist, keys player and me manage to sync the solo on Sir Duke! Only once. Yeah nice this has happened. And we were really young - had nothing to do but play all the time. Edited March 19, 2020 by AndyTravis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pineweasel Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. The first time we played it I had a horrible moment of onstage terror halfway through the prior song, but it went OK in the end. We couldn't really hack it convincingly though, so it got dropped after a couple more performances. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinB Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Thinking Of You (Sister Sledge) has always been a bit of a white-knuckle experience for me. Lots of slippery staccato notes that need careful muting... and then there's a couple of big sections with no bass, perfect for letting the mind wander and then being taken by surprise when it starts up again! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colleya Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Holding Out For A Hero. Not technical at all but we rock it up so I play a Steve Harris gallop for the whole thing. After about 2 1/2 mins the cramp is building and I have to really focus on relaxing and keeping it light to maintain the pace & rhythm. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len_derby Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 I depped for a band last summer and the song that gave me the biggest challenge was Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. A classic James Jameson work-out. Luckily, I’d got a copy of Standing in the Shadows of Mowtown with notation, but phew, the bass is prominent from the start and defines the song. Just about got away with it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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