Melodic bass

[shoulderpet]

Whilst I am not a fan of bass solos I love songs that have bass being used as a melodic instrument.

The below are some of my favourites for this, anyone else have any good examples of this kind of thing?

[Youtube]

Great intro bassline on this and gets pretty funky around 1.32

 

[Youtube]

 

Bass starts around 40-ish seconds in to the song

 

[Youtube]

 

 

[Youtube]

 

[neepheid]

Carlos D is one of my favourite bass players - fantastic melodic player who apparently didn't even like playing bass (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/12/interpol-carlos-d-bass) - what?

 

[miles'tone]

2 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Carlos D is one of my favourite bass players - fantastic melodic player who apparently didn't even like playing bass (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/12/interpol-carlos-d-bass) - what?

 

Interesting! Idon't know Interpol though. What are the best examples of his melodic bass playing? 

[shoulderpet]

19 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Carlos D is one of my favourite bass players - fantastic melodic player who apparently didn't even like playing bass (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/12/interpol-carlos-d-bass) - what?

 

One of my favourites too and the reason for my recent purchase of a jazz bass

[Doctor J]

Got to have some Jim Glennie from James 🙂

 

 

[neepheid]

9 minutes ago, miles'tone said:

Interesting! Idon't know Interpol though. What are the best examples of his melodic bass playing? 

 

The first video the OP put up is a good place to start.  Actually I love the whole of the first album (Turn on the Bright Lights).  I also quite like the track Public Pervert from the Antics album for melodic playing, particularly in the verses.

[neepheid]

1 hour ago, shoulderpet said:

One of my favourites too and the reason for my recent purchase of a jazz bass

 

I don't like him that much

 

[Rich]

OK so this is a solo  but it is a ridiculously melodic one. Makes me smile every time I hear it.

WARNING, fusion content.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2022 by Rich

[davepb24]

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

 

The first video the OP put up is a good place to start.  Actually I love the whole of the first album (Turn on the Bright Lights).  I also quite like the track Public Pervert from the Antics album for melodic playing, particularly in the verses.

Turn On The Bright Lights is probably my favourite record of the 21st century

[shoulderpet]

Another good one that I somehow forgot

[YouTube]

 

[Skybone]

When I saw Tool the other week, I didn't realise how much melodic work Justin Chancellor did, as well as thumping out big bass lines.

 

Got to love a bit of bass melodic counter-point to the guitar.

[Leonard Smalls]

More melodic fusion!

 

 

[Nail Soup]

I'll go for relatively melodic....

In the early Crass records, you could consider the basslines (Pete Wright) as the sole melodic element:

 

[StickyDBRmf]

Kajagoogoo "Too Shy". Sing-along Bass line is soooo groovy. Nick Beggs also plays "ahem", Stick.

[nilorius]

On 16/05/2022 at 15:06, Rich said:

OK so this is a solo  but it is a ridiculously melodic one. Makes me smile every time I hear it.

WARNING, fusion content.

 

 

 

 

Yeah! Gary Willis known what he does.

[tubbybloke68]

If you don’t already know the song, XTCs ‘the mayor of simpleton’ is a fantastic example of a melodic bass line.

colin moulding was/is a master at coming up with quirky,very unusual and unique ideas I’d say. 😎

[Guest]

The OP prompted me to educate myself about NMA's various bassists, when did Stuart Morrow leave etc and that led me to this clip of them on The Tube. A round of applause please for the sound guy, who certainly knew what was what

 

 

ps if you want to ruin your morning, spend a while poking around online trying to work out Morrow's post-NMA career 😔

Edited May 20, 2022 by Ricky Rioli

[Rich]

Of course, the elephant in the room when it comes to melodic basslines driving the song is McCartney's "Silly Love Songs". Zero cool points but a classic of the type.

https://youtu.be/wh15LOppcWQ?t=15

 

And while we're in a poppy frame of mind, there's this classic from MJ which would be nothing without ol' Thunderthumbs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BfcRjZn6y4

 

[spencer.b]

 Love this , bonus points for the gorgeous black as a custom colour with matched headstock  jazz

 

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by spencer.b

[Bagman]

Talk Talk - “It’s My Life”

 

The Smith’s - “ This Charming Man”

 

David Bowie - “Slow Burn”

 

Kate Bush - “Breathing”

[shoulderpet]

33 minutes ago, Bagman said:

Talk Talk - “It’s My Life”

 

The Smith’s - “ This Charming Man”

 

David Bowie - “Slow Burn”

 

Kate Bush - “Breathing”

Ooo some fantastic ones there, This charming man is deceptively tricky, Breathing has some fantastic fretless bass on it

[paul_5]

Geddy Lee’s playing on ‘freewill’ is just same as the vocal melody (but down about 4 octaves 😂); it also has a great bass solo!

[iSeal95]

Jason Newstead (Metallica) had a great intro line for "My Friend Of Misery". Really melodic and served the song well. It feels like it was really meant for bass instead of just another melodic line that may have sounded better on guitar 😅