Good Times Bad Times: Classic John Paul Jones

[greghagger]

This week a student asked me about the bass line from the Led Zeppelin classic, 'Good Times Bad Times' and it reminded me of just how good this bass line is. John Paul Jones's bass playing is on form in this song and there are some technically interesting lines to play.

 

There are two sections and two licks in particular that seem to cause problems so I thought this would be a perfect choice of bass line to make a YouTube lesson on.

John Paul Jones is such a creative bass player and so many famous bass players have stated that he's one of their influences so he's a great musician to study.

 

This isn't an easy bass line but it's fun to pull apart and you might be surprised when you find that this bass line could easily be taken from a Motown tune!

 

There is a full transcription of the bass line in standard notation and Tab available under the video.