Herbie Flower’s Inventive Bass Line From ‘Country Comfort’

[greghagger]

A really great British session bass player passed away last week, the brilliant, 'Herbie Flowers'. 

 

Herbie played on so many session that even he couldn't remember them all! The bass lines that he's best known for are from 'Take A Walk On The Wild Side' and 'Space Oddity.’

 

Like lots of session players, Herbie Flowers wasn't really in the limelight, but he played right up to his death and was also heavily involved with education, helping to set up the music college, BIMM in Brighton, England.

 

One of the albums that Herbie played on was, 'Tumbleweed Connection', a country album by Elton John that was released in 1970. His bass line from the song, 'Country Connection' is really great. It's so inventive and shows some of Herbie's Jazz influences in it.

 

I set myself the task of transcribing and recording it in one day, which was a challenge. It's the type of bass line that I could really do with practicing for a few days to really nail the high melodic licks perfectly.

 

So, here's my play-through video, warts and all. It's my tribute to Herbie Flowers.

 

There’s a link under the video to my full transcription in notation and Tab. 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

[Phil Starr]

Thanks Greg, nice one.

[greghagger]

4 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Thanks Greg, nice one.

No problem. Glad you liked it. 

[Phil Starr]

Greg it's a nice chance to say I quietly follow a lot of your lessons/transcriptions and I've learned a lot. This one clearly feels different and spending 5.07 listening to you playing and thinking of Herbie was time well spent

[greghagger]

5 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

Greg it's a nice chance to say I quietly follow a lot of your lessons/transcriptions and I've learned a lot. This one clearly feels different and spending 5.07 listening to you playing and thinking of Herbie was time well spent

Thanks, that’s really nice of you and I’m genuinely happy that the lessons are being watched. 
 

This was a pretty special video for me and one that I really enjoyed making. 
 

I’ve got a more general Herbie Flowers Tribute video coming out on Tuesday that you might enjoy.