Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’ Bass Lesson

[greghagger]

The song 'Simple Man' by Lynyrd Skynyrd is such an epic and the bass line is really inventive too. Ed King was the bassist on the original recording and there's an interesting story regarding him, this bass line, and Leon Wilkeson. All will be revealed in my latest YouTube video!

 

It's a pretty tricky bass line so I've spent some of the video teaching a simplified bass line that I've created for this song. Even though this bass line is much easier to play, it still sounds great.

 

There’s a link in the video description to a transcription of the simplified bass line and the main sections from the original bass line. 

 

Enjoy this classic!

 

 

[JPJ]

Thanks for this, I’ve been playing Simple Man for over 14 years with our Southern Rock tribute. Ed King’s bass lines on both Simple Man and Freebird use similar licks, although I have been accused of over playing on Simple Man when playing the original bass line 🤷‍♂️

[greghagger]

1 hour ago, JPJ said:

Thanks for this, I’ve been playing Simple Man for over 14 years with our Southern Rock tribute. Ed King’s bass lines on both Simple Man and Freebird use similar licks, although I have been accused of over playing on Simple Man when playing the original bass line 🤷‍♂️

Sounds great! I didn’t realise over here in the UK how popular Simple Man is for bands to play. It’s such a great song!