Iconic bass-lines for aspiring bass players!

[Al Krow]

There's some awesome basslines out there for us to be learning! Which ones do you already know or would like to master in 2025?

 

On my list to learn this year that are going to be decently challenging are:

 

1. Mel Tormé - Games People Play (Carol Kaye)

2. Muse - Hysteria (Chris Wolstenholme)

3. Vulfpeck - Dean Town (Joe Dart)

4. Duran Duran - Rio (John Taylor)

 

If there's a story behind when you first learned them and/or how well they've gone down if you've played them live even better! 

[itu]

Martin Gaye - What's going on

Tammi Terrell and Marvin Gaye - Ain't no mountain high enough

Johnny Pate - Brother on the run

 

I have played these quite a lot, but making them fluent and stylish require even more playing.

 

@ChrisDev gave us an A. Holdsworth (Jimmy Johnson) score, that I want to learn. Can be found from the section Theory and Technique.

Edited Monday at 08:54 by itu
meessing up with letrs

[Leonard Smalls]

Anything by Bootsy!

While they're not overly complicated, getting the feel and intonation right is not so easy!

[Old Man Riva]

Excellent topic!

 

Two of my current favourite (fun) lines to play are:

Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield, with bass by Tommy Cogbill

(Fallin’ Like) Dominoes by Donald Byrd, with bass by Chuck Rainey

 

A nice mix of straightforward and tricky; there’s plenty to get your teeth into.
 

Easy to lose yourself for hours in both of those!

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Anything by Bootsy!

While they're not overly complicated, getting the feel and intonation right is not so easy!

 

You got a couple of favourites you would recommend?

[Leonard Smalls]

3 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

You got a couple of favourites

I taught myself the rudiments of bass playing by twangalongaBootsy on an acoustic guitar!

So easy, but not easy, starters would be "Aah the name is Bootsy Baby", "Psychotic Bumpschool" and Stretchin' Out", plus Parliament classics such as "P funk (wants to get funked up)" (which may be Cordell Mosson on bass) and "Flashlight" (though that's more Bernie on the keys).

[BCRich58]

Amerika by Jaco Pastorius one of his easier solo pieces, but really introduces you to most of his innovative techniques, false harmonics, double stops, harmonics, etc.

[tauzero]

We're just starting rehearsing Won't Get Fooled Again at my instigation. Want to get a bit closer to the Entwistle original than I currently am.

[M@23]

Footloose - Kenny Loggins - Nathan East. 
It’s got lots of interesting little bits, dissonance, chromatic runs, string bends and is always a crowd pleaser. 

[Rosie C]

7 hours ago, Al Krow said:

There's some awesome basslines out there for us to be learning! Which ones do you already know or would like to master in 2025?

 

My favourite bass line is from "Bare Necessities" - one of the first big band bass lines I learned on double bass. It's kind of iconic in its way.

 

Edited Monday at 15:56 by Rosie C

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, M@23 said:

Footloose - Kenny Loggins - Nathan East. 
It’s got lots of interesting little bits, dissonance, chromatic runs, string bends and is always a crowd pleaser. 

 

Good shout Mark! I'd simplified / "flattened" this one previously, but as you say there's a lot of lovely detail going on. Nice tab by Greg Fairweather: Footloose - Bass Cover and Lesson

And having once been the proud owner of a "Nathan" Yamaha BBNE2 be rude not to learn it properly!

[Boodang]

Get the book ‘Standing in the Shadows of Motown : the life of James Jamerson’. There’s some absolute classic stuff to learn and absorb in it. Plus gave me an appreciation of why everyone says JJ was a genius at what he did. 
As for an individual song/bass line, the biggest influence on me was Bennie Maupin’s song ‘it remains to be seen’ with Paul Jackson on bass. I came across a cassette tape that was just labelled 70s groove with no track listing. This was the first track. Pre internet days and took me ages to find out what the track/artist was. That set me off on a journey of jazz groove bass fascination. Put a band together and this was always the first song in the set list, could go on for 15 mins or more if we were on it. Super funky. 

[itu]

55 minutes ago, Boodang said:

Get the book ‘Standing in the Shadows of Motown : the life of James Jamerson’. There’s some absolute classic stuff to learn and absorb in it.

Guess where my two songs came from... That book is practically a must buy for every bassist.

[Lozz196]

Got it, and it’s not to be read until I retire, when my aim will be to learn a new Motown song every week. 

[SteveXFR]

These may not be songs you'd usually listen to but as a bassist, I highly recommend having a listen to them. 

 

Maxwell Murders by Rancid

Played by Matt Freeman and a great demonstration of what can be done in punk if you're a genius. 

 

State Of Non Return - Om

Played by Al Cisneros. The bass is the lead instrument in this song. Interesting, Eastern influences, unusual sounds. A bit of a post rock masterpiece. 

[miles'tone]

I Am The Resurrection by The Stone Roses.

It's definitely iconic for those, like me, who came of age during that time (especially the bass break which has been sampled a lot).

Seeing the Roses was what inspired me to buy a bass in the first place so this one is kind of my ground zero.

It's a perfect song (to me).

 

[MrDinsdale]

I'm learning some Rush.

 

I kinda learned Spirit of Radio and Limelight years ago but only enough to wing it, in particular I never properly learned the more fiddly bits correctly. My technique was always horrible too so taking the time to try and really nail the muting etc.

 

It's been pretty challenging to build speed and accuracy back up after doing a hard reset of 15 years bad habits. Getting there though!

[MrDinsdale]

Also going through some Bowie songs after attending a local Bowie birthday tribute the other night. Some great bass lines in there, particularly on The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, really fun to play. 

[Maude]

46 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Maxwell Murders by Rancid

Played by Matt Freeman and a great demonstration of what can be done in punk if you're a genius. 

 

 

Off topic, sorry 😁. 

Have you seen there's going to be a film based on/inspired by the album 'And Out Come The Wolves'. I have no idea what it'll be like but probably worth a look if you're into the album, which is a masterpiece BTW 😉. 

[SteveXFR]

1 minute ago, Maude said:

 

Off topic, sorry 😁. 

Have you seen there's going to be a film based on/inspired by the album 'And Out Come The Wolves'. I have no idea what it'll be like but probably worth a look if you're into the album, which is a masterpiece BTW 😉. 

 

I will look that up. Thanks. 

And out come the wolves has been my favourite record for a very long time. 

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, miles'tone said:

I Am The Resurrection by The Stone Roses.

It's definitely iconic for those, like me, who came of age during that time (especially the bass break which has been sampled a lot).

Seeing the Roses was what inspired me to buy a bass in the first place so this one is kind of my ground zero.

It's a perfect song (to me).

 

 

Ooooh I do like a bit of Stone Roses! They could have been massive (as opposed to merely huge), right?!

 

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Got it, and it’s not to be read until I retire, when my aim will be to learn a new Motown song every week. 

 

Well there seems to be a LOT of demand for Motown bands right now, so you may just have to come out of retirement if you end up learning a new song a week (btw what a great aim!)

 

PS I also got that book a while back but, like you, have not made the most of it!

 

Edited Monday at 22:15 by Al Krow

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

1 hour ago, SteveXFR said:

These may not be songs you'd usually listen to but as a bassist, I highly recommend having a listen to them. 

 

Maxwell Murders by Rancid

Played by Matt Freeman and a great demonstration of what can be done in punk if you're a genius. 

 

State Of Non Return - Om

Played by Al Cisneros. The bass is the lead instrument in this song. Interesting, Eastern influences, unusual sounds. A bit of a post rock masterpiece. 

This is one of the few punk albums from my teens that I still listen to. NOFX' Punk in Drublic has some good lines too. 

 

Al Cisneros was a huge influence on me. Dragonaut is the riff I play first whenever I try a new bass...or fuzz pedal. 

[SteveXFR]

11 minutes ago, ProjeKtWEREWOLF said:

Al Cisneros was a huge influence on me. Dragonaut is the riff I play first whenever I try a new bass...or fuzz pedal. 

 

Me too! If there's fuzz, I'm playing Dragonaut!