Confess - which 'theoretically' simple songs do you mess up?

[iamapirate]

[quote name='Zombywoof' post='603169' date='Sep 19 2009, 08:27 PM']I know what you mean about Superstition, bassists usually follow the clav instead of grooving out on a beefy Eb with the occasional chromatic run.[/quote]
+1, although the best ever version I heard of superstition (played by Matt Weeks on bass, his brother on drums and his dad on electric and singing - along with a couple of brass players and a keyboard player) Matt played the main riff quite high up the neck.
he played that entire night without a single pedal! Couldn't be bothered to lug it over from the main 8000-people venue (this was at a huge christian festival thang)


[quote name='woodyratm' post='603432' date='Sep 20 2009, 10:26 AM']I keep messing up Hysteria's verse when i play it with the band.

Can do it fine on my own, soon as the guitar plays i start missing notes everywhere.[/quote]
speaking of Muse the riff to 'Unnatural Selection' I worked out last night (on a 5 string hah) and it's actually quite simple to work out, but tricky to play. got it eventually, though

Edited September 20, 2009 by iamapirate

[Tinman]

I can't remember the last time I got a song right all the way through I usually drop a note here and there whether the song is easy or difficult (most of our stuff is dead easy)

It's probably because our stuff is easy that I screw it up, I have a tendency to try and stick extra bits in and end up making a mess of it.

[E sharp]

[quote name='woodyratm' post='603432' date='Sep 20 2009, 11:26 AM']I keep messing up Hysteria's verse when i play it with the band.

Can do it fine on my own, soon as the guitar plays i start missing notes everywhere.[/quote]
Happens to me sometimes on that song - soon as the rest start , I sometimes don't feel that comfortable . Also with Muse - Knights of Cydonia . Piss easy - just root notes , but I just can't get the form into my head . Even after a few years , I still have a crib sheet on the floor . Now tell why that is ?

[E sharp]

[quote name='woodyratm' post='603432' date='Sep 20 2009, 11:26 AM']I keep messing up Hysteria's verse when i play it with the band.

Can do it fine on my own, soon as the guitar plays i start missing notes everywhere.[/quote]
Happens to me sometimes on that song - soon as the rest start , I sometimes don't feel that comfortable . Also with Muse - Knights of Cydonia . Piss easy - just root notes , but I just can't get the form into my head . Even after a few years , I still have a crib sheet on the floor . Now tell why that is ?

[Monz]

OH this one is my nemisis

The four note intro to Drive My Car while the guitard is bending the note on the intro... THE BLOODY TIMING ON THAT IS SH*T

Gets me every time GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

We played it twice this weekend and I got it wrong both times

[witterth]

[quote name='Monz' post='604007' date='Sep 20 2009, 09:56 PM']OH this one is my nemisis

The four note intro to Drive My Car while the guitard is bending the note on the intro... THE BLOODY TIMING ON THAT IS SH*T

Gets me every time GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

We played it twice this weekend and I got it wrong both times[/quote] no shame in messing up Macca bass parts
he's quite good you know(!)

[chris_b]

[quote name='Monz' post='604007' date='Sep 20 2009, 09:56 PM']....The four note intro to Drive My Car while the guitard is bending the note on the intro....[/quote]
Why make life difficult? Just play the intro over 1 bar. Who's going to care?

[SteveO]

I think it's the hardest part of being a bassist. By its nature many songs are repetitive and it's easy to loose focus and wander off, and this happens more often on easy stuff purely coz it's easy stuff. My personal hate is She Sells Sanctuary as there's so little difference between the 3 different notes of the verse and the same 3 notes 'plus one more for a bit of variety' in the chorus played at a straight 8 rhythm. I end up dropping notes left right and centre on that one. Still, it's always a crowd pleaser and as long as you don't stop dead then it generally works out without anyone outside the band noticing.

Our guitard is the worst at this though (there's a suprise). At least once per set he'll go for an extra verse, totally miss a middle 8 of a song. on a very memorable occasion whilst playing sweet child o mine he went straight to the ending whilst we were all going into the breakdown (singer "where do we go??? oh, it's the end of the song!" audience pissed themselves. Guitard "Huh wassup?"). Keeps us all on our toes

[Shaggy]

[quote name='spike' post='603341' date='Sep 20 2009, 08:51 AM']I still do this one time out of three.

I normally mess up because I get distracted by a good looking dancer in the audience.[/quote]

Happened to me Friday night - came in on the E instead of the A on the yawn-inducingly simple "Chasing cars". Doh!

[vmaxblues]

For me, it is Hollywood nights, a super simple bassline but incredibly repetitious and hard to keep in the groove after a while when paralysis hits your wrist, this is partially because i use a pick on this one and double down stroke it for punch.

Also, doing My generation properly and not the normal cut down solos version.

The only other one is a Huey Lewis number called Crack me up, where my bass part is that of a sequencer, we speed it up a bit too.

[harvey1-8]

Spin Doctors - Two Princes gets me. Really simple song but I always go into the chorus early.

[Low End Bee]

Live, I have only once correctly played the very simple bass intro to a song we do called 90 Miles.

It's a but embarassing as I wrote it. Last time I played it in A instead of B.

[razze06]

The bridge bit in Soul Man, where it drop to G/C or whatever it is...I still never play the same sequence twice...

[fatback]

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='602815' date='Sep 19 2009, 11:49 AM']All the top Nashville bass players are actually serious virtuosos[/quote]

I can believe it. Used to despise country and now I've gone and joined a country band. Getting the right feel for that stuff is really, really hard. It's a 'less is more' gig, for sure.

Problem with the 1/5 thing is that you get so bored you play a 1 where you should play a 5 and then everything goes pear shaped.

fatback

[PaulWarning]

old thread I know, but @Lozz196 mentioned Ash in the 3 piece thread and it reminded me about Girl From Mars, only 4 notes in the song but continually in a different order, does my head in.

[PatrickJ]

Oasis Rock n Roll Star.

I'm constantly flipping up the chord progression.

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited March 3, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Nicko]

How You Remind Me by Nikelback and Rocks by Primal Scream are so dull my mind used to wander and I'd completely lose my place.

Almost anything by Biffy Clyro sounds easy - mostly root notes but theres always tricky timing.  Times Like These by the Foos, again tricky timimg in an otherwise easy song.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Nicko

[LewisK1975]

Sometimes in my old covers band it was the really repetitive ones which caught me out.

Quick roll eyes at the drummer, 'Haha!, the repetition got you!'

[gt4ever]

On 19/09/2009 at 09:39, beerdragon said:

Use somebody by KOL. I just cant get the timing right at the beginning, the drummer does this funny beat and i usually find myself watching the guitarist to see when he's going to change.

Yeah you have to ignore the drummer in the intro and have faith in your own arrangement.  Drums are syncopated in the intro. If you see KOL play it live they dont do it too well more often than not.  It’s a tricky thing for us bassists to block out the drum rhythm isnt it!?!

[solo4652]

True Colors. Chorus is fine, but syncopation in the verse catches me out constantly, especially the difference between bars 1 and 2. It's only four root notes per bar, but I really struggle with the timing. To make matters worse, I'm not playing with a drummer - it's just me (not) laying down the beat/groove. I can seriously mislead the singer, and frequently do.

[seashell]

'Crying in the Rain'. It's just root notes, and very slow at that. But I always end up playing at least one bum note, and it really rings out horribly because it's so slow.  I hate it now, because it's my 'jinx' song. 😁

[songofthewind]

Mine is ‘Valerie’. You know that bit where it doesn’t go how you think it’s going to go? Yep, I mess it up, every time. Jinxed, good and proper.

[lozkerr]

I'm In Love With A German Film Star. This is about as basic as it gets - two bars each of quavers in B - G - E and repeat, but I always lose count somewhere. It's probably because it's so repetitive, but it annoys the bejasus out of me.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

My Sharona. Sounds repetitive but it changes subtly each time round - various amounts of "my, my, my" and random "woohs"! 

Also, any Status Quo song. The notes are easy enough to learn, but playing them in the right way is quite a challenge. Is the word "swagger"?