Macca

[Lord Sausage]

I was just on another thread where somebody had wrote that nobody apart from bassists would know the name of anyone who played bass. I put a lot of people would know who Paul McCartney was/is. This got me thinking, what do bass players think of him as a bassist. To be honest over the years i've very rarely met any bassists who talk about him. Obviously his playing is overshadowed by his songwriting.
To start things off i've thought about it and i think he's a pretty cool bass player. He may not be thunderous or groovy and widdly, but he's solid, melodic and musical. A couple of examples are the bassline to Something and how he plays the bassline in Penny Lane. Sometimes staccato, sometimes legato. Simple but effective!
What do you Think?
Do you Care?

[EssentialTension]

He's a great bassist and has been a massive influence on many later bassists. I think he himself must have been influenced by Jamerson and you can hear that on [i]Something[/i], which you mention.

You'll find here that there are two camps - those who rate him and maybe were influenced by him and the rest.

[Oscar South]

One of the best bass players of all time. Imo however good his songwriting is, his bass playing eclipses it. Nothing simple about it either.

[essexbasscat]

Can't deny he is one of the most famous bassists ever, even if he is not directly thought of as one. Is this a case of his success and image overtaking his role ?

Some of his bass lines are truly sublime. Studying his parts over the years has certainly helped me appreciate how to constuct complimentary basslines.

+1 to Macca for me

T

[Pete Academy]

I think he's great but slightly overrated. Later stuff was very good.

[Doddy]

Everyone knows who he is,but let's be honest,the vast majority of people don't know that he plays bass.
I quite like some of his playing. I'm no means a massive fan but I like what he does. To me,he plays bass like a singer,as in he plays phrases that are very vocal like. At least he did in the late Beatles period,which is when,I think, his playing peaked. Post-Beatles he did some nice stuff (Silly Love Songs),but nothing as prominent as his Beatles work.

[oldslapper]

Very thoughtful player, probably because he's a songwriter too, his bass lines are about the song.

One J.S. Bach had the same approach to writing bass parts, and he wrote a good tune or two.

Just my opinion.

Dee Murray was very "Macca", not sure he was a songwriter, but had same approach to melody & rhythm.

[Lord Sausage]

[quote name='Oscar South' post='902322' date='Jul 22 2010, 08:31 PM']One of the best bass players of all time. Imo however good his songwriting is, his bass playing eclipses it. Nothing simple about it either.[/quote]
I meant just the idea of switching staccato to legato

[Lord Sausage]

[quote name='oldslapper' post='902329' date='Jul 22 2010, 08:40 PM']Very thoughtful player, probably because he's a songwriter too, his bass lines are about the song.

One J.S. Bach had the same approach to writing bass parts, and he wrote a good tune or two.

Just my opinion.

Dee Murray was very "Macca", not sure he was a songwriter, but had same approach to melody & rhythm.[/quote]
Bang on! When i started learning bass one of the first things i did study lots of JS Bach bass parts. Definitely helped with my musicianship and playing!

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Doddy' post='902328' date='Jul 22 2010, 08:38 PM']Everyone knows who he is,but let's be honest,the vast majority of people don't know that he plays bass.
I quite like some of his playing. I'm no means a massive fan but I like what he does. To me,he plays bass like a singer,as in he plays phrases that are very vocal like. [b]At least he did in the late Beatles period,which is when,I think, his playing peaked. Post-Beatles he did some nice stuff (Silly Love Songs),but nothing as prominent as his Beatles work.[/b][/quote]
I'd agree that's the peak period but also some earlier Beatles things such as Taxman, Rain, All My Loving, I'm Only Sleeping.

[JTUK]

Nothing about his playing does anything at all for me.

Only relevant, IMV, for being part of a great songwriting partnership and has been living off it ever since.
Mind you..it was a GREAT GREAT songwriting partnership and if he never did anything esle it wouldn't alter that.

[OldGit]

Having lived through the rise and fall of the Beatles and played bass through most of that time too, I was literally gobsmacked and jaw dropped when the remastered versions on digital media started coming out.
Played on fine equipment I heard the bassline properly for the first time and was amazed at what I'd missed before.

He was doing that stuff before many people and, although contemporaneous with James Jamerson, in my mind he has a lighter and more lyrical touch.
He also had control of what he played to a greater extent.
Jamerson didn't write the songs and so had a melody and chord chart to work from for ideas, Macca often had to come up with all of it.

As has been noted already Penny Lane and Something alone would put him in the upper echelons of 60's bass players.
And Come together (mashes nicely with Footprints which I suspect is where the bassline came from... )

Yup, He's not underrated here...

[risingson]

Amazing bass player and currently on of my favourites. He's a bass player that has adapted his playing to his singing, and very much sounds like a guitarist that plays bass, something I don't deem to be a bad thing at all as it gives him a great melodic approach to playing. I think he's superb.

[Pete Academy]

On the early Beatles songs - which were my era - I can't hear anything special at all. I've often heard people mention him, but can't hear anything different from the other 60s bands.

Please enlighten me to something that he did that was special.

[risingson]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='902365' date='Jul 22 2010, 09:16 PM']On the early Beatles songs - which were my era - I can't hear anything special at all. I've often heard people mention him, but can't hear anything different from the other 60s bands.

Please enlighten me to something that he did that was special.[/quote]


So much Pete! Something, Penny Lane, Don't Let Me Down, the whole of Abbey Road. If you listen to his approach to bass he's completely unique, there is no one like him out there.

[mike f]

I'd say he was groovy too.

Getting Better and Baby You're a Rich Man spring to mind, and Hey Bulldog. And Come Together. And Taxman.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='902365' date='Jul 22 2010, 09:16 PM']On the early Beatles songs - which were my era - I can't hear anything special at all. I've often heard people mention him, but can't hear anything different from the other 60s bands.

Please enlighten me to something that he did that was special.[/quote]
I'm not sure how late counts as early but here's a little selection of early ones (all pre-Pepper I think) that I rate but you may not:

Rain
Paperback Writer
Drive My Car
All My Loving
Nowhere Man
In My Life
Taxman
I'm Only Sleeping
She Said She Said
Penny Lane

On the matter of other British 60s bassists, I think it's worth remembering the extent to which many of them will have been influenced by McCartney, as well as being influenced by the people who would have influenced McCartney. My other favourite 60s 'pop' bassist was Chris White of the Zombies.

[Cat Burrito]

I like The Beatles but they are not my favourites. Paul McCartney is a great bassist & I have always said this.

I reckon most members of the public think he plays guitar though.

[YouMa]

his tone is superb,macca is quality.

[oldslapper]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='902365' date='Jul 22 2010, 09:16 PM']On the early Beatles songs - which were my era - I can't hear anything special at all. I've often heard people mention him, but can't hear anything different from the other 60s bands.

Please enlighten me to something that he did that was special.[/quote]

I guess it's subjective really, as his later beatles and early wings stuff is my favourite.
However, when I listen to "Josie" on Aja I think that's the line Macca would have played (wonder if Becker/Rainey were influenced by him?).
Again, just a thought.
I don't "get" some of the players lauded here I must admit, I guess some players can "reach" you and others don't?...I sound like a bl***y hippie now!
............................I'm off to eat some meat, kick the cat and fart loudly.....

[steve-soar]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='902365' date='Jul 22 2010, 09:16 PM']On the early Beatles songs - which were my era - I can't hear anything special at all. I've often heard people mention him, but can't hear anything different from the other 60s bands.

Please enlighten me to something that he did that was special.[/quote]Macca played original basslines, in an originals band, that just happened to make a connection with 1000's of bass players.

[4000]

Always been one of my favourites; in fact I suspect that he was my earliest influence (aged 8, 9 years before I touched a bass!) and I know he was an influence on many of my other favourites; utterly sublime.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='902460' date='Jul 22 2010, 10:42 PM']Macca played original basslines, in an originals band, that just happened to make a connection with 1000's of bass players.[/quote]
And, one might add, an originals band that operated in and across a range of musical genres.

[4000]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='902365' date='Jul 22 2010, 09:16 PM']On the early Beatles songs - which were my era - I can't hear anything special at all. I've often heard people mention him, but can't hear anything different from the other 60s bands.

Please enlighten me to something that he did that was special.[/quote]

Pete, I think he's a genius and you can't see it; remind you of anything?

[pietruszka]

Im gonna be a pain here. I personally can not stand the man. I think he is unbearably arrogant, obnoxious and the stingiest man alive. Solid bass player but have never liked what he's done. He's not for me.

Please, this is just my opinion. I favour other bass players. For fear of causing an uproar, this is only my opinion.

Dan