Great moments in bass – “I Want You Back” and “ABC”

James Jamerson - his "ABC" is NOT as easy as 123!

I must say I was very saddened to hear about Michael Jackson’s passing. Like many others, I loved him as an artist and musician, and most of all an amazing vocalist and writer. His years after “Thriller” and “Bad” – not so much love there. Too much…too much.

But take the wayback machine to 1970 with me and remember a young Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, rocking it with “I Want You Back” and “ABC”, two absolute pop gems. These songs absolutely groove and the primary reason is the kicking bass work they feature. Placed up in the mix, you can’t help but want to dance – especially as Michael’s voice finds every hole in the pocket to slip in and complete the groove.

In “Standing in the Shadows of Motown: The Life and Music of Legendary Bassist James Jamerson” by Allan Slutsky (a.k.a. Dr. Licks – Hal Leonard Corp., 1991), a mystery is raised about who it was who played the amazing bass lines on these two songs. Was it James Jamerson, Freddie Perren, Wilton Felder, Ron Brown, or Dennis Coffey? All have been associated to the work on the session.

Clearly, this is Jamerson’s trademark Funk Brothers Motown style being employed, and I guess that no matter who played it, you can credit him with the approach to the lines that made these great moments in bass!

RIP Michael Jackson. Thanks for the joy you gave.

Great rigs – the sunn beta bass

Sunn Beta Bass 215B stack

I have owned a sunn beta bass rig for over 30 years and I can tell you from experience, it’s a great rig. The beta bass came standard with a 100W@4ohms, dual channel head that included an aux effect patch loop and footswitch for A/B or A+B configuration. This was really sweet if you wanted to set up separate bass tones and switch between then, or to loop in an effects chain (compressor/limiter, for instance).

The rig has one drawback and that’s the fact that the solid state electronics are noisy. It’s almost impossible to avoid a white-noise hiss from the head unless you employ a noise gate on it. I have come to think of it as “the sound of power”. And a powerful, punchy sound is just what you’ll get out of this rig. With the standard 2X15 cabinet, this is a rig that really rocks. It cleanly creates tones from smooth and silky to gutteral and biting.

While some claim it’s underpowered, it is more than enough to rock any club or medium sized venue without reinforcement. For some reason bass players all think they need 300-400+ watts these days. I guess when a car stereo is 1200 watts, it distorts your thinking.

I love my sunn and would highly reccomend it as one of the great rigs!

Five strings…what’s the point?

I’ve never been a fan of 5-6 string basses. It seems to me to take the instrument in a whole other, and not particularly desireable direction. Bass is meant to play a role at the root and soul of the music, when it gets up in the 5-6 string upper ranges, it seems to me to be getting out of its turf. It’s the same with the super-low tuned basses, though I have to admit I have heard some tasty applications (Clif Magness’s work on Kelly Clarkson’s “The Trouble With Love”, for example). Maybe I’m narrow-minded in that there is a place and an application for the bass. Maybe if the instruments had a different name, like a Contra bass or a Soprano bass…

I just still beleive that in most cases, four strings is enough!

Sgt. Pepper – McCartney’s isolated bass tracks

Our friend (well not a personal friend, but a friend because he’s a bass player and writer too) Rick Suchow has kindly posted links on his site to four of Paul McCartney’s bass performances from the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper” album. Here’s your chance to clearly hear just what Paul was doing as he changed pop bass playing forever.

McCartney during this period recorded a number of the bass parts as overdubs, as illustrated by “A Day In The Life” and “With A Little Help From My Friends” below. Other tunes were created with the entire band creating the backing track together.

The reported technique for  overdubbing (from the amazing book, Recording The Beatles), was to place the bass amp in the middle of Abbey Road’s Studio Two with an AKG C12 (sometimes complimented by an STC 4038) mic set on a figure of 8 about eight to ten feet from his VOX 730 cabinet.

The now-classic sound achieved is considered “muddy” by today’s standards, but you have to understand that the EMI-REDD-51 console that was used for Sgt. Pepper only had two types of pre-configured EQs available on it (Pop and Classic) that could only essentially offer what would be termed today as “tone control”.

The links to Rick’s hosted tracks are here:

A Day In The Life (bass + drums)

With A Little Help From My Friends (bass + tamborine)

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (full backing track)

When I’m Sixty-four (basic backing track)

Visit Rick’s cool site

Great moments in bass – “My Generation”

John Entwistle of the Who in the 1960's

As much as I hate to admit it, some songs are not about the bass. I know – it sucks – but that’s life. However, even in songs that are not about the bass, some great moments can occur. Such is the case with “My Generation” by The Who.

The Who’s breakthrough hit, features, of all things, a short bass solo by “The Ox” – the late John Entwistle. His brilliant run involes a couple three-finger paradiddle sequences – a triplet technique that all finger players should give a shot. It’s like playing flamenco bass!

And that’s today’s great moment!

Fender Precision – simple is good

The 1956 Fender Precision Bass

Sometimes all you need is four strings and a couple of pickups to sound great. That’s really the story behind the Fender Precision bass. Classic good looks, playability, and a pure sound that can be applied to almost any playing style.

The a single (in the case of vintage Precisions) or split-coil humbucking pickup is optimally placed for a neutral bass sound that can be easily molded when amplified.

It’s not fancy, it’s not modern, but this bass has breathed life into more music since 1951 than anyone could document. It’s the Volkswagen of basses.

If you want to learn more about the history of the Precision, check out it’s Wiki listing here.

And who plays one? Here are a few names that might ring a bell:

* Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone)
* Melissa Auf der Maur
* Garry Gary Beers (INXS)
* Jay Bentley (Bad Religion)
* Guy Berryman (Coldplay)
* Bob Bogle (the Ventures)
* Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath)
* Chi Cheng (Deftones)
* Adam Clayton (U2)
* Rick Danko (The Band)
* Michael Davis (MC5)
* John Deacon (Queen)
* Steve Diggle (Buzzcocks)
* Donald “Duck” Dunn
* Bernard Edwards (Chic)
* John Entwistle (The Who)
* Howie Epstein (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
* Dave Farrell (Linkin Park)
* Derek Forbes (Simple Minds)
* Tom Fowler (Frank Zappa)
* Bruce Foxton (The Jam)
* Nikolai Fraiture (The Strokes)
* Tony Franklin
* Simon Gallup (The Cure)
* Roger Glover (Deep Purple)
* Kim Gordon
* Colin Greenwood (Radiohead)
* Tom Hamilton ( Aerosmith)
* Brent Harding (Social Distortion)
* Robert Hardy (Franz Ferdinand)
* Steve Harris (Iron Maiden)
* Dusty Hill (ZZ Top)
* Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order)
* Mark Hoppus (Blink 182, +44)
* James Jamerson
* Alex James (Blur)
* Jean-Jacques Burnel
* John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)
* Eric Judy (Modest Mouse)
* Greg K. (The Offspring)
* Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy)
* Guy Maddison(Mudhoney)
* Glen Matlock(Sex pistols)
* Aimee Mann (with Til Tuesday)
* John Maurer (Social Distortion)
* Jason McCaslin (Sum 41)
* Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver)
* Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters)
* Michael Madden (Maroon 5)
* Mark Hoppus (Blink 182)
* Jason Newsted (Echobrain)
* Ginger Reyes (Smashing Pumpkins)
* Simon Rix (Kaiser Chiefs)
* Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny Group)
* Dee Dee Ramone (The Ramones)
* Simon Raymonde (The Cocteau Twins)
* Noel Redding (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
* Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails)
* Andy Rourke (The Smiths)
* Sting (The Police)
* Scott Shriner (weezer)
* Paul Simonon (The Clash)
* Steve Harris (Iron Maiden)
* Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello)
* Roger Waters (Pink Floyd)
* Mikey Way (My Chemical Romance)
* Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy)
* Tina Weymouth
* Cliff Williams (AC/DC)
* Brian Wilson