For David's next bass lesson...

...I nominate this song.  The bass line is deceptively simple - if you pay attention, there is a lot more going on than it seems at first listen.  Plus it's catchy as hell.

I thought this was going to be about fishing. 

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

It can be.

Thanks and, you know, I haven’t received this week’s song yet. Sometimes I get a heads-up, sometimes I don’t. It all adds to the excitement. :) 

Last night we did a few songs, but he had a lesson in there.

To show how a famous song could have a very (very) simple bass line, we did “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaac and then covered by HIM. (Similar but different yet both really simple.) Then we did Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter.,” another popular song with a fairly simple riff.

Then, to challenge me, he showed me Free’s “All Right Now.”

Simple but effective bass line, you say?

In reply to Duke :

Thanks. Might have to add that to the setlist. 

I don't play air bass very often, but when I do, I play this simple, very subtle tune. You can barely hear the bass solo. 

If you want something that will blow your mind because most people don't give him enough credit, look at Won't Get Fooled Again.

It is not by any means an easy song though

For a very cool melodic power ballad bass solo I recommend this, and yes.....I know when you think " melodic power ballad" your mind doesn't think "Motorhead" but this is a damn good song and I actually really like the solo. It's simple, direct and pretty much perfect for the song

Not easy, but one of my all-time favorite bass lines is in

Rio - Duran Duran

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTizYn3-QN0

And for everyone else that is just a casual player like me that can't learn songs by ear, Songsterr is great reference with moving tabs. 

Antihero said:

If you want something that will blow your mind because most people don't give him enough credit, look at Won't Get Fooled Again.

 

It is not by any means an easy song though

Isolated bass track can be found on YT.  Amazing.

I’ll likely get killed for this suggestion but Billy Idol’s Eyes Without a Face has a pretty decent bass line for a pop song especially in the bridge.

In reply to 11GTCS :

Maybe? We did White Wedding a little while back. (It’s in B.)

Speaking of Bass, I just saw Victor Wooten last night. Holy E36 M3e! What talent!

11GTCS said:

Antihero said:

If you want something that will blow your mind because most people don't give him enough credit, look at Won't Get Fooled Again.

 

It is not by any means an easy song though

Isolated bass track can be found on YT.  Amazing.

Posted for proof of awesome

I was outta the music bidniss before I figured out what a bass is for. Much as I was (and still am) a huge fan of the Geddy Lee/Steve Harris/Les Claypool school, most of the time, the space between the notes is more important than the notes. U2, in god's country, for instance. One of the punchiest most significant bass lines out there is also one of the simplest, hands all over, Soundgarden. It just... makes that track. And prettymuch any time I hear anything off Paul Simon's Graceland album, I'm reminded that I never, ever knew how to play bass..

PS Entwistle is a bad, bad, badass cat

Oh, yeah, Entwistle was the best. 

And last night we did a (sorta) simple/simplified bass line from John Taylor, a seriously underrated player.

David S. Wallens said:

Oh, yeah, Entwistle was the best. 

Saw him at the Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa back in the mid-90s, must have been 14-15 at the time? I'll check in a second, my dad found a repro of the original concert flyer I have framed hanging in my bar.

I was AT the front of the stage, like I could his stage monitor. I stood there right in front of him the entire concert with my jaw on the floor. And he had this really cool drop tuner on the E string, that he would hit the lever and it dropped to D or C# and then change up the bass line in the same song. Incredible. 

In reply to z31maniac :

Dang, front row. I saw The Who at the Meadowlands, but I was alllllllll the way up in the cheap seats. Or, at least I wasn’t near the floor.

Sounds like you saw a Hipshot Bass Xtender in action. Rad. 

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to z31maniac :

Dang, front row. I saw The Who at the Meadowlands, but I was alllllllll the way up in the cheap seats. Or, at least I wasn’t near the floor.

Sounds like you saw a Hipshot Bass Xtender in action. Rad. 

 

Cain's is an old school place built in 1924, the wooden "dance floor" is on old rail car springs. No seats, just a big open space. So if you get there early enough you can get right up to the stage. Been against that stage many a times. It's how I ended up with signed drumhead from Paul Mazurkiewicz off his kit from that show. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain%27s_Ballroom

And back to John Taylor being underrated: