What is your favorite bassline?

Favorite new record? Favorite old record? Got a band? Post it here.
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UlricvonCatalyst
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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Fri Jun 08, 2018 12:50 pm

The best bass lines don't need to call for technical expertise, though, as Jah Wobble proves....

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by lefty » Fri Jun 08, 2018 4:11 pm

No Mike Watt yet? I'll go for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ysQ1duhNeY

And I'm addicted to Thundercat live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hnfBcE7A7s

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by jimboyogi » Fri Jun 08, 2018 7:49 pm

lefty wrote:
Fri Jun 08, 2018 4:11 pm
No Mike Watt yet? I'll go for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ysQ1duhNeY

And I'm addicted to Thundercat live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hnfBcE7A7s
Mike Watt/fIREHOSE... Glad you linked these in, incredible bass playing/lines.

Here's my pick of the fIREHOSE bass lines - Relatin' Dudes to Jazz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeov75xE3-E

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by egosheep » Fri Jun 08, 2018 8:10 pm

Right now I'd say Smiths, Still Ill.

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by stevejamsecono » Sat Jun 09, 2018 6:14 am

Surprised not to see any Bruce Foxton in here yet, so let's do that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf4EFDGP4yg

I also really enjoy Steve Smith from the Vapors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNowJK1vDQA
And you find out life isn't like that
It's so hard to understand
Why the world is your oyster but your future's a clam

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COYS

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by burpgun » Sat Jun 09, 2018 6:18 am

This thread is near and dear to this bass player’s heart! I could probably go for days on this subject but I’ll zero in on two different lines that I both think are pretty amazing, and are light years apart.

The first is Jah Wobbles’ simple repeating line on Visions of You. When I first heard that song, which to this day I’m amazed I heard on regular commercial radio, I was in a maximalist mode as a player and I was too ego driven. So I hear a song that’s carried by an ultra simple repeating line that doesn’t get tiring even as it moves forward, it very much changed how I thought about my own playing. I’ve been a big Wobble fan ever since, altough he got hard to keep up with, and now seems mired in some generic jazz phase that doesn’t click for me. Still, love the guy. His economy of playing, as well as his tone, taught me important things.

https://youtu.be/NHBYXtqmerY

On the other end of things, the last song on Peter Gabriel’s Us album has a Tony Levin line that’s from another dimension. The song is called “Secret Word” and Levin moves between not playing at all, to digging into the absolute bottom end of his range, to these high end counter points that sound like some sort of middle eastern instrument. I’ll never be able to play anything like that but I aspire to have that sort of range, with that good taste.

https://youtu.be/ueefmoV1DYc

And what the hell, I’ll just throw out that when I was a teenager back in the 80s, hearing Hook’s line come in at the start of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures told me I wanted to play bass, and to only ever aspire to play the instrument how I wanted to play it. I now firmly believe Hook is a one-trick pony, but what a trick! I still can’t figure out who the villain is in the current New Order squabbles, but I hope those guys all find some peace with each other some day.

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Sat Jun 09, 2018 6:35 pm

Some really good songs here!!! And some epic bass lines! For me personally, ANYTHING with James Jamerson does it for me. Zeppelin's Dazed And Confused always gets me too.

Pink Floyd - One Of These Days (Live At Pompeii)
Probably my favorite bass line/bass tone ever. And with the Binson Echorec on it :? The 1994 Pulse version is very good too, if you can get past the fact that Guy Pratt plays it more like slap-bass than with a pick. You even get a bit of the Doctor Who theme from Tim Renwick 8)

Dredg - Stationary Transient
Not the most technically impressive bass line, but with the fuzz, sounds fucking epic!!

Shiny Toy Guns - Somewhere To Hide
I don't even care that it's key-bass for most of the song likely. It ALWAYS gets me moving and grooving.

Marvin's Revolt - Siberia
Raveonettes - Aly, Walk With Me
Pickup Switching Mad Scientist
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by blacktiger » Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:52 pm

Every song Wobble played on in PiL, but especially Poptones.
Thread killer

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by mjet » Wed Jun 20, 2018 2:55 pm

Lots of Wire (Graham Lewis) tracks have great bass lines. Here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OrxQ5cKaOQ

Love the bass tone Paul Raven got on Killing Joke's Nighttime album. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy92Ypkpn6I

And Sigur Ros' Glósóli (from Takk): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojLgN7wqc5A&t=117s

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by MechaBulletBill » Wed Jun 20, 2018 3:05 pm


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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by shadowplay » Tue Jun 26, 2018 5:51 am

A toddler could play it* but the first 15 seconds of Supervixens by AR Kane just fucking does it for me, the way it just drops into that hole.

D

*which is party of the genius
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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by higgsblossom » Tue Jun 26, 2018 6:14 am

I always liked the bass in any Nirvana song. Very simple basslines, but the whole loud-quiet thing would not have worked without them. This is especially true for "Heart-Shaped Box", probably the best example, even better than "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by sumlin » Tue Jun 26, 2018 8:01 am

Jump In The Fire - Harry Nilsson (Herbie Flowers on the bass)

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by nanamour » Tue Jun 26, 2018 9:46 am

Perennial favorite has to be Dave Richmond's playing throughout Histoire de Melody Nelson, with Ballade de Melody Nelson being pick of the crop and my favorite bassline of all time by a country mile :-*

Otherwise I tend to gravitate towards more utilitarian basslines, recently I've been enjoying Jaakko Eino Kalevi - No End's plunky shuffle.

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Re: What is your favorite bassline?

Post by Maggieo » Tue Jun 26, 2018 11:02 am

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:05 pm
There are lots of great bass lines out there, but few come close to the joie de vivre and danceability of I Want You Back - The Jackson 5.

Pop perfection!
I came here to post that, too!

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