On Bass - Tina Weymouth

[oh oooh]

Another enjoyable prog in the BBC Four series on Friday night. TW is very likeable, much more low-key than the previous host Stewart Copeland, but - you suspect - pretty fucking tough underneath it all.

The overview of the history of the bass guitar was interesting, the idea that the 'slap' on those double-basses was as important as the actual tone in those 50s records. And the 'human bassline' in songs like the Marcels' 'Blue Moon' - the original dude did it once more for the cameras! And I didn't know (or had forgotten) that McCartney switched to a Rickenbacker bass in 65/66 for greater sustain on those notes...

Interesting interview with Bootsy where he laughingly accused his old bandleader James Brown of stealing his ideas ('hey - I'm glad I thought of that!'). Tina showed sympathy, without mentioning David Byrne by name...

What I found most interesting was something that I think was referred to by one interviewee as 'three on the 'E'' (Google shows nothing) - a bassline common in dance music where three 'E' notes come before a more complex pattern ('Good Times', 'Hollywood Swinging') - usually gets the feet twitching.

Great to see Carol Kaye, as always. And a fair bit on James Jamerson (without touching on the tragic elements of his life).

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00023xl

[Deleted]

Weird, I had a dream last night with Tina Weymouth in it.

[jeffk]

On a side note, Bootsy has just announced his retirement from performing.

[loveless]

Jan 20, 2019 13:22:59 GMT oh oooh said:

What I found most interesting was something that I think was referred to by one interviewee as 'three on the 'E'' (Google shows nothing) - a bassline common in dance music where three 'E' notes come before a more complex pattern ('Good Times', 'Hollywood Swinging') - usually gets the feet twitching.

'Another One Bites the Dust', 'Rapper's Delight'...

[rayge]

Only got around to seeing the Copeland one last night. Sometimes I think I enjoy musicians talking about music and their lives far more than the music I make, and a programme that featured the drummers of the Police, Foo Fighters and RHCP was very much a case in point. Genuinely intrigued to see how recent an introduction the drum kit is.
Anyway, off to watch Tina now.

[rayge]

Jan 20, 2019 21:13:25 GMT rayge said:

Anyway, off to watch Tina now.

Really enjoyed that one, too - and a lot more sympathetic towards the talking heads she had assembled. Still not particularly keen on the instrument, though: it's quite probably a function of my hearing. I have 'cocktail party syndrome', which makes it difficult for me to pick out individual voices from the general hubbub, and unless it's someone like Peter Hook playing a lead melody line, I can't pick out bass from the churn. And sure it may be prejudice, but just as I didn't 'get' what Copeland was saying about Ringo's innovative drumming, so I couldn't hear the things Tina pointed out about McCartney.

Come to think of it, this might explain my love for Spector's monolithic productions.

[Reasonable good Nick]

We watched it on Friday, but Mrs C fell asleep halfway through (we'd been to the pub beforehand) and so we watched it again last night.

Again, really enjoyable. And I could watch Bernard Edwards playing for hours. It was funny watching the guy who's actually been playing bass in Chic for the last 16 years trying over and over to play the bassline from 'Everybody Dance' and repeatedly fluffing odd bits here and there.

[oh oooh]

Yeah! mind, that's one fuck of a bassline (actually it's more of a run, really). You could hardly do better if you were asked to create something that would put the world's greatest bassists to the test

[Reasonable good Nick]

It does look very tricky to play!

I liked the way the couple of guys explained it being partly a result of Edwards' playing style and the fact that he couldn't hold a pick, so you got that really interesting mix of slapping and finger-pad-picking instead. I thought they did a great job of explaining it clearly to a non-musician like me.