Squackett - Tall Ships (bass cover)

[miguelbass]

According to some interviews, this Squackett song came about after Chris Squire was testing a new Yamaha bass which was offered to him. The riff was then recorded and, as far as I can hear it, a four-bar sample is repeated throughout most of the song. When I began to analyse it, I faced some curious things that made me wonder and I tried to find explanations for - trying to figure out how the bassline was played, fingering patterns, tuning etc... which is after all what I do with all my bass covers. So, what I will write are my suppositions, doubts and decisions, based on what my ears told me. The two first repetitions are quite audible but as soon as the other instruments come in it starts to become difficult to hear the bass notes so clearly.

i) I did play the whole thing live but I edited the first four bars and copy-pasted it a few times to "simulate" how the samples were put together - you will notice on the sections where the video footage of me playing is repeated (but not the background video embellishments)

ii) It could be that the original bass recording is slightly flat in respect to the other instruments because I got a slight sense of a (acoustic) beat when the two basses are clearly audible at the start. Maybe the bass wasn't tuned to a tuner - after all Chris was just testing. When the other instruments come, that feeling is not there anymore (Chris' bass is lower in the mix).

iii) The riff repetitions are all the same with one exception. After the first "pause", it begins again, and there is a little acoustic guitar solo. Here the endings of each half riff were swapped. The last beat of bar 2 is now in the place of bar 4's last beat and vice-versa (3:40/3:46). That was a smart edit, as it creates the tension for the next heavier section. On the clip I didn't edit this using copy-paste - I just played it like that.

iv) Tuning - this song uses a low fifth string. Could be a 5 or 6-string bass. Here I have two big doubts. Did Chris use the lower string tuned to B, like the standard tuning, or, like he also used before, down to A? Because there is a very low A in the "pause" section (3:12) that could be played by the bass. Well, Chris could have detune the bass just to hit that note as well. Still undecided, the instrumental four-bar bridge used a low D (with octave leap), then comes the big question. What low note is played on the last beat of the 3rd bar (1:37,2:23 and 4:28)? At first I heard an E flat and it sounded good - but it's really hard to hear the bass here. I searched finger patterns to play that note and I found something not completely in my way of thinking of "that's how Chris would move his fingers". I tried with the fifth string tuned as B. For the A tuning it was really unlogical because the E flat would be two frets farther away from where the rest of the notes were happening (on the first 3 frets)... so I started hearing again that note and I started to think that it's actually E natural. Perhaps due to the slightly flat tuning that I mentioned before it sounds something in between? It's hard to say - very hard to hear. But, finally I decided to play it as E natural, so I could use the E open string and it made more sense with the overall fingering. This way I decided to use the low A tuning (I could gladly hit that note, even if it's not the bass) having just to adapt to play the low D on the fifth fret.

I used my Warwick Thumb NT and the Ampeg SVX plugin. Hope you like the clip!

Miguel
http://www.miguelbass.com

[just_bassics]

Great job, Miguel!

This was the first track I heard on this record and was always my favorite. I like the pace of the song and the nautical theme. I was able to pull that opening bass riff out on the first listen, but the other parts are buried a bit deeper and the arrangement, as usual, is a bit clever. I never got the actual chord progression down for the chorus. The really low bass notes get lost a bit to me and your video helps to clarify them a lot.

I also like Steve's classical intro & break, as well as his use of the Fernandes Sustainer system, very cool. It allows you to tap into the first and second harmonics of the sustained notes with the flick of a switch. Hackett uses this guitar a lot now. Fernandes should introduce a Steve Hackett Signature model, as he promotes this effect well in his recent recordings.

As usual, excellent work on the video itself. Love the blue screen overlays!

[miguelbass]

Thanks, Jim.

I had a borrowed computer, a better one, that allowed me to put more pics, apply effects and stuff... that I was getting hard to work with on my usual pc because previewing was too slow, not to mention rendering. Unfortunately it seems that there is a little bad audio-video sync which is not on the rendered file. Maybe because I had all the project on 25 fps (that's how my camera shoots) and I maybe should have resampled (or rendered) to 29.7? I hope it's not too bad because playback also varies a lot with the hardware, but something happened with youtube's conversion.

I also loved the nautical references and the "bright stars" image. It reminded me of old ships being guided by stars and constellations...
Thanks again for your comments, I was thinking about your earlier suggestion, hoping you would enjoy!

Miguel

[just_bassics]

What I enjoy most, Miguel, beside the obvious fact that you put a lot of time into properly dissecting the bass lines, is that the audio mix is such that your bass part strengthens that which is already on the record, making it clearer to listeners like us here on the RRF who want to have the bass pumped up a little more... Without drowning out the tune... AND the visual aspect is always a real treat. It adds to the overall impact without taking anything away from the real intention of the video, which is (of course) to demonstrate the bass line and how it can be played. You always strike a nice balance and the amount of thought that you put into making the visual effects match the song is impressive.

[johnallg]

What I enjoy most, Miguel, beside the obvious fact that you put a lot of time into properly dissecting the bass lines, is that the audio mix is such that your bass part strengthens that which is already on the record, making it clearer to listeners like us here on the RRF who want to have the bass pumped up a little more... Without drowning out the tune... AND the visual aspect is always a real treat. It adds to the overall impact without taking anything away from the real intention of the video, which is (of course) to demonstrate the bass line and how it can be played. You always strike a nice balance and the amount of thought that you put into making the visual effects match the song is impressive.

Yeah, what Jim said!

[ram]

Yeah, what Jim said!

I second that!

Great job Miguel! Enjoyed it immensely! Pretty bass too!!

[miguelbass]

Thank you Jim, John and Tom.

I thought I'd do something just to share here on the forum (unlisted on my channel). I took a raw file from the camera of one of the takes just to show you... a less glamourous version ) Anyway it's probably boring to watch it all. I also did it to see how was the audio sync.

Miguel

[jps]

Interesting! Sounds like the camera mic is just picking up the string sounds as if the Warwick was a semihollow instrument.

[miguelbass]

Interesting! Sounds like the camera mic is just picking up the string sounds as if the Warwick was a semihollow instrument.

I think the mic must be really good ... btw it's a JVC Everio GZ-HM200 (i don't know much about this type of gear) - Of course the bass has good acoustics and sustain... just the fifth string sounds a bit duller (plus it's tuned to A)

M

[jps]

I was surprised by how loud it really was. As we all know, good sounds starts with the acoustic tone of the instrument.

[RickyBubba]

A+ as always Miquel! I was at the Yes concert this past Friday night in Portsmouth VA, and they played the Squackett CD while they were changing over the set for Yes.....loved it!

[Billsbro]

Bravo, Miguel!
As always, your musicality and analysis amaze me!