Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Another dumb question, but hey, you guys keep answering them!

I was playing along with Fever and I REALLY liked what I was doing. Simple but different from the version I was hearing. I then went to Itunes to hear different versions. I still liked what I was doing. Mine is like a combo of some of the different lines I was hearing.

So, here's the question, how close do you come to the "recorded" version of the bass line? I have a feeling it doesn't matter because blues has been interpreted many different ways. So, at a blues jam session for instance, are you judged on playing the line as recorded(of course with so many covering the same tunes, it may be a moot point) or just "keeping the groove/feel without getting in anyone elses way?

All this to say, I'm trying to ratchet up my courage to get up on jam night!

With my band (about 60 songs in our "book") if I play 50% of the "real" bassline it's strictly coincidence.

Sure, some tunes you need to play pretty close (Longview by Green Day comes to mind), but a lot of the time IMO there's a lot of freedom.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty. The chords I found online are E7 and Am. There is an F6 thrown in but that's it.

The bass tab I found online is A string) 3-6-3-6-3-5(d string (back to A string)2-3--8-6-5--2

It seemed to work better for me to play:
G-A - C - D-----G-A - C - D---- in a bom-bom-Bomp - bomp - bomp...........bom-bomp -Bomp - bomp - bomp

What, if anything, is wrong with that?
I see a possible issue with he fact that they playing Eb and I never(ok, I only played it once) do in that song.

It really depends on the song. Some bass grooves are the core of the piece and should be played like the originals while others are not so essential. There is always some room for interpretation but how much is acceptable is dictated by the situation. Blues tunes are usually not rigid and improvisation and interpretation are expected.

I srewed that up! It's A-C - D - C - A --
A-C - D - C - A

In working with the tune just now I see an error in my ways!

It seems to work better to do: A-C - -D - F - D

To quote my favorite songwriter..."Whatever gets you through the night."

I agree with Ted, take for example Muddy Water's tune "Can't be satisfied", this is a simple slide based song, with a basic but elegant bass line, originally played on an upright. When we do this song, I'm playing the roots, with only a little added at the turnaround, no drummer eiher. There's not a lot of need to add or over complicate this song.

The song "Mother Earth" has a instantly recognisable bass line, and as Ted says is the core of the song, and is usually pretty much left alone, or should be. You could also dig out a few versions of "Crosseyed Cat", you'll find a fair width of interpretation on that as well.

Another good example is Cream's version of Robert Johnson's Crossroad Blues (Crossroads), listen to both, huge differnce in interpretation.

Willie Dixon wrote the original "You need Love" (Muddy Waters does a good version) which was "reinterpreted" by Led Zepplin as "Whole Lota Love" again, huge differences between both tunes.

At a blues jam, IMHO you'll be judged more on how you keep the groove, meet the turnarounds, and balance the structure of the song being played.

Don't worry too much about the key, nothing wrong with a simple "E", Howlin Wolf, and John Lee Hooker both proved you can play blues not only in one key, but in a single chord.

Avoid if possible any SRV tunes, normally folks want to hear the same version from a CD, not a reinterpretation !!!

Other than that, relax, have fun, enjoy the opportunity to play.

Thanks, that helps loads. That's kind of how I play but having no one to bounce it off, I wasn't sure!

On Cream's Crossraods, it seem to me to be Very important to do the first 4 notes along with the guitar to accent but the guitar can finish the lick and we can just hit the bottom note and walk back to the firwt 4 notes and that would be plenty! You wouldn't even have to play the walk up I would think.

In the praise band, my question is always who is playing this part and do they need it accented or duped by me? 90% of the time, my answer is accent!

The original of "Fever" was Peggy Lee and the bass (upright) is the whole song along with some very soft drumming done with brushes. With that song I would stick very closely to the original bass line and do when I play it. The key doesn't really matter, you have to play in the key the singer wants usually. That's pop-jazz by the way, haha! That song's been done a hundred times, Anyone remember the version by The McCoy's? They were the guys who did "Hang on Sloopy" with Rick Derringer on guitar.
Crossroads by Cream is rock, they were a rock band not a blues band. Robert Johnson wrote and did the original blues version of that song
Willy Dixon never really recorded any of his own stuff until late in his life after other people had the hits, he wrote those sings specifically for the people who sang them usually. He wrote many many tunes for Howlin' Wolf (and Wolf didn't like some of the later ones). Willy was not the greatest singer in the world. He did an album "I am the blues" but it's not very good, if you want the definitive versions get the originals. He was THE blues bass player though, and wrote half of the classic blues tunes you hear. He started many blues singers careers with his songs. For ex. Otis Rush did "I can't Quit You" in 1956.

Hey, I heard it on the blues station so it's blues!

My theory is, if it is blues, it's blues. Rock and/or pop interpretations of blues is still blues to me! It's all good!

It's like the line in the movie Crossroads: " You take the blues where you find them, and then you take them to a new place." Paraphrase at best!

Bob...I agree with your points, except for...Cream might have given Crossroads a rock 'treatment', but that's a blues tune no matter who's doin' it...even Barry Manilow (I'm not suggesting that would be a good thing).

Before British bands started 'nicking' blues tunes, nobody in rock-'n'-roll was going down to meet the devil at some lonely intersection. Rock was originally about nothing more than tuning cars and pestering girls for their phone numbers.

Thank you, British friends, for saving us from ourselves.

The term "Blues" has become very diluted since it's become popular, it's now fashionable to be considered a blues player. I know many players who consider Stevie Ray Vaughn to be more of a rock player and his brother Jimmy Vaughn to be the blues player in the family, haha! It's all good but not necessarily blues. For example I love Cream but don't consider them to be a blues band at all. Most blues music you hear today is homogenized with rock. The only pure form left really is acoustic jazz and that's because they have protected it. There are many blues players like that also, they are called the blues nazis around here. But I understand why they do it.



It's like the line in the movie Crossroads: " You take the blues where you find them, and then you take them to a new place."

Remember it's only a movie.

Bob, you're right on...everything becomes diluted once it becomes popular (look at Coca-Cola). Cream is most definitely not a blues band...Beefheart's band comes much closer to the real thing than anything else in rock, for my money.

I've played in blues bands and enjoyed it immensely; I've also jammed with blues nazis and found the experience appalling. If I wanted to deal with that kind of a*****e, I'd go back to the Symphony...

I can't quite grasp the idea that R&R takes away anything from a blues tune. If anyon wanted to be true to the orignal, no electricity, and everyone knows Muddy Waters invented electricity(another line form the movie)! And, how do you define pure blues?

Look at Blue Jean Blues from ZZ Top. It has it all. The cool catchy lyrics, the great ending line: "If I ever get back those blue jeans, you know my baby be bringin home to me!"