Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So who actually played bass on Beach Boys albums? I'm just getting into them now, and I remember hearing that Brian would have session players play on the records.

Basslines on songs like "Sloop John B", "God Only Knows", and "Good Vibrations" are just amazing and totally unique. I'm also a big fan of the tone. Any information would be great.

I believe Carol Kaye did much of the studio work. I believe she has a website noting all the many songs she recorded on. You might try googling her name.

Carol Kaye played on all three that you mention. Her website is not 100% accurate, though. She leaves off some dates and includes others that she did not do...

I love the Beach Boys and Carol's work. A really cool thing: some Beach Boys tracks have as many as 3 different basses, an upright, a Fender, and a Dano 6-string bass. I've been lucky enuff to see Brian Wilson and his great band twice, the first they played the entire Pet Sounds album, the second was Smile. Amazing. In my home studio I use a lot of Brian's recording techniques, and basically copy his sound even tho' my tunes are a different style from his.
And Brian did play bass on the early records. Mostly a white P-bass, and sometimes a sunburst one.

Don't forget the Fender Bass VI, which was sprinkled liberally throughout their mid-60s songlist...

I seem to remember Carol saying she never saw a Fender VI at any of the BB sessions(I asked her the question)that it was always a Dano. Both times I saw Brian in concert a Dano VI was used.

Let's not forget Brian wrote those great bass lines.

Carol says she came up with the bass line in "California Girls."

She says she played on a lot of Jamerson hits too...

I think her credibility has suffered considerably in recent years on what she has claimed to played on...

Let's ask Brian!

The bass on "God Only Knows" is as perfect as you'll find in any rock song. And yes, Brian did thumb his way around a white P bass. Not Bootsy thumb ... used all downstrokes (which is why many of the early P basses had the "thumbrest" on the treble side of the body. You'll still see Sting play like this, but I abandoned that style after I couldn't play the bass break in "The Game of Love" using only my thumb. Whatever Carol Kaye claims to have played on but didn't, she still plays well -- and with a pick, too! Tone? Flatwound strings, played with a pick, muted either with the palm of the right hand or with the foam rubber mute inside the P bass bridge cover screwed down tight. TI jazz flats nail that sound

My signature Pet Sounds bass line is on "Here Today"

Also, the title track has a really nice bass line, too.

I believe that both were Carol.

Those two tunes were why I bought my '81 P Bass.