Best Ever Bass Lines — Forum Archive

12 Oct 2009, 07:20

In the spirit of making this a more positive forum, how about posting You Tube links to your favourite basslines in songs - New Order related or not. I've just picked up my bass again after six years and have played through the following today:

You may not like the songs/tracks but the bass players here will appreciate the sounds and the technical skill involved. The drummer in my last band used to join me in annoying our singer by playing through the Cliff Burton "solo" at rehearsals as a "warm up". I miss those days.

Examples here of two-finger tapping, bass chords, high-end playing and straight forword "bollocks". I've missed out the slap bass - done it for theatre shows ("Little Shop Of Horrors") and wasn't keen on the style or sound.

My fingers hurt. I'm going for a lie down.

12 Oct 2009, 07:32

Chris Nash wrote: In the spirit of making this a more positive forum

Ah, go $&%* yourself, ya #&%*in' hippie!

Just kidding... I'm gonna go work on my list.

12 Oct 2009, 07:36

Nearly fucked myself playing bass again... Looking forward to posts. Might inspire me to play more!

12 Oct 2009, 07:44

Guns of Brixton.

I ain't gonna go looking for it on youtube though - I ain't got a soundcard at work anyway! :lol:

12 Oct 2009, 07:49

Nice idea Al.

12 Oct 2009, 07:51

This one's fun to play - nice and bouncy :)

and:

12 Oct 2009, 07:53

here's few, there's a few 100 more missing

12 Oct 2009, 07:57

Trust me:

Anything by Interpol -- even Hooky doesn't play this far up the neck:

Lifted from Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf," but still awesome:

John Entwistle showing Flea how it's done:

Baby's first bass line:

12 Oct 2009, 07:59

Nice additions Geno. Thanks for those. Reminded me that the driving force behind The Smiths was Andy Rourke's basslines. Was just chatting about that the other day.

The John Peel Sessions show this more than anything else.

12 Oct 2009, 08:06

Stealers Wheel were great. Thanks Gnu :)

Reminded me to post one of the best known bass parts ever, though very few seem to know who it is. Cambo will like this one:

The racing, the bass playing... :laugh:

Not a big fan of Sting, but this is a great one for the beginner to get used to playing on the off beat:

12 Oct 2009, 08:13

Oh, and the wonderful John Entwhistle:

12 Oct 2009, 08:25

Anything off Metal Box is pure bass gold:

Nothing fancy, but the dictionary definition of "in the pocket":

More Tony Butler awesomeness:

The inspiration for Freebass:

I grew up (chronologically) playing along with Rush records:

John Montague lays it down, hard:

One of the reasons I love this track is that there are (practically) no drum fills. The tension and release is handled almost wholly by Nick Seymour's awesome bass:

Hooky's not the only bassist who owns a chorus pedal; Tony Levin's got some stomp boxes too:

The instrumental of "Rock the Casbah" has a lot of Paul Simonon to love:

12 Oct 2009, 09:16

Mick Karn of Japan is a good one.

This Irish guy is fantastic - great for learning stuff - shows some of the "tricks":

Here's the original:

Here's the Irish lad again - "Cantonese Boy" this time:

12 Oct 2009, 11:01

12 Oct 2009, 11:26

PSB's - Please. Every single one of em

Madonna - In to the Groove

Nick Kamen - Each Time

Seona Dancing - Bitter Heart

Den Harrow - Bad Boy

JD Jaber - Dont Wake Me Up

Baltimora - Tarzan Boy

Donna Summer - I Feel Love

12 Oct 2009, 11:56

Bruce Foxton - definitely, great suggestion, but Start! ?

It was taken directly from The Beatles' "Taxman"

Taxman & Start!

and although it's a good bassline and Foxton plays it far better than McCartney, I would be more inclined to:

"Down In The Tube Station" - the first bass player in years to use bass harmonics in an obvious manner on a "chart hit":

Or the driving bassline of "Eton Rifles":

Or "Going Underground":

Or the often forgotten "Funeral Pyre":

Great drumming on a minimal kit too...

12 Oct 2009, 14:37

Eno's Before and After Science is a fantastic showcase for fretless bass action, courtesy of Percy Jones. Check out these crazy double-stop artificial harmonics slides:

12 Oct 2009, 14:43

12 Oct 2009, 15:56

Cheers Brett! :bow: :laugh: (I'm usually a bit more animate though!)

Christ I've not heard that CURVE song in years.Check out their version of I FEEL LOVE...

12 Oct 2009, 17:05

12 Oct 2009, 17:35

Oops how could I forget this one..

or this....

12 Oct 2009, 17:42

12 Oct 2009, 19:50

Act I

On this other side of the Channel...

Another major influence of the end of the eighties.

enough...

My summer 2009 bass line

12 Oct 2009, 20:42

Here's a rare example of a badass bassline being added to a remix (Zero 7 improves on N.E.R.D.'s "Provider"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0rkcQGOCj4

Stupid buggy forum software isn't letting me post the embedded video, but it's worth the trouble. I figured out the first few notes at one point, but I really need to take some time and learn the whole thing.

12 Oct 2009, 20:48

Simple but highly effective bass slips in and out of prominence in the mix, but this one never fails to move me....Book Of Rules by the Heptones..

12 Oct 2009, 20:51

oh, and the songs We Are Time and She Is Beyond Good And Evil from my avatar heroes.....The Pop Group

13 Oct 2009, 06:58

My old band used to cover this:

Low Rider, bitch:

Pretenders' "My City Was Gone" is a bass classic, but I can't find the studio recording (with Tony Butler on bass). No Butler, no peace.

13 Oct 2009, 15:36

Surprised not to see this one yet:

Also, Steve Harris of Iron Maiden is known for his distinctive "galloping" bass line. It's pretty pronounced in just about any Maiden song, though Phantom of the Opera, which I'm currently listening to, has a nice bridge in the middle. The Evil That Men Do from the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album is also a very good example of this style, Harris' bass is clearly the backbone of the song.

13 Oct 2009, 16:37

Never used to be into Maiden....till I started playing their stuff at jam nights,and it ended up being my highlight every week.This one.plus Aces High.Icarus,Run To The Hills,Wicker Man,Number Of The Beast.

Us at our first PAID gig! We got Jema,a friend of ours to do vocals for some of the Maiden tunes,she couldn't hit the notes at end of Icarus...so I did! :evil4:

13 Oct 2009, 17:39

You'll find none finer....