Is there any bass tune that can be learned for use when testing or evaluating a bass? Most online videos about bass upgrades end with a mind numbing flurry of tuneless bass runs and even more tuneless slap bass. You can know it is a bass but something memorable would be a great yardstick when comparing basses. I usually play what I think the bassist played on Eric Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight’. Not exactly memorable or recognisable but it works for me. So guys, is there a bass tune that is worth the effort learning???
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]
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Because the needs of every player are different.
If you are a metal player then there is no point learning 'Sitting on the dock of the bay' to test a bass if the bass you are buying is going to be used for metal.
No point in Sean Hurley learning 'Pulse of the Maggots' either, for the same reasons but swapping the ends of the spectrum.
The best song to try out a bass with is a song you know like the back of your hand already so you have a a properly understood comparator. [EDIT]: Ideally with the rest of the signal path being the same as your usual one. [/EDIT]
If 'Wonderful Tonight' is that song for you, then use that song.
If you play more than one genre and you want a bass that does it all, then have 3 or 4 tunes that you know equally well.
Personally I use
Think - Aretha / Blues Brothers
Rue Perdue - Kyle Eastwood
Hallowed be thy name - Iron Maiden.
Quite amazing to realise that the first and third of those are both a precision bass with flatwound strings, but have very different tones.
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You Can't Hurry Love -"The Supremes
Taxman - Beatles
We Are Family - Sister Sledge
There's 3, not difficult easily recognisable, I may come with more
Where I struggle is in string choice - I muchly prefer flats and almost everything in shops is strung with round wounds
And I wasn't in the market for a Fender CS Pino bass. Bit pricey that!
Since my finger tendon rupture I also set my bass up with a ramp or with pickups very close to the strings to use as a ramp and nothing in the shop is like that either.
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Another one bites the dust is a good one plus the breakdown in the chain.
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Display it on a good sized screen / television and you can read the part from the screen. And with Youtube's tools you can slow it down or speed it up without affecting the pitch.
They are often in different keys to the original, but that's a really good thing for musical education.
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That's pretty much inherent on an instrument with a long scale length. I don't think I've ever played a bass (or even a guitar) where it wasn't the case
Today in a Dublin music shop, I looked at a Squier PJ bass. It looked fine but there were obvious issues to be sorted out before it could be used seriously. A dead feeling neck, roundwound strings, high action and the lightest bridge I ever saw on a bass for starters. It looked great but in the hand ...........
What did I play on it? The first few notes of The Pink Panther theme. A few notes told me all I needed to know.....
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Or what Mick Taylor plays at 06:04.
https://youtu.be/fNkdVZ2w3zU
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The Fender BBOT bridge has never been a problem. Certainly from the era of stuff you seem to listen to and play, there were no other bridges available, and yet the tones produced sounded fantastic.
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