Paul was one of the most innovative bass players ever. And half the stuff that is going on now is directly ripped off from his Beatles period. John Lennon, September 1980 1 I became very proud to be the bass player in the Beatles Paul McCartney, August 1995 2 THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK BASS PLAYING McCARTNEY STYLE This article is written from the perspective of Paul McCartney's influence on rock bass playing. It's written by a fan for fans, and is intended to be largelyuntechnical. This happy fact is largely due to the fact that Paul claims to be untechnical himself. Paul McCartney: I'm one of the least technical people you're likely to meet. I went into a guitar shop in America a few years ago and some guy said "What kind of bass strings do you use, Paul?" I said, "Long shiny ones". I don't know about amps. I don't know about serial numbers." 2 Both Paul and his long time partner, John Lennon, did their best to refrain from analyzing what they did and how they did it too deeply. There was always that fear that they might lose the magic they had. Before the Beatles, and particularly before Paul McCartney helped to bring bass playing to the fore, the bass player in the band was usually the guy who was least talented guitarist. Afterward, it was suddenly cool to be the bass player. This, in itself, was an absolute major change in the music scenes around the world. It is a change that is difficult to properly define the weight of. If you could, for example, walk into the typical music store in 1963, you would find the guitar section populated by about 98% guitars and perhaps a bass or two owards the back. By 1968 when I went to buy my first bass, there were quite a few more than I remember seeing before. The reason, for the large part, is due to the incredible influence Paul McCartney had on the budding musicians of the day. He certainly was the reason I took up the bass and because of that I should point out that writing an article on his bass playing offers two distinct difficulties: 1. to keep on track, and not discuss the Beatles as a whole. While frequent discussion of the Beatles music (instead of purely the bass playing) is necessary because each instrument is so well integrated, discussion of the group or matters in their history has been 'somewhat' avoided. 2. to remain objective. Those of us who grew up loving those four guys as icons, big brothers or whatever, sometimes have a hard time standing back and looking at things objectively. They were - and remain - so magnetic. The countless books that have been written about the Beatles' music by "competent reviewers" (MacDonald's Revolution In The Head comes to mind immediately) take the general approach that the author knows better, that the Beatles haven't fooled them, and that it is important to pass along the idea that their incredible knowledge of music gives them the opportunity to state as fact what they feel about the music. But how objective can one remain about something so entirely subjective as music? It is stated, then, here and now that all of the discussion on the music itself is the opinion of this author. Since McCartney's major influence as a bass player was provided in the 1960s, the article is focused on his work with the Beatles. * * * Thanks section: Thanks to Don Monson for editing (!) and a host of people for contributing thoughts and ideas: cousin Jerry Dicey for years of discussion on rock bass playing; Brian Smithey for setting me straight on James Jamerson; Scott Jennings of Route 66 Guitars for much needed information on Rickenbacker (if you got questions about that company's product, find him), and others who offered excellent information in the rec.music.beatles newsgroup whose names have unfortunately come and gone. * * * SOME OTHER INFLUENTIAL BASS PLAYERS OF THE ERA No article on influential bass playing of the 1960s would be near complete without an admiring nod to some great players of the day. James Jamerson (Motown's one and only). If one were to write an article on the evolution of soul bass playing in the 1960s, the article would be about one man: Jamerson. He influenced Paul McCartney to a great degree. After switching from upright to electric bass, he kept his action (the distance between the string and the neck) very high. This makes the player work harder to hit each note and therefore tends to keep the player from being too "cute" or fancy. Although he apparantly was a very strong fingered man and could play as fast as he ever needed, he was one of the best in the world at laying in the pocket, or playing what was most needed to move a song. John Entwhistle (the Who) would have to be mentioned as the predecessor of the archtypical progressive rock bass player and to this day is nothing short of outstanding on the instrument. Jack Bruce (Cream/much solo work) was and is a major influence on rock bass playing. He was the first major bass player on the scene whose instrumental work was taken as seriously as the lead instruments in a band. During solos, Cream wouldn't feature just guitarist Eric Clapton, but all three musicians interplaying with one another. Donald "Duck" Dunn (Booker T/M.G.s and almost all Memphis records from Redding to Sam & Dave, etc) layed back behind the beat just a little bit along with drummer Al Jackson Jr (a much missed musician) and yet was/is so enthusiastic in his playing. This combination was in contrast to the Motown sound and always seemed perfect for such records as Soul Man, Midnight Hour, Dock of the Bay, Time Is Tight and other such great Memphis hits. Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Jimi Hendrix's Noel Redding, The Animals' Bryan Jones 'Chas' Chandler, the Yardbirds' Paul Samwell-Smith and Brian Wilson (one of Paul's influences 2) all put their stamp, as well, on bass playing in the 1960s. But it is safe to say that even none of these players had the effect and influence on the musical world as one J. Paul McCartney. LARGE SCALE vs. SMALL SCALE BASS In studying the emergence of McCartney's bass playing styles and techniques, I first of all commend him for being such a solid player on his Hofner bass (1963 Hofner 500/1 violin bass), which was really an inexpensive bass with a small neck. When you pick up a Hofner, you're first surprised at how light it is. When you play it, you tend to want to play fast little lines; nothing serious. And yet McCartney really brought 'rock' bass playing four or five steps forward with that little Hofner of his, something he didn't toss aside until 1966 (and has since picked up again many a time). The argument has been put forward that the level of ability and creativity he brought to the instrument beginning in 1965 during the Rubber Soul sessions was due mostly to the expansiveness of the Beatles' music at the time. The opposing view, and one that should not be taken lightly, is that it was due to his new instrument - a Rickenbacker 4001S. Paul McCartney: Because the Hofner's so light you play it a bit like a guitar - all that sort of high trilling stuff I used to do, I think, was because of the Hofner. When I play a heavier bass like a Fender, it sits me down a bit and I play just bass. 2 Interestingly enough, he was really only able to play up the neck when he switched to the Rickenbacker. The Hofner's neck was not aligned until recently (by Mandolin Bros. in New York). Until then, it's intonation would fall off by the third fret according to it's owner. The switch to the Rickenbacker "sat him down" but it also allowed him to move up the neck with a far steadier and powerful style, as is witnessed as soon after the switch in Rain, Paperback Writer and the Anthology 2 version of And Your Bird Cand Sing. He could not have obtained the same sound or effect on his Hofner. The interesting aspect of this whole subject is that Paul McCartney is not merely a bass player. It's quite obvious that he hears and feels the entire range of the song as it's being developed. He has definite ideas on what the guitars should sound like (frequently plays them), what the keyboard should sound like (frequently plays them) and what the drums should sound like (and frequently plays those as well). He is a well rounded musician who has earned a high position of respect in the rock field. The following section is the author's view of Paul's own evolution as a bass player and, hence, the evolution of rock bass playing. It also attempts to have some fun discussing what was most likely behind the recording of the bass - and at times the other instruments - on a selection of their songs. It should be noted in advance that the bass is, obviously, just a section in a band setting. The best bass players seem to know instinctively what will best lift the song to new heights. Frequently this can be some very simple and well placed notes (the best example of this may well be the very simplistic and beautiful bass playing on Simon & Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair) HOW TO BECOME A BASS PLAYING ICON To become the icon of bass players that Paul McCartney became, it must be then that he was born a bass player - ready from the beginning to go out and buy his first bass. Of course this wasn't the case. The Beatles bass player, Stu Sutcliffe, stayed on in Hamburg after one of their seasons there and they needed someone to replace him. By default, it became Paul. George Harrison (speaking of Paul replacing Stu Sutcliffe as the bass player of the Beatles): . . . he left when we finished the gig in Hamburg, he decided to go back to art college. At that point, Paul was still playing the guitar and I remember us saying "Well, one of us has got to be the bass player", and I remember saying "it's not me, I'm not doing it" and John saying "I'm not doing it either". He. . .went for it and he became the bass player from that point on. So then we were a four piece band" 3 Paul McCartney: "Stu said he was going to stay in Hamburg. He'd met a girl and was going to stay there wtih her and paint. So it was like, Uh-oh, we haven't got a bass player. And everyone sort of turned 'round and looked at me. I was a bit lumbered with it, really-it was like, 'Well... it'd better be you, then.' I don't think you would have caught John doing it; he would have said: 'No, you're kidding. I've got a nice new Rickenbacker!' I was playing piano and didn't even have a guitar at the time, so I couldn't really say that I wanted to be a guitarist." 2 Thanks to this stubborness, the Beatles sound began at that time to take the direction that would bring them the fame that no group of artists has before or since known. In the very early days, Paul played with the style that most guitar players-turned-bass players employ. It's a bouncy style that is caused generally by hammering the pick down to the string on each note. The Rolling Stones' Bill Wyman employed this style for years. Combining this style with a hollow body bass made, at times, for a very 'round' and punchy sound, a sound easy to visualize. If, for example, Disney were to animate Please Please Me (as in the first part of Fantasia) the bass would probably be pictured in round dark blotches that would quickly fade away - bop bop bop bop bop bop, etc. While it definitely works and the song put them over the top world-wide, what would have the Beatles sounded like in the '63-'65 days if Paul had gone with a solid body bass? Very different, indeed. CRY FOR A SHADOW The tracks recorded with Tony Sheridan in Germany are the earliest I know of that feature Paul on bass guitar. Pete Best is on drums. Interestingly enough, the feel of the McCartney/Best rhythm section contrasts sharply with the McCartney/Starr section and hence the importance of this recording. Pete played with a much ligher sticked attack, using snare rolls frequently. Paul's bass playing is far heavier than Pete's and so the rhythm section tends to feel out of balance. For those that still ask the eternal question "Why did they replace Pete with Ringo", take a listen to these songs and - rhythm sectionally speaking - it makes sense. Don't take lightly the importance of the ability of the bass player and drummer to lock together. It is, in rock music, crucial to the energy level coming from the sound of the songs. Paul 'features' on Cry For A Shadow at the end of every chorus with a slick little run up the neck. The songs were recorded in a school setting, far from a recording studio, and you're hearing the Beatles pretty much how they sounded live in those days. Paul's amp can barely handle the pressure and that actually adds some charm to the sound of the bass. During most of his Beatle years and then again on Wings Over America, part of Paul's unique sound was driving his amp just to the edge of distortion. What a difference this makes with sound - adding an edgy touch to it - and Paul is getting it on this recording. George Martin and Geoff Emerick, in re-mastering the tracks for the Beatles Anthology, were able to give the bass a rich deep tone that hadn't been there before. Since they used old style recording equiptment, these recordings - if you like the sound offer a testimonial to going back a few steps with some of our technology. Tube recording and performing equiptment (such as used on these recordings) will usually sound "warmer" than the more clean and slick digital recording. Note on pushing the bass sound to the edge of distortion: the over distorted sound Jack Bruce once got with his Gibson basses and Marshall amps is not what's being referred to here. Moreso, the reference is to the sound you get, generally by just slightly overdriving your amplifier. The sound tends to come alive, take pulse, as if there is a bit of friction going on. The over clean (in the author's opinion) sound that bass players have sought out in the 80s and 90s loses a lot of this friction, although there are a few notable exceptions to this rule. ONE AFTER 909 The early version of One After 909 'showcases' Paul attempting gamely to play a solid hammer rhythm without benefit of a pick. Reviewers of this track have translated his playing as an attempt at being flashy but, reviewers, listen again. Real bass players out there will recognize that Paul was trying too hard to play, and his wrist has stiffened up. He is attempting to keep the energy of his rhythm up, play with his fingers, and harmonize with John at the same time. Like with so many things, if you attempt to push beyong your limit of energy, things begin to get shaky and loose. Paul, being no quitter, tries gamely to keep it going. In this case, John busts him with the very Liverpuddlian accent "What are you DOING?" 3 Paul tries again and again. There seems to have been no possibility of having Neil go back out to the van to get a pick from his case because the final recording played on the Anthology sounds the same as the first attempt. All that aside we can see where at this early stage, Paul is already hammering his notes (solid eightnotes played on the root), an effect that wasn't all that often until then; perhaps Paul would have been the perfect bass player for Eddie Cochran (re: Summertime Blues). "GENTLEMEN, YOU'VE RECORDED YOUR FIRST NUMBER ONE" Pure excitement. When you play Please Please Me, to this day the excitement comes through. The overall sound is like a big band even if the parts played aren't done in that style. As with so many of their songs, there wasn't one particular Beatle responsible for the excitement. A listen to what each of the four did reveals an exciting well played part, and they all come together to make a sound that you'll never forget. were once again into having their recordings sound like cohesive units. The bass playing on Please Please Me punches it's way into the sound right away hammering away in eighth notes. If you were to listen to that song for the first time without the bass part, it may not be likely that you'd come up with that idea; but. . . it is perfect. ________________________________________________________________________ 1963 WITH THE BEATLES lp Up until the album With The Beatles (1963), most contemporary bass playing was jazz (played on an upright bass) or rock and roll (played either on an upright or Fender electric). But it was a very primitive technique used by rock and roll bass players that generally mimicked the style of horn lines. With The Beatles was the first album where ROCK bass playing first crawled from the ocean and breathed air. On most of the album, George Martin and engineer Norman Smith decided to let the bass come up front and for good reason. The playing is solid and wild, especially for the times. Ringo and Paul have developed, by this album, an awesome matching of power that few other bands could boast. It must be claimed that they both avoided showing off too much, but more importantly they sought and always seemed to find just the right way to present a song. Pressing along with John Lennon's guitar on Hold Me Tight, the rhythm rolls like a Sherman Tank smashing it's way through a forest. Hanging back on All I've Got To Do (discussed further), they "don't" play perfectly--meaning that it is just important what they would leave out as what they would put in. Every Beatles album had a particular flavor and it's easy to contrast With The Beatles with the white album on that regard. Each instrument was well defined both in sound and in style. The Beatles, most will agree, we're TALENTED. John Lennon was right when he said that they would have made it famous one way or another, because they were talented people. As a band, they could play about any kind of style, and they could do it both ways. They could create a tight, cohesive sound that would knock your doors off and draw you into their tremendous spirit or they could play as four musicians working expertly with each other as on both the white album and here on With The Beatles. On the first three songs from the album: IT WON'T BE LONG It has that hook guitar line that can only be in E. It is always played twice in succession and Paul always follows it down the second time on bass, playing it so hard that he's overdriving his amplifier. Martin/Smith are to be given a lot of credit for not only leaving that in but bringing it to the fore. During the verses, Paul and Ringo enter into one of their patented rhythm changes, bringing the tension down enough to let the listener rest for a few moments. It is dynamics that make so many of the Beatles songs what they were. They were, even at this early stage of their career, masters of when to go all out and when to lay back. Because you've gone through a mini roller coaster ride of dynamics when listening to much of their music, you tend to reach each conclusion feeling some exhilaration. It Won't Be Long is no exception to this rule. It might be that the vocals and guitars provide the roller car you're riding in, but that car's wheels are provided by Ringo and Paul. The album kicks off with this song and doesn't trail off there. ALL I'VE GOT TO DO All I've Got To Do follows, and to the best of my knowledge it's the first time in R&R; or rock where the bass player plays chords as a vital part of the song. Just as it happens when Paul starts playing chords in I Want To Hold Your Hand, the rest of the band steps back and lets his sound come through. Dyanamics to the fore, the bass playing really works for this song. As mentioned above, what Paul doesn't play on this song is as important to what he does play. Up and coming bass players, please take heed. The minor tension he creates with his chords is of major importance to this track, during the verses. He is riding the drum's synchopated rhythm in a herky-jerky way that is meant for dance. Again, dynamics are well to the fore. The choruses ("and the same goes for me. . ") raise the song up to new heights. Just as suddenly, the song drops back down, down, down, to the verses. The chorus ends, Ringo kicks a perfectly timed hi-hat stroke, and we're back into another verse. None of it, bass chords aside, is new or extra-ordinary, just very well done. ALL MY LOVING . . . .ahhhh . . . linear bass playing to the hilt. Underneath John's awesome triplet mashing, for the first half of each verse, Paul's bass walks from chord to chord in good ol' jazz style. The typical R&R; bass lines would work with this song, especially considering what's happening on rhythm guitar, but the walk works even better. The typical bass player of the day would have settled for playing a simple 1 & 5 on each chord and it would have worked, but not nearly as well as this line does. The style is ever-present and dynamic. But then on the chorus, where you generally expect the band to really pick it up, the Beatles fall WAY back. The triplet guitar stops, the bass stops walking, and the background vocals are used almost as an organ effect. The bass, here, stands to the side as well. When you consider that they were somewhere in their very early 20s when they recorded this, an age where one mighn't expect a lot of dynamics, all of this becomes even more impressive. ______________________________________________________________ I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND In Britain, the single was released a week later; full of dynamics, stumbles and hooks. One instrument after another takes it's turn coming to the forefront. At first it's the rhythm guitar playing the famous opening chords, staying somehow in 4/4 (though you wouldn't know it as it seems like it takes one beat too long for the vocals to come in). Then, there's the final little crescendo before the first vocals, anchored by Paul's repeater bass line. "Oh yeah I!" shout John and Paul in unision, "tell you something!", now it's George's turn; he plays that little guitar lick that takes the song expertly and perfectly from the V to the VI chord (the song being in G, it now goes from D to Em). On the bridge (and when I touch you I feel happy), just as in All My Loving, the guitars and drums fall way back, and Paul's bass leaps to the fore, playing chords. The whole song has changed feel for a short time. But not for long. The dynamics that result when the guitars re-enter at "I can't hide" are awe-inspiring. How many guitar players can you think of that would stand by and let the bass player come forth, even for a few moments? Not many. Ask any bass player, he/she will attest to it. Here, at a stage where the Beatles were conquering the world, John and George both stood back and let the dynamics flow. The boys had learned, quite early in their professional recording careers, to bring the hooks to the fore. They'd also learned not to let their musicianship get in the way of making good records. 'Adequate', John said about their musicianship. Adequate enough to knock a whole country of JFK mourning Americans out of their chairs. I Want To Hold Your Hand is one of pop music's all time masterpieces. Short and concise, it takes you through changes both subtle and obvious. So much can be learned from this song by aspiring songwriters/arrangers/producers. _________________________________________________________________ 1964/1965 1964/1965 are interesting years to evaluate when it comes to evaluate McCartney's development as a bass player. On the records recorded in 1964, the bass is almost always exciting and energetic, while in 1965 it was generally very tasteful, but there were no real innovations to be found. That isn't to say that his playing had dropped off from 1963. In fact, by the recording of the album Rubber Soul, the level of maturity in his development of bass parts to fit the song had grown by leaps and bounds from the earlier years. It's been often said, rightly, that the Beatles developed by amazing amounts from album to album. But, the production level of the bass on Beatle albums seems to have leveled off during the two years, especially when you consider the manner in which it had been brought to the fore so often in 1963 (see It Won't Be Long). Perhaps this is because: 1. The Martin/Smith team were informed that too much bass on a record was making the stylus' jump on the cheap little turntables that Beatles' records were being played on around the world. 2. The Beatles were falling into the shell that was to encapsulate them until late 1966. Perhaps Paul was thinking more about the songs alone than what to play on it, although that's pretty admirable in and of itself. They were involved in so much; touring, songwriting, endless photo sessions and Paul's expansion into instruments other than bass. There was just too much to think of during this period for him to be completely revolutionary with his bass playing. 3. By 1965, John had turned more and more to acoustic guitar on Beatles' records and the style of the band was leaning (in some ways) towards folk music which requires far less from the bass than the rock they were playing in 1964. A point to be made about 1964 is that Paul and The Beatles allowed the bass to (with italics) actually be played when other instruments were not playing. LONG TALL SALLY When The Beatles played at the Hollywood Bowl in 1964 and performed Long Tall Sally, Paul cut loose, playing lines along with his vocals during the breaks. It's difficult in this day and age of bass playing hijinx to express the importance of this band letting the bass cut loose. It just was not done before in the rock world. I'LL CRY INSTEAD Wow.. Two mini bass solos, played under "I'd have myself locked up today". Again, today the idea may not seem wild but in 1964 it was close to heresy. THINGS WE SAID TODAY Ensemble playing (by all four) at it's finest. Listen to Paul's bass contribution on the song. Not outlandish, it's very tasteful. You might be surprised that it drives the song perfectly. Every instrument on this song is bent away from self expression and directly toward "song expression". Little things come and go that drive the song and it's mood along. Note: In the sixties days of dance music, songs were either "fast dance" songs or "slow dance" songs and Things We Said Today moves between both of those. Couples dancing to the song would begin by slow dancing and then (once they knew the song) break apart and fast dance in the middle sections. The song is really two seperate songs skillfully blended together by the Beatles. But, after all, what defines a slow song or fast song? It isn't the tempo, as Things We Said Today is not much slower - if at all - than Boys. It's not necessarily the drum beat because Ringo's eight-note hi-hat beat during the slow sections is somewhat similar to a rock and roll beat. In the end, it must be the energy of the performers. In Things We Said Today, Paul delivers both forms of energy to his vocal. During the slow part, his voice covers the sound almost like a blanket; it's very soothing. During the rock part, his voice carries the tension of a rocker. This is one of the early examples, to be shown many times over their career, of the Beatles expert ability to shift in and out of tempos, time signatures, and moods with stealth and ease. For another one of their all time best examples of this, refer to the 4/4, 3/4 change in We Can Work It Out. IF YOU'VE GOT TROUBLES This is another song that tends to be written off as an undesirable piece of work, mostly because it was never released. Reviewers have mostly had trouble relating to it. Had it been released instead of it's replacement, Act Naturally, a different view of the song may well be held today. It contains an excellent rock bass/guitar line, an early example of what was to come to the rock world a few years later. In 1965, the prevailing style in England was to come up with a catchy guitar hook (i.e. Satisfaction). While If You've Got Troubles has that line, it still appears to be ahead of the times, and the reason is that they are doubling the bass line beneath it, sort of like Drive My Car; speaking of which: DRIVE MY CAR When recorded where both instruments are clearly heard, the sound of a good rock guitar line with the bass following it an octave beneath it is pretty exciting. The guitar/bass parts in Drive My Car are a perfect example of this, and the lins are thanks to George Harrison who perservered against Paul's will for once in playing it this way. Perhaps he might have considered perservering more because it really works. The question that intrigues bass players everywhere is whether or not Paul switched to his new Rickenbacker for this song. Listening closely to the bass part indicates that he most likely did. It is punchy and carries that certain trebly edge that is inherant in Rickenbacker basses. ================================================================= Note from Scott Jennings, Rickenbacker historian, on this subject: The 1964 Rickenbacker model 4001S bass (the first lefty bass they had built) was built specifically to be shown to Paul. Its serial number and factory records indicate that it was completed in January 1964. It was offered to him during the week of their first Sullivan show appearance by F.C. Hall, then the owner of Rickenbacker, but he declined to buy it at the time (this was the same day that George got his '63 360/12, and John his '63 325). According to F.C. Hall, and his son John Hall, the current CEO of Rickenbacker International, Paul was given the bass during a visit to their factory the week of the Beatles August 29, 1965 appearance at the Hollywood Bowl. There are photos of Paul using this bass during the Rubber Soul sessions in October in spite of all historical claims that it wasn't used until the Paperback Writer session the following April. ================================================================= The historical claims that the bass was not used until Paperback Writer were made by Geoff Emerick. But while Emerick was employed at EMI during the Rubber Soul sessions, he was not their engineer until 1966. NOWHERE MAN Nowhere Man is another candidate for having been recorded on the Rickenbacker. The bass line is bouncy and fun to listen to and, as always, is the perfect counterpoint to the guitars. MICHELLE 1964/65 can not be dismissed without a mention of the lovely bass work done on Michelle. Smooth, flowing, legatto. Discussing the bass (or any parts) on Michelle is like discussing a fine wine. Listening to it causes one to raise one eyebrow, ala Spock, and say "Ahhhhh, yes. Observe the way the bass counters the guitar parts, subtly keeping the music interesting and yet remaining tastefully in the background so as not to disturb the superb vocalization. Ahhhh, priceless." McCartney: "I never would have played 'Michelle' on bass until I had to record the bass line. Bass isn't an instrument you sit around and sing to. I don't anyway. But I remember that opening six-note phrase against the descending chords in 'Michelle'-that was like, oh, a great moment in my life. I think I had enough musical experience after years of playing, so it was just in me. I realized I could do that." 3 COMMENTS FROM 1965: Beatles engineer Norman Smith: "There is no doubt at all that Paul was the main musical force. He was also that in terms of production as well. A lot of the time George Martin didn't really have to do the things he did because Paul McCartney was around and could have done them equally well. The only thing he couldn't do was to put symbols to chords: he couldn't write music. But he could most certainly tell an arranger how to do it, just by singing a part--however, he didn't know, of course, whether the strongs or brass could play what he wanted. But most of the ideas came from Paul." 4 In reviewing some of the favorites from the Beatles repertoire, Smith's comments ring true. A perfect union seems to have been a John Lennon song given the Paul McCartney touch. Songs such as Strawberry Fields, A Day in the Life and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds are apparantly examples of this. _________________________________________________________________ TECHNIQUES By this time, Paul had mastered two techniques. With his left (pick) hand, he had learned that he could get much more control and attack by beginning a note with the pick right on the string. As mentioned above, many guitar-players picking up a bass tend to bounce the notes. This technique allows far more control over the sound. With his right (non pick) hand, he had mastered sliding up to a note. For example, to play an E using this technique, you start on the D just below it with your index finger and hammer down your ring finger on the E immediately without picking again. He was to use the technique more frequently from Revolver on. _________________________________________________________________ 1966 It's not known how much the Rickenbacker was used on the Rubber Soul sessions, but by 1966, it's pretty clear he had switched to the Rickenbacker exclusively in the studio even if he still played the Hofner on his tours. He's related his Hofner bass to Charlie Chaplin's walking cane and mustache - you just grew to expect to see it. The recording of Revolver began in early April, 1966. Paperback Writer was recorded on April 14th. If those people that were digging up the Paul Is Dead clues had placed his death between November 11th 1965 (the final Rubber Soul session) and April 6th, 1966 - I'd probably have trouble disbelieving them. PAPERBACK WRITER And why? Because it's a whole new bass player who emerged on June 10th, the day Paperback Writer and Rain was released as a single. Reviews of Paperback Writer, over the years, have tended to cast it off as being a fairly weak song. Better lyrics are demanded. But the reviewers miss the point entirely, as usual. It is not the lyrics that drive this song; it's soung, the vibrating feel of it. It's George's lead guitar riff, John's tremolo rhythm, Ringo's driving beat and Paul's soaring bass playing. The sound of the song was completely different than anything else out in it's day. The four musicians clicked together as a unit, each one completely holding his own and feeding into the wild sound. You just about have to go back in time and listen to what else was on the charts and playing on the radio in 1966 and 1967 to really grasp how powerful these songs were when they were released. It has been said many times, but it's true. There was nothing like it around. George played the heavy hook line on his 1962 Gibson Les Paul (SG) Standard to John's heavily tremoloed Gretsch Nashville. The two guitarists always managed to sound great together and Paperback Writer is one of the prime examples of that blend. The mix of the two really moves the song. The vocals are extra-ordinary. Ingeniously arranged and recorded with flash and style. But, in the eyes of history, it's the bass that really cuts this song. Paul's bass fills leading into the verses are by now legendary. It was one of the first major hits- along with it's flip side - that really featured bass (bass guitar--Johnny Cymbol fans, hold those letters). RAIN In it's finished form, Rain was slowed down from the tempo it was originally recorded at. This change was engineered to give the sound a warmer, almost dripping feel. But when you consider the fact that it is slower, think about how fast it must have been recorded. Take heed, Ringo bashers, he did this drumming at a FASTER speed than the record). Those who wish to hear "monster" bass playing, 1966 style, sit back and enjoy the show. Like so many facets of the Beatles' legacy, it's as alive today as it was then. A lot of the song is played up the neck, but there are a number of lines where he gets from down the bottom end to up high quickly. Since the song comes out in G, it's my guess that they originally played it in A allowing Paul to play the low open A and get up above the high G on the first string with relative ease. Listen to the bass line just after "Can you hear me? Can you hear me? He gets from the low G to the high G just a little too quickly for it to be otherwise. If the song was not recorded, originally, in A, then the other possibility is that a capo was used. Still, the bass work is at the same time heavy and flowery. An iron butterfly, if you will. It wasn't long after this that bass players in recording sessions and bands around the world found themselves facing the dilemna of having to "play like McCartney, man". The Beatles, and McCartney had turned overnight from the fab mop tops into serious psycha-rockers. Ringo Starr: "My favorite piece of me is what I did on 'Rain.' I think I just played amazing. I was into the snare and hi-hat. I think it was the first time I used this trick of starting a break by hitting the hi-hat first instead of going directly to a drum off the hi-hat. . . I think it's the best out of all the records I've ever made. 'Rain' blows me away. It's out of left field. I know me and I know my playing, and then there's 'Rain'." 5 Side notes of 1966: It was a whole new era in recording, and bass playing. That same year, Cream formed and Jack Bruce with his six string bass started dazzling the masses in England. Entwhistle and the Who started taking off that year as well. One thing you can say about Paul McCartney; he's up to a challenge. It would have been easy to just take a back seat to the virtuosos, but not so Paul because it was now that he started really making his mark. Not bad for a mop top, eh? THE EMERGENCE OF YOUNG GEOFF EMERICK Geoff Emerick became the Beatles engineer after Rubber Soul. What would Revolver have sounded like with the outgoing EMI sound engineer Norman Smith? Perhaps a lot drier. More like Rubber Soul, maybe, but one thing's for sure; it would have sounded nowhere near like it did. Smith left either to pursue his own producing career (as per George Martin) or because he knew it was time to hop off the Beatles' train (as per Norman Smith). Smith: "Rubber Soul wasn';t really my bag at all so I decided that I'd better get off the Beatles train." 6 This move, for whatever reason, is all important in any consideration of the next Beatles records. To emphasize this major point, put Rubber Soul and Revolver into your cd (or whatever) player and just skip around between albums for a while. You'll see it wasn't just, as so often has been reported, that the Beatles had gotten better, it was also that the recording techniques went out of the universe in 1966, using compression techniques that are so evident on Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road. When one considers the far reaching impact of the next two albums on the entire recording industry, you might say that putting Emerick into the EMI booth was to music what going to the moon was to space travel. A giant step. For example, from Mark Lewisohn's The Beatles Recording Sessions: EMERICK: "'Paperback Writer' was the first time the bass sound had been heard in all it's excitement. For a start, Paul played a different bass, a Rickenbacker. Then we boosted it further by using a loudspeaker as a microphone. We positioned it directly in front of the bass speaker and the moving diaphragm of the second speaker made the electric current." What a wild process, one that is used in some stereo systems today; created at Abbey Road for that song. Note that here Emerick doesn't claim specifically that it was the first time he used the Rickenbacker, which would have been - most probably - an incorrect statement. Instead he refers to it as a "different" bass. It might do well to keep in mind that Emerick's involvement on Rubber Soul (when Paul was first seen to have it in use) may have been minimal. It wasn't until the Revolver sessions that Emerick became the main engineer. Tape operator Jerry Boys: Geoff walked-in green but because he knew no rules he tried different techniques, and because the Beatles were very creative and adventurous, the would say yes to everything. The chimistry of George and Geoff was perfect and they made a formidable team. With another producer and another engineer things would have turned out quite differently. Ron Pender: Geoff started off by following Norman Smith's approach because he'd been Norman's assistant for a while. But he rapidly started to change things around, the way to mike drums or bass, for example. He was always experimenting. _________________________________________________________________ REVOLVER The sound of this entire album is completely unique. I know of no other album that sounds close to it. Many fans and reveiwers (and even George Martin) have referred to it as their favorite Beatles album. For this album, it was the sounds that the Beatles sought to bring to the fore. Tracks were slowed down and sped up to acheive sounds. Note: Much has been made of the Beatles increasing disatisfaction with their ability to perform to any standard in concert. It is quite possible that this fact, while a frustration for them at that point, was a significant factor in the incredible leaps and bounds they were making in the studio during these years. In other words, the worse they felt about their live work, the more attention was given to their studio work. It is possible that had their concerts given them more satisfaction, their studio work might not have been given the incredible energy and attention it was. If so, then let us give thanks to the screaming fans. Without them, perhaps Revolver wouldn't have happened. GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE McCartney really began to take his instrument seriously in 1966. His playing throughout the album, throughout 1966, was at a peak. At times bold, at times tender. Sometimes quiet, sometimes loud; whatever the song called for. Would he agree, however, that something more might have been done on Got To Get You Into My Life. If, as books indicate he was looking for a Motown sound, he might have beefed his line up just a bit; played a line that moved the song a little more. This is not an assault on simple playing but McCartney's attack (the dynamic of how he puts pick to string) sounds as if it's back to the old style of hammer picking. Without much backing instrumentation (aside from horns), it leaves things a bit empty sounding. TAXMAN On Taxman, the bass playing sounds like the bass is going through a Marshall stack, giving it a power rock sound. Excellent all the way around, especially when you consider that Paul was also busy recording that incredible guitar solo. With Lennon adding his now familiar sledgehammer rhythm and Ringo doing his usual excellent backbeat job, one wonders what the Beatles might have been like had George taken up the bass and Paul stayed on guitar. Hmmm. For one thing, this article would be a heck of a lot different. AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING (Anthology version) Take 2 of this song seems, in retrospect, as solid and interesting as the excellent released version. The bass playing on this earlier version is certainly more prevelant. If only we could hear this without the giggling Beatles, we might have a new classic Beatles song on our hands. The bass line that brings the vocals into the song is precise and heavy. Good work. OTHER SONGS ON REVOLVER I'm Only Sleeping, obviously slowed WAAAYYY down, had a nifty treat for us - an actual solo bass line and some good crash style drumming. And Your Bird Can Sing, Dr. Robert, I Want To Tell You nd the amazing Tomorrow Never Knows all feature great, solid bass playing. Yeah, it was 1966, and bass playing was starting to flourish. Rarely again would the words "bass should be felt and not heard" pass out of tired lips. The revolution that had begun over 20 years earlier with Woody Herman's amazing bass player, squelched and then revitalized for a while with Chuck Berry's bass player, and then squelched again, was back on - never to be squelched again. (Note: I'm not positive Tomorrow Never Knows was recorded with the Rickenbacker. Emerick says that Paperback Writer was the first song to use the new bass and that was recorded AFTER TNK. It may be, though, that Emerick was referring to the fact that PBW was RELEASED first. McCartney's recent comments that the Rickenbacker was used on Rubber Soul really make this something worth researching.) TO ANALYZE: Most people who work with a tool of any kind know that when you get something that completely outshines what you had before, you can get more creative. People who buy new bench saws suddenly start creating all kinds of things. People who get new caligraphy pens litter the house with their writings. People who get new musical instruments that sound better than before suddenly become many times better in their musicianship. Combining the bass that Paul began using in 1965 with the studio techniques and sounds available to them during these years, '66 and '67 were banner years for Paul's bass playing. PENNY LANE Some personal musing and meandering: After I discovered that Penny Lane was done on a Rickenbacker, I thought about it and felt that that bass line could not be successfully played on a Hofner. I probably sound as if I'm constantly on the attack of the bass that contributed to The Sound Of The Beatles, but I really felt this theory to be true. Then, on the McCartney Up Close special from a few years back he sure proved me wrong. He's got his old Hofner bass up there and plays it (while singing) to a 't'. I've heard Penny Lane tossed aside by many critics and it again just leads one to believe that most critics don't know what they're talking about. It was a song of incredible consequence. As I recall, Strawberry Fields seemed to get more airplay but I have to think that Penny Lane affected more hopeful hitmakers at the time. That piano line was worked to perfection, and the bass line is constructed to move that song in and out of moods. During the opening lines to the verses such as "In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer" the bass is walking jauntily and with great restraint, not pushing the beat at all. The mood is light. But when we see the banker sitting "waiting for a TRIM", the song takes a sudden left turn into Strangeville. The smiling masks come off and when you hear the following line ". . the fireman rushes in from the pouring rain", we realize we're heading right down Main St. The effect is driven by two things. The piano, dubbed many times over, goes to a minor chord and the bass Stops Walking. It's as if you're walking down a street and suddenly everything stops. Like good acting, or sometimes good living, it's amazing the effect you can have when you suddenly stop something that's been going on. People look around, hardly having noticed that the original sound was even there until it stopped. Similarly, you might be sitting in your living room watching tv while one of those crazed and brain damaged mocking birds is chirping away outside. Then, he flies away (or is shot at) and you look around suddenly. You hadn't really acknowledged the sound until it was gone. Talk about lessons. The Beatles were learning them and using them to excellent advantage ____________________________________________________________ 1967 PEPPER George Martin: "It's been 25 years now since it's been issued, and there aren't many records which really last in the memory for a quarter of a century. It evoked the spirit of the age." 8 George Harrison: "I remember track by track it was very exciting at that time. Nothing like that had ever been." 8 Paul McCartney: "That's probably the big difference is that people played it a bit safe in popular music. But I think that's when we suddenly realized that you didn't have to." 8 Ringo Starr: "It was colorful and it was peace and it was love and it was music" 8 John Lennon: "Sgt. Pepper is called the first concept album, but it doesn't go anywhere. All of my contributions to the album have absolutely nothing to do with this idea of Sgt. Pepper and his band; but it works 'cause we said it worked." 1 Not only has so much been written about this amazing album, but the words "so much has been written. . " have been written hundreds of times. Where do you start? Most of his bass playing on this album was not ensemble playing but him sitting in the studio on a stool, his left handed Rickenbacker across his lap his mustache curled around his lip. When you see pictures of Paul in the Sgt. Pepper days, you see a man looking for something new and far away. He found it, again, on this album. When you listen to what he plays, you can generally picture how he positions himself when he plays it. It's fairly expressive; well very expressive. While Revolver/Paperback Writer's style was straight ahead and very much rock, Sgt. Peppers was different. The expression is cool, laid back a bit, but creative and completely different - again - than anything yet done. Once again, the cry in bands was "play like McCartney plays". This time it could not be done because of the simple fact that on most tracks he was given his own track and his own time to record it. Since he lived nearby, he was usually first and generally last at the studio and had time to play with his bass parts. Perhaps never before had a bass player been given such leverage and time to come up with exactly the right thing to play on each song. Geoff Emerick: On Pepper we were using the luxury of utilizing one track for bass overdub on some of the things...We used to stay behind after the sessions, and Paul would dub all the bass on. I used to use a valve C12 microphone on Paul's amp, sometimes on figure-eight, and sometimes positioned up to eight feet away. Direct injection wasn't used on the guitars until Abbey Road.7 As the group dynamics allowed for more and more experimentation, Paul's bass playing became more innovative. "As time went on, I began to realize you didn't have to just play the root notes. If it was C,F,G, then it was normally C,F,G that I played. But I started to realize you could be pulling on the G, or just stay on the C when it went into F. And then I took it beyond that. I thought, Well, if you can do that, what else could you do, how much further could you take it? You might even be able to polay notes that aren't in the chord. I just started to experiment." 2 Paul McCartney and George Martin discussing the bass playing on Sgt. Pepper, listening to Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds: McCartney: It was much better for me to work out the bass later, you know. Martin: I think it made it better. McCartney: Yeah, I think it was . . .but the good thing about doing it later is it allowed me to (hums the bass line to the chorus as it comes up) get melodic bass lines (hums and air guitars the bass at the end of the chorus) Martin: ...all the bass lines were always very interesting McCartney: On this album I think that was one of the reasons LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS The sound of the instruments on this song all have a floating feel to them and the bass is no exception. This is another example of a Beatles song that has a bass line completely different than one might expect, and yet fits perfectly. It doesn't anchor the song to the ground; that is a role that the bass seldom plays on this album. But somehow it does hold it to some floating anchor and is probably THE representation of Sgt. Pepper style bass playing. If the song comes from a different place, as Lucy does, then why not anchor it in that place in a tricky, bizarre and different way. "On Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds for example", McCartney says, "you could easily have had root notes, whereas I was running an independent melody through it, and that became my thing. It's rally only a way of getting from C to F or whatever, but you get there in an interesting way. So once I got over the fact that I was lumbered with bass, I did get quite proud to be a bass player. It was all very exciting." 2 BEING FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR. KITE More inspired bass playing here. On the verses, the bass starts out as an almost typical one/five bass line, but by the end of the verse has transformed into a melody that counters Lennon's lead line. The bass, in fact, seems to counter the rest of the recording. The keyboards and drums stand on one side, plodding along beneath the vocals, with the bass on the other. GOOD MORNING...GOOD MORNING On this song, Paul and Ringo began using a one beat technique that they kept in their repertoire through Abbey Road. At the end of the verses, they add an exclamation point by slamming the beat home together, the bass starting at one note and sliding downward. In fact, the whole song showcases the rhythm section to great effect. The song opens with a galloping rhythm and there are sections in the song where Ringo's bass drumming rolls at a super-fast rate. FIXING A HOLE Another perfect example of "not" playing to perfection. The bass line continues to seem to go somewhere and then suddenly stops. Very untypical of a bass line, and very reflective of the mood of the song. SGT PEPPERS REPRISE Put that reprise on with the bass turned up all the way. There's Paul counting off. . .there's the four bars of drumming, and then on the final eigth note of the fourth measure, Paul gives the intro note and slams it into gear. From there, it's full speed ahead and rock solid, and John must have been proud. His playing on this song is actually a portent of styles to come. When the beat needed to be laid down, he did it. Unfortunately, the song comes and goes so fast. Thanks to the advent of the cd, however, it's very easy to start the song over right up to the point where the instruments come in, time after time until the police are summoneed. According to George Martin in his book 'With A Little Help From My Friends', the idea for a reprise was Neil Aspinal's idea. They worked hard on making it sound live and it is incredibly live sounding, and very powerful. McCartney: "Once you realized the control you had over the band, you were in control. They can't go anywhere, man. Ha! Power! I started to identify with other bass players and talk bass with the guys in the bands. . . So I was very proud of being the bass player. As it went on and got into the melodic thing, that was probably the peak of my interest." 2 Yes, the bass style on the album is a very cool Paul McCartney, poised and confident. The judgement on whether it was his top stuff is completely up to the listener. It certainly was revoluationary. It certainly fit the music and that's really the main thing. In the author's opinion, it's his most creative and melodic, but not his best. That was yet to come. BABY YOU'RE A RICH MAN On May 11, '67, The Beatles started recording the song that brought the sonic boom to bass playing Baby You're A Rich Man. This was recorded at Olympic Sound Studios and engineered by Keith Grant. It's may be one of the many that qualify for "the most unique Beatles' record". It's sound is almost communal, not so much a rock song but a rock congregation. To hear the bass on this song in it's full glory requires a fairly good speaker system, one that can handle extreme low end. Of all the Beatles' records, Grant got the deepest bass end. Pure sound, pure low end feel. It was as if he were weilding a powerful weapon, and weilding it pretty nicely, too. George Martin: "Paul says his dad liked to play boogie-woogie on the piano, which is interesting when you look at Paul's own development into one of the world's great bass guitarists. In a boogie-woogie piano tune, the bass line, played by the left hand, produces a strong contrapuntal melody, rather than just a rhythmic thud. Paul's own bass guitar playing is of course the most melodic ever. He set a standard no one has ever reached. Sometimes he even composed songs around a bass line melody. Paul's bass line on Baby You're A Rich Man is a good example of what he can do. 9 Like the '64/'65 period, Paul remained fairly constant throughout the remainder of 1967. Nothing bad, nothing earthshaking or historic. You almost got to expect something incredibly new with every record put out, a stigma that Paul lives with to this day. It wasn't until Hey Bulldog and then the incredible white album that new innovations were to come. _________________________________________________________________ 1968 While 1967 may be recalled as the year of psychadelia, it was really 1968 that it took hold in the heartland. By '68, you couldn't sell an album unless the cover had some cheap looking psychadelic mixture of drawings and photography. Many wondered just what the Beatles would do in 1968 to surpass 1967. Not many expected what they got. LADY MADONNA On March 15th, the Lady Madonna/The Inner Light single was released. On Lady Madonna, McCartney had done it again. Listen to that bass line;. it's a good bass line. Close inspection to it reveals some choppiness in the playing and he tends to miss slightly on some notes but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It follows the piano bass well, and it had to because he would have clashed with the left hand on the piano otherwise and this would be devastating to this record. The piano part, while simple to play, is so well constructed that you know upon hearing the first note what song it is, and it's hard not to like. If the bass part were to run over it too much, the song would be frustrating to listen to. Instead, it follows the piano bass from A to C to D and then, while the piano bass continues to ride on the D, it completes the typical rock and roll bass line, riding up to the F# and A. It works. HEY BULLDOG On February 11th, Yoko visited the Beatles' in the recording studio. This was the first time any of them had allowed one of the wives into this magical inner circle. It apparantly was just done, no questions asked. On that day, they were to make a promotional film for Lady Madonna and instead John pulled a song out of the hat and they finished writing it in the studio. Hey Bulldog is just a great record all around. The piano moves the song, the lead solo is inspiring and beneath it all is that old one/two tandem of Paul and Ringo laying down the beat. I believe that both John and Paul were trying to make an impression upon Yoko. They slammed together a solid tune very quickly and obviously had a lot of fun doing it. Underneath the excellent solo (played, I think, by John), you can hear John and Paul whooping it up. Then, at the end, Paul starts barking (reportedly just to make John laugh) and the following takes place: BOTH: HEY BULLDOG! PAUL: Hey man JOHN: What? PAUL: RUFF! JOHN: What's that you say? PAUL: I said. . .RUFF! JOHN: You know any mo'? PAUL: ROOOOWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JOHN: THAT'S IT BOY!! YOU GOT IT! YOU GOT IT!!!!! J&P;: (general insanity rivaled possibly only by the end of Everybody's Got... PAUL: DON'T LOOK AT ME I'VE ALREADY GOT TEN CHILDREN JOHN: CALM DOWN BOY PAUL: OKAY JOHN: CALM DOWN BOTH: HEEYYYYYY BULLDOG! Also, like the bass players for the Gin Blossoms and Led Zeppelin (to name but a few) Paul played RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the drum beat. The piano line starts the song. The second time through, Ringo is laying down the beat. The third time, Paul's bass comes in an octave higher than you might expect. Frequently when bass players play up high, a lot of the solid rhythm is loss. Not so here, folks. One can almost picture a boxer jabbing out the notes when all three are playing together. Hey Bulldog is a top notch Beatles' record, but don't ask John Lennon. While he obviously had fun making it, he sure didn't think much about it later. He was embarassed, he says, that they would do something so simple and mundane for Yoko's first visit to the studio. This was an unfortunate turn of events because the Beatles seemingly rarely had as much fun in the studio again. _________________________________________________________________ And now, the key to 1960's rock bass playing: THE BEATLES (the white album) This article is about bass playing. It's my sincere hope that bass discussion hasn't become tiring for you yet, because we've now reached the zenith of 1960's bass playing -- if not all time bass playing. Yes, James Jamerson was great. Tim Bogart of Vanilla Fudge was revoluationary. There were a lot of rock bass players on the scene and it had finally become fashionable to pick up the instrument. No longer was it the instrument handed to the least talented guitar player. Listening to the white album now, it's difficult to grasp the full nature of it's impact because so much time has come and gone since it was released. Just as the Beatles had wowed an expecting public with Sgt. Pepper, they knocked 'em out again with the white album. Through '67 and '68, it had become the notion of the record industry that an album would not sell unless it had a psychadelic cover, even if it were to be cheaply drawn (i.e. Cream's Wheels of Fire). As the Beatles worked on the white album, there were rumors floating around that they were busy working on the killer god psychadelic albums. What would the cover be like this time? Would they record the bible? The Lord of the Rings? The only thing for sure was that it would be the most stupendous, incredible flash of psychedelia ever produced yet. It's a relatively safe statement to make that few people expected an all white album cover and some of the most blatant rock music they had ever done. Hard rock was a new commodity in 1968 and the Beatles, especially John Lennon, approached it with an unadulterated vengence. Of course, that's not all it contained, but it was down to basics. Basics, yes, and they had once again defined what the basics were. There was a lot of inner discontent in the studio while making this album; Ringo even quit for a short time. But, this sort of thing is comparable to the 1972 Oakland A's baseball team who fought amongst themselves all the way to a world's championship. The Beatles lived through an incredible tenseness and pulling of power make an incredible album for us. GEOFF EMERICK DEPARTS It happened on July 16th, 1988, history fans. Geoff had had enough of the bickering and decided to leave then and there on that day. Ken Scott took over the engineering reigns for the rest of the way. Emerick: "I lost interest in the 'White Album' because they wer really arguing amongst themselves and swearing at each other. The expletives were really flying. . . I said to George (Martin) 'Look, I've had enough. I want to leave. I don't want to know any more.' " 6 In researching this article, I found an interesting sidelight to this fact. Following is a listing of the songs engineered by Emerick and Scott. I've put them in order by the beginning of the recording of each song. Look it over and consider the styles of the songs. Songs engineered by Emerick REVOLUTION I DON'T PASS ME BY REVOLUTION 9 BLACKBIRD EVERYBODY'S GOT SOMETHING... GOOD NIGHT OB-LA-DI OB-LA-DA REVOLUTION CRY BABY CRY Songs engineered by Scott. HELTER SKELTER SEXY SADIE (DON'T PASS ME BY completed) (EVERYBODY'S GOT SOMETHING... completed) WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS HEY JUDE NOT GUILTY YER BLUES WHAT'S THE NEW MARY JANE ROCKY RACCOON MOTHER NATURE'S SON WILD HONEY PIE BACK IN THE USSR DEAR PRUDENCE (At this point, Chris Thomas produces the final touches to Helter Skelter ) GLASS ONION I WILL BIRTHDAY PIGGIES HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN HONEY PIE SAVOY TRUFFLE LONG LONG LONG I'M SO TIRED THE CONTINUING STORY OF BUNGALOW BILL 6 The breaking point between the two is interesting isn't it? Their music afterwards was more raw and rockish than before. Whether this was due to the change in engineers or because they were heading in a new direction anyway, or whether it's because Helter Skelter happened to be the next song they were going to record is impossible to say. But a definite change took place. As with the change of engineers when the Revolver sessions began, there was again a new direction in sight for Paul's bass playing. HELTER SKELTER (NOTE: This article takes the position that Paul played bass on Helter Skelter. When this article was originally issued, heated debate broke out that it was actually - as Mark Lewisohn claims - John Lennon who played bass on the song. It has also been suggested that the bass part was doubled to achieve the higher trebly bass effect, but you can be fairly certain that this is not the case - the entire part is far too erratic for someone to spend the hours and hours to perfect the doubled sound.) Ken Scott's first session was Helter Skelter. What an introduction for Ken, but what a job he did on this song, . As you listen to the bass, you can hear a high very trebly sound going along with it. Most likely this was achieved by putting the bass into two seperate channels and mixing one with treble. However it was done, it creates a wild effect, adding to the mayhem. I believe the reason for this effect is to allow the bass to stand out from the droning guitars. One of the more difficult things to do is to get bass to cut through guitars - especially more than one that are playing low bar chords. By using this effect on the bass, Scott was able to achieve this and more. The bass actually stands out in the forefront of that song once it gets rolling. The guitars were recorded quite well, made to drone and create more of a 'noise' than a clearcut guitar chord, yet done in a clean enough way to where you can hear the chords. The way the drums are played and recorded are designed to do the same thing. I think Ringo is basically riding on his crash cymbol and tossing in the snare/tom fills at will. The effect is that of an army of Panzer tanks crashing through underbrush and tree making ready to annihilate the unfortunate Polish calvary who await them on the other side of the forest with the bass guitar tank leading the way. The voice? It's the fuehrer screaming and shouting near gibberish in such a way that your brain is turned to mush. The guitar droning effect is something that later day heavy metal engineers should listen to. Too often, these engineers will go for the same effect with the rhythm guitars and take the easy way out by having them sound purely and simply like white noise. If they want to create mayhem, they should sit down with this record, play this song and find out what George Martin and Ken Scott did to get those sounds. On the second thought, maybe they should leave it well enough alone. We don't need any more Charley Mansons. There's so much happening on this album that it's almost difficult to keep the discussion purely to the bass playing on it, and this is mainly due to the fact that McCartney had very nicely answered John Lennon's challenge. Lennon wanted to be a hard rocker now, and credit goes to all the band members for making the change to this new hard rock music. The only piece of the puzzle that I think falls a bit short is the sound of the drums on the white album and Helter Skelter is a prime example. Had a fuller sound been used on the drums, this song would have been the most devastating rock song - of ALL time. It may be anyway. Brian Gibson, technical engineer: "The version on the album was out of control. They were completely out of their heads that night. But, as usual, a blind eye was turned to what the Beatles did in the studio. Everyone knew what substances they were taking, but they were really a law unto themselves in the studio." 6 EVERYBODY'S GOT SOMETHING TO HIDE EXCEPT FOR ME AND MY MONKEY Bow low, bass players. . . . . What is difficult to determine, and it's really unfortunate, is when the bass part to Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey was recorded. Was it before or after Geoff Emerick was replaced by Ken Scott in the booth? The Beatles Recording Sessions by Lewisohn indicates that only drums, two different lead guitars, a vigorously shaken hand-bell and a chocalho were recorded during the session that Emerick worked and that a new lead vocal, backup vocals and handclaps were added on July 23rd A.E. (after Emerick). There is no listing of when the bass was recorded. In any discussion of the evolution of rock bass playing, this song is all important. It is nothing short of superb both in it's execution and recording. As you play the song, the initial probe of the bass line played under the verses shows what at first seems to be a rather simple blues type line. Further listening shows something else completely. It's an eight note line and a good one that starts at the first beat of the measure on the root note. It then drops down an octave and walks it's way back up time and time again to that root note. There's so much involved in making this line work. 1. The final four notes of each run of the line are the most noticable Once the second note is played, the line drops just slightly in it's presence but by the time the fifth note is hit (partly because the notes are getting higher and partly because he's switched to another string) it's right back in your consciousness again. It crescendos up to the root note and drops again. 2. The line is played again and again and again, and many times is played slightly off meter. This is probably the most important aspect of the line. The best way I could describe it, visually, would be to illustrate a child on a rocking horse swinging back and forth with total abandon Not always right on a meter, but the same thing happens over and over again, close to meter. The closer you listen the crazier it sounds. Finally, you stroll over and gently remove the child, saying "that enough , now. But inside, you're screaming "GET OFF THE HORSE BEFORE I TURN IT INTO FIREWOOD!" 3. The bass is a perfect (!) counterpoint to John Lennon's strange and insane rhythm line, a guitar part that commands an article all to itself. (While one kid is rocking back and forth on the horse, another is banging their head against two walls, back and forth three times, pausing for a moment and then starting again.) Meanwhile those hand-bells could be the alarm the kids have set off in the local firehouse. The bass counters all this. Then - just when you're ready to shoot the house up, it all locks into place. "Take it easy!" shouts Lennon. Now, the Beatles are locked in like they've never been before on the chorus. "Take it easy!", he shouts again. Then after the orgasmic "Everybody's got something to hide 'cept for me and my monkey" comes those strange chord changes, lead lines, and drum breaks. The bells have left us for a moment. But then, they're right back again for the next verse. This is pure Beatles' genius, and a method they weren't using for the first time. As far back as their second single they employed it, when on Please Please Me, John would shout "Come on", building up to the "Please Please Me" explosion of vocals. At that point in PPM, the bass line comes back with it's rhythmic pounding. Here, they've done it again. Pounding the bells/bass/guitar, etc down your throat, they take it away for the big buildup. Just when you realize it's gone, here it comes again - with a vengence. Of course. Let us not forget to make note of The Great Bass Part, ocurring towards the end of the song. The guitars all stop and John and Paul start doing their crazy "C'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon. . ." and then one of the most well timed bass lines in the history of rock comes forth. You can sing it - it's even double tracked to add emphasis- ba pa bubububoom ba bump pa. What I wouldn't give to have been there when they put this song together, taking it from John's original accoustic guitar/vocal demo to the powerhouse it became. DEAR PRUDENCE For a change of pace, let's play a little game here. You're at EMI (Abbey Road) studios and are standing across from John Lennon and Yoko Ono. John is sitting, looking downward, finger picking (VERY excellently by the way) a song you haven't heard before but think is really nice. You recognize, immediately that the song is about Mia Farrow's sister Prudence. It's your task to think of what bass part you'll play to this song, realizing the strong influence Yoko Ono now has over what John would like to see The Beatles do to his songs. What do you do? Intimidated a good bit, perhaps you say, "That's a really lovely song. I think I should just stay in the background on this one. Anything more could overrun that great melody." All this, of course, unless you're Paul McCartney in which case you construct a bass line that really moves that song without getting in it's way at all. During the verses leading up to the middle eight, he plays what you might have played, but in a very forthright manner. Then for the middle eight (The sun is up), in from left field come Paul and Ringo and from there on through the end they're there when they need to be and they're not there when they're not needed. Dear Prudence is, as a matter of opinion, one of the better Beatle recordings, from Lennon's excellent guitar and vocals to the rhythm and tasteful background vocals. It moves from mood to mood and by the end, if you're listening closely enough, you're breathless. Bring the king down from his throne? GLASS ONION Easy enough. Let's turn to Glass Onion. After years of listening, wondering, trying to calculate, the question remains: why that bass tone? It sounds like his strings have been dead for weeks. There's absolutely no life in them at all. The playing is good enough, the interplay with the snare at the beginning of each verse works well. But the tone? WHY DON'T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD Strike two. To put it bluntly, this is a wild swing and miss. The piano, drums, guitar and vocal are perfect for a blues song like this. Why, then, would he fall back on such a bouncy little line? It is a line that would befit something like All Together Now. I WILL As if there had not been enough inovation already on this album, a new idea was put into place. Paul doubles the bass with a vocal part. The effect is nice. Just a brief mention of the accoustic guitar on this song. It's a style that Paul developed and dropped all too soon. He used it at the end of Mother Nature's Son and a for a good bit on the McCartney album but rarely afterward. It's done mostly by powering the non picking fingers, or the 'playing fingers' (in Paul's case, his right hand). With each note, his right hand fingers react strongly and with a quick shake vibrato. 'I Will' could have been recorded in 1964. It's one of the few post moptop songs that could have fit in any of their eras. NATURE'S CHILDREN Mother Nature's Son is one of the most beautiful songs Paul ever did and yet mention of it is almost never see mention made. John had written a song with similar intent, called, I believe, "One of Nature's Children". It's melody was later employed as "Jealous Guy" on the Imagine album. The only explanation of why they never even recorded it is that he held off on recording it due to Paul's song. Things ended up all the better because both Mother Nature's Son and Jealous Guy turned out so nicely. YER BLUES Lennon's version of the blues. These are some hard blues, and Paul responded with hard, heavy and necessary simplistic bass playing. When the word 'starkness' was invented, it was with this song in mind. It's about as stark as you can get and that's interesting because it's far from the typical blues bass line of the day (1-3-5-6-7-6-5-3). SAVOY TRUFFLE Yet another song interesting in it's recording. Turn your stereo to one side, the one with the guitars, and you'll find yourself wondering if John and George were drunk when they recorded it. It's very sloppy. The rhythm section (bass and drums) takes care of this problem by standing right out front, duking it out with the saxiphones. This driving style was used again in a later Harrison classic, Here Comes The Sun. It's bouncy and lively and moves the song along, all in all a very well structured bass line. No better line might have been played. PIGGIES How is it humanly possible that one could get one's bass guitar to sound like a pig? If you ever get a chance to talk to Paul, ask him. His bass sound almost rivals the pig voices. I'M SO TIRED The main point that stands out regarding I'm So Tired is the excellent dynamic flow of the musicians and vocalist. There are some points that seem to show that the Beatles had progressed far as a recording unit that they seemed to come natural. Before the second and final chorus is probably the best example. Just after John agonizes ". . .and curse Sir Walter Raliegh, he was such a stupid git!", they let you know something's coming. The music had been building up to this line, driven by all the instrumentation. The bass is walking up through the chords. Lennon's rhythm is slapping chords on the three count and when the word "git" is sung, one of the guitarists starts playing little falling notes while the bass steps back a bit to let it all happen. Then, out of the blue, they're singing "You'd say it wouldn't be wrong. . ". The Beatles are back in gear here, but restrained. The bass and drums are fluid, and a buildup is starting all over again, punctuated by the great line "I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind!". It's hard to do, almost impossible because John and Paul are singing at their most searching and powerful, but listen to the band behind these lines as they're sung. Then there is the sudden stop, a drum fill, and the line again. The sudden stop again, a drum and organ fill and the line one final time. This is ensemble playing by all the Beatles, and Paul had long ago learned lesson of laying back when most effective is put into play. NOT GUILTY It's unfortunate that the Beatles' version did not get on to this album. Very dynamic and well played. With their apparantly new style of beginning a song right in the studio and calling each rehearsal of it a take, this song went over 100 takes which has to be some sort of record for the time. Perhaps they tried too hard and too long to perfect it and got tired of it. It has an excellent hook, the six beats played just before the "I'm really sorry for your. . .". That little break is like a car screeching to a stop, and is played to perfection by Paul and Ringo. Through most of the rest of the song, the bass is played in excellent British New Orleans rock style. WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS Possibly the most dynamic, heavy bass playing on the album. At various times during the song, the bass part is doubled. This song, saved for last in this discussion on this amazing album, may contain the heaviest of all the bass playing to be found throughout it. George Harrison: When we laid that track down, I sang it with accoustic guitar with Paul on piano, and Eric and Ringo-that's how we laid the track down. Later, Paul overdubbed bass on it. 10 To recap, the white album really finally defined rock bass playing. To this day many bass players' styles don't sound all that different than the style Paul McCartney created on the white album. It went from no holds barred madness (Everybody's Got Something to Hide. . .) to excellent ensemble sound and style (Honey Pie) to very pretty (I Will). With the possible exception of Led Zeppelin II, there may have never been an album that had more of a long lasting effect on rock bass playing than this one. Can that be enough said about the bass playing on the album? Hardly. And yet, it's time to carry on. _________________________________________________________________ REVOLUTION The version on the single is a good example of a bass player and drummer locked tight together. It's really just rock and roll, but played by one of the best rock and roll bands. YELLOW SUBMARINE One could write this album off as the collection of Sgt. Peppers cast offs and rerun old Beatles' songs that it really was. But, seriously, how many bands could claim such a selection of cast offs? Hey Bulldog, having already been discussed, easily stands out as containing the best bass playing on the album. The playing on the other songs, having in most cases been recorded a year earlier, is placed much more in the background. _________________________________________________________________ 1969 LET IT BE Paul switched back to his Hofner for the movie, a habit he would entertain most times he's been filmed playing in his career. Obviously, this is because it is the Beatle bass that he's known for. But knowing that makes the fact no less dismaying. The movie deserves more credit than it deserves, though, and much of the playing on the roof is great - and great fun. Get Back with it's solid drone A bass playing stands out. Don't Let Me Down would stand out as an excellent bass song had the recording of it been cleaner. It does sound muddy and a bit echo-ey (for bass), but it's really good. Ah, enough of Let It Be. OLD BROWN SHOE Don't they call these 'dusty diamond specials'? An excellent song that never received much notice. The fact that George put it on his live (in Japan) album was gratifying. There's some superfast bass and guitar playing on this song, and the chorus contains some of the harder bass playing Paul's done. The whole song is superfast and if it wasn't recorded and sped up, then let's give three cheers to the lads. This is one song where it would have been easier for Paul to pull out his old Hofner and play it, because it requires such speed, but he did nothing of the sort. Maybe he felt it was time to show the world that not only could he play with the group, but incredibly quickly too. Those choruses. . .Paul and George doubling each other. It is amongst the most incredible bass playing Paul's done to date. ABBEY ROAD The 'starkness' so evident on the white album was now replaced by lushness. It's difficult to find a classier album. The Beatles, produced again by George Martin, were once again into having their recordings sound like cohesive units. There is some great playing on Abbey Road but it doesn't stand out as boldly as the white album. COME TOGETHER A personal note: every once in a while, I wake up in a cold sweat, having just dreamed that John didn't record Come Together with The Beatles, instead introducing it with The Plastic Ono Band where he had Klaus Voorman's bass under tight reign. Then I breath a sigh of relief. No, this didn't happen. He recorded it with the Beatles, thankfully, especially Paul and Ringo. But how did the ol' trusty rhythm section come up with the bass/drum lines that open up Come Together (and the Abbey Road LP)? It is impossible to guess because they have nothing whatsoever to do with each other (let alone the song), and yet it all works. How did they come up with it? To hypothesize, it's possible that Paul and Ringo were jamming together (or playing nonsense stuff) and while Paul crammed his fingers up the neck and played that bass line, Ringo - not really listening to Paulwas casually doing little cymbal and tom fills. John, inspired, picked up his guitar and started singing Come Together over it. I don't think it could be many other ways, but if you're warped enough to believe it, there is one other possibility. There was another change of sound engineers. Yes, an old hand at Beatles recordings was back again - Geoff Emerick. He had been coaxed by Paul McCartney to run Apple Studios. This was the first song he engineered for the Beatles since Cry Baby Cry. The old team of Martin/Emerick was back. Is it possible that McCartney (who, along with the other Beatles had taken a major interest in what exactly they were doing up in that booth) was inspired by the re-entry of Emerick? So much so that he came up with one of the best known rock bass lines ever? Or was it just that good old Beatles know-how when it came to putting a part down for a song? If you were to listen solely to the bass parts to many Beatles songs, it might take the average listener a while to guess which song was being played. Exceptions to this would be lines that mirrored the guitar, such as Day Tripper, I Feel Fine or Ticket To Ride. But if you were to hear just the bass to Come Together, you'd know what song it was right away without doubt. The rest of the Beatles were pretty smart to stand of the way of that one. There's not much to the other instruments throughout the song but perfect little lines and fill chords. Once again, you really have to hand it to them for knowing what NOT to play. The electric piano on the song, played almost out of a qualude type fog set a nice tone for the record. Paul McCartney: Whenever he (John) did praise any of us, it was great praise, indeed, because he didn't dish it out much. If ever you got a speck or crumb of it, you were grateful. With 'Come Together', for instance, he wanted a piano lick to be very swampy and smoky, and I played it that way and he liked it a lot. I was quite pleased with that." 11 SOMETHING Ahhhhh, 'Something'. Known for one of the sweetest guitar solos George had played to date, but should also be known for Paul's ability to play adventurous bass runs and still keep out of the way of the melody. Or, perhaps, to enhance it. The line he does that leads to the final chords of the song seem like he barely makes it, but does! A great song, and the second most recorded song of all time; second only of course to Yesterday. I WANT YOU (SHE'S SO HEAVY) John wanted that old white album starkness again, but what about the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride bass playing he got from Paul? Aside from the mini bass solo lines (kind of reminiscent of I'm Only Sleeping), during the choruses, he goes completely haywire as the ending moves along like giant alien robots tramping across the earth and bringing on the judgement day. Fifteen times does that section play and fifteen times does the bass part completely lose all sight of reality. They must have been some sessions, those that produced this song. HERE COMES THE SUN I Want You (She's So Heavy) ends with that sudden break and, if you have the cd, the beautiful sounding guitar intro to Here Comes The Sun starts right in. It's so completely opposite of what came before, but so good and warm feeling that you jump right into the new mood. They had long ago perfected the art of waving their pocket watch in front of their fans' eyes and causing them to feel whatever they wanted and this was no exception. From the grim reaper to a sunny morning, you will follow. In the case of the lp it was difficult, if not impossible, to NOT get up at the end of I Want You and turn that album over. You HAD to hear that accoustic guitar intro to Here Comes The Sun. Note: Around 1975 or so, George Harrison and Paul Simon were on Saturday Night Live and they did the song. Fans of the song might have found themselves yearning for Paul and Ringo to come bashing their way in with that dynamic and moving rhythm section stuff they did on the album? It should be a beautiful song by itself. but Ringo and Paul had to go and ruin it by playing so well on it. BECAUSE Bass, by itself, is rarely interesting. But bass, playing in the background and just filling in at perfect parts, is invigorating to me. Examples of excellent bass mood setting are Woody Herman's Bijou, Percy Faith's Theme For A Summer Place, Henry Mancini's Moon River, and the Beatles' Because. It fills up some of the vocal lines and walks down with little three run lines that don't just fill in gaps, but keep the song set in the right direction. Without the music, the song is beautiful. With it, we get a lesson in tasteful playing. MEAN MR. MUSTARD John Lennon: You hear lots of McCartney-influenced songs on the radio now. These stories about boring people doing boring things: being postmen and secretaries and writing home. I'm not interested in writing third party songs. I like to write about me; 'cause I know me. 1 Apparantly Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam were exceptions to this rule. Fuzz bass was employed on Mr. Mustard, employed over the standard bass sound. The rhythm moves in and out of 3/4 time. Then it's onward and upward to some more classic rock sounds. POLYTHENE PAM Ringo, engineered again by Emerick, never sounded better in his Beatles' days than he did on this album and this song is evidence for that. Where the drumming sounded a bit thin at times on the white album, it was round and full on Abbey Road. There's some aggressive playing by both Ringo and Paul on this song, especially when they bring each verse line back home with that eighth note slam. The intro line, repeated throughout the song, has an excellent stumble in it that was well contrived by Paul and Ringo. There's the three guitar chords (D A E) and then the four beats on bass and drums. Then Paul sounds as if he's trying to find his way back up to E, stops for a moment at D and finally gets up top. He may have added this little bit on accident and decided to leave it in. Whatever, it works. SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW If there's one thing that made The Beatles likable, it was their unbridled enthusiasm. Even when they apparantly weren't getting along, they always sounded like they loved what they were doing. He'd probably have denied it, but it really does sound like John had fun recording the accoustic guitar track on this song. Once again, Ringo and Paul work like. . . like they'd been playing together for years. As they had. GOLDEN SLUMBERS/CARRY THAT WEIGHT The bass playing is deep, rich, extremely tasteful, and beautiful. With a sound system that can really carry bottom end, Golden Slumbers comes across like a symphony. THE END Toss taste aside and play some rock solid bottom end. Really set up a foundation that the guitar players can trade solos atop. That's what Paul and Ringo did for this song. The sound of the drums is good, especially the toms as Geoff Emerick had really mastered the fine art of drum recording. He'd mastered bass recording some years back and took care to make sure it was done right for The End. They lay the rhythm down like there's no tomorrow, and in their case, it was just about true. It should have been their last album and The End would have been an excellent way to say adios to their listening and buying public. Everyone gets their shot at stardom in it. Ringo gets a drum solo, and along with Paul's bass, lays down a killer groove for George, Paul and John to play lead guitar over. The rock symphony is over, as are the Beatles. _____________________________________________________________ POST BEATLES When the Beatles broke up, all four of them jumped into musical activities. The merit of the musical paths taken by Paul are up to subjective opinion. What isn't so subjective, however, is the quality of his bass playing. It has never waned. Even on Red Rose Speedway, an album where he concentrated more on his keyboards, the playing is still superb. However, to cover all his albums and hi-lites would be incredibly boring so let's look at just one. WINGS OVER AMERICA Paul, working with a sound company from Texas, obviously spent a lot of time and money getting a good sound for his tour of the states. Many that saw the show, such as the concert given at San Francisco's Cow Palace seen by the author, were amazed at the ability of the bass to cut through the sound. This sound comes through well on the record, put well to the fore in the mix. One aspect of McCartney's bass playing that impresses a lot of musicians is his ability to play difficult lines and sing at the same time. There is no doubt that he puts major effort into preparing for his performances. The final effect of the playing and mix on the record makes the first focal point the bass and drums, with the extraneous instruments and voice almost secondary - even if this is in your subconcious. The rhythm section constantly pulls you in and then when you do break away and listen to the vocals it's an added treat. This is the Paul McCartney people had been waiting for, hard driving and rocking. ROCK SHOW- ahhh the live version of Rock Show. Since Wings Over America came out, I have listened to the studio version of that song just once and that experience was almost like trying a cigarette after not smoking for five years: enough of that. I had to put the live version right back on. His playing, live, was with a plodding decimating style that required him to remain rooted within himself. Jet is no different, and the seque from Rock Show into it is a throw back to his Beatles days. Rock Show is plodding along at a high rate of speed, the bass and drums pumping that rhythm. Then suddenly it ends and there's a moment of almost nonchalance. The beat is taken away, and then slammed home again with the opening to Jet. Paul had by now developed a new style of bass playing. This style had showed some evidence of itself on Band On The Run, and furthered itself on Venus and Mars and Speed of Sound. The style is completely evident throughout the Wings Over America album and stands up to anything he's done ever - including the white album. The best way to define it is that he'd really solidified - obviously through countless hours of practice - his left wrist. If you watch the video you can see a very stiff left picking hand. In those days, he held his pick directly underneath his hand. Also, for the purpose of adding to the show, he pulled off some pretty darn flashy bass runs. Time To Hide had Paul playing as if he were sitting on a burning kettle. He'd lock in with drummer Joe English and then, every so often, stick his Rickenbacker out and leap way up the neck and FLASH for a moment. But, and fledgling bass players take heart, his high bass runs are done with solid rhythm. There was no need whatsoever for speed just for the sake of speed, with one awe inspiring exception. SOILY This song is mentioned specifically for the silencing any of the nay-sayers who might question his status as one of the top notch bass players In The World, technique-wise. To achieve a tommy gun effect, he builds to that vocal line and then sprays - right in the middle of the drums - a chromatic run that very few could duplicate. Many may play a chromatic run of that many notes, and many may do it with speed, but not many will do it at that speed and with perfect tempo. Time Magazine had him on the front cover of one of there '76 magazines. "Paul Comes Back" said the caption. They were right, he was back. It's really an amazing album, in spite of the fact that much of the harmony vocals were reproduced in the studio. Paul was back, if he'd ever really left. _________________________________________________________________ FIVE STRING TASTE Paul now uses a Wal 5 string bass in the studio and for part of his live shows. I think it's important to take yet another page from the McCartney bass book when it comes to 5 string bass playing. There are (at least) two ways to approach the switch from 4 to 5 string bass (where the 5th string is a low B). One way would be to take a step back and re-approach the bass with all five strings in mind, to seek it out as a whole new instrument because in effect that's what it becomes with that approach. You've no doubt heard a number of bass players who have taken this approach, and they lean quite heavily on the low B. This can be troublesome: while we bass players tend to love low rumbling sounds, there are not many others like us out there in the world. One gets the feeling that these bass players are using their newfound low B string as a weapon to grab new power in the band sound. Interestingly enough, you 'generally' find these sorts of bass players in the club scenes and maybe it makes sense there. The second way is to think about your bass as the old 4 string instrument -with a fifth string available on top for effect. For one thing it makes it much easier to play without thinking so much. It's so easy, while playing, to forget that the string at the top of your neck is now a B instead of an E that it's almost survival to adopt this method both live and in the studio. Approaching 5 string bass playing in this way also causes the bass player to use the B string a bit more sparingly, and hence to much better effect. Paul McCartney on recording "Free As A Bird": I played the Wal, and what I liked was I played very, very normal bass, really out of the way, because I didn't want to 'feature'. There are one or two moments where I break a little bit loose, but mostly I try to anchor the track. There's one lovely moment when it modulates to C, so I was able to use the low C of the 5 string and that's it, the only time I use the low one, which I like, rather than just bassing outand being low, low, low. I play normal bass, and then there's this low C and the song takes off. It actually takes off anyway because a lot of harmonies come in and stuff, but it's a real cool moment that I'm proud of. That's my Wal moment." 2 He hits that cool low C three times actually, the first time during the first note of George's solo. Today, every time Paul comes out with a new album, people tend to be disappointed. As with all music, opinion is completely subjective (as is much of this article). But the one thing that's not so open to subjectivity is his bass playing. Whether on his Rickenbacker, his Wal 5 string or whatever, he remains one of the top bass players in the world. For a guy who could rest on his laurels as one of the prime innovators of rock bass playing, that is a solid testament to him as a musician. _________________________________________________________________ DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT: GEORGE MARTIN: There's no doubt that Lennon and McCartney were good musicians. They had good musical brains, and the brain is where music originates - it has nothing to do with your fingers. As it happened, they could also play their own instruments very well. And since those early days they've all improved, especially Paul. He's an excellent musical all-rounder, probably the best bass-guitarist there is, a first-class drummer, brilliant guitarist and competent piano player. 8 STING: It's hard to seperate McCartney's influence on my bass playing from his influence on everything else-singing, songwriting, even becoming a musician in the first place. As a child, I would play my Beatles albums at 45 RPM so I could hear the bass better. he's the Guvnor. 2 WILL LEE: Growing up in Texas in the early '60s I was so obsessed with the Beatles' music that I didn't feel like a fan, I felt like I was in the Beatles. About the same time I switched from drums to bass I became aware of who gave the band its charm and personality, from visual tunes like "Penny Lane" to the group's repartee wtih the press. It was the same fellow who was able to take a poor-quality instrument like the Hofner bass and create magic on it. I especially dug Paul's funky, Motown-influenced side, evident in the bass line from Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey," or even in the syncopated part from "A Day In The Life." Paul's influence on bassists has been so wide-spread over numerous generations that ther's no denying he's in everybody's playing at this point. We're all descendants. He played simple and solid when it was called for. But because he had so many different flavors to add to a song, he was able to take the instrument far beyond a supportive role. Paul taught the bass how to sing. 2 STANLEY CLARKE: Paul definitely had an influence on my bass playing, not so much technically, but more with his philosophy of melodic bass liens-especially as I hit my teens and the Beatles' records became more adventurous. On tracks like "Come Together," the bass line WAS the song. I've always liked that. The only other person I knew of who was doing that was James Jamerson. That was one of the reasons I was inspired to write "School Days": so I could just play the bass lines and people would hear a whole song. I had the honor of being contacted by Paul through George Martin to play on Tug of War, and I also appeared on Pipes of Peace [both on Capitol]. Paul was very nice. He asked me to show him how to slap. During Pipes we got a groove going in a studio jam, and it ended up making on the album as "Hey Hey." He graciously gave me a co-writing credit, and it's still a thrill to see my name next to his above the music in the song book. 2 BILLY SHEEHAN: The reason I got involved with music in the first place was because I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. I watched all the girls going crazy, and I figured this was thebest business in the world to be in. Later on, when I got more deeply into music, Sgt. Pepper was a break-through record for me. I must have listened to it several hundred times. What intrigued me was how totally musical every aspect of it wasespecially Paul's melodic, fluid bass lines. When my band Talas was starting in the mid '70s [the Beatles' tribute show] Beatlemania was big, and we used to play entire gigs of just Beatles tunes. I've learned so much from Paul about playing, writing, and playing and singing at the same time that I should probably start sending him checks. Most bassists get into the flashy players, but I think the reason Paul is often overlooked is that what he was doing wasn't really obvious. It was so brilliantly woven into the context of the songs. One of my favorites is the bass line from "Rain." I still use it to test the low end of an amp. That Paul happens to play bass is a great boon to all of us, because he made us realize that there are no limitations to being a bass player. 2 Bibliography and quotes 1) The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon & Yoko Ono. 1981, Interviews by David Scheff. Edited by Barry Golson. Playboy Press 2) Bass Player magazine: July/August 1995 3) The Beatles Anthology video. Apple, Capitol video 4) McCartney. 1986, Chris Salewics. St. Martin's Press 5) The Big Beat: Conversations with Rock's Great Drummers. 1984. Max Weinberg with Robert Santelli. Contemporary Books (quote lifted from Beatlesongs-Dowdling) 6) The Beatles Recording Sessions. 1988, Mark Lewisohn. Harmony Books. 7) Musician magazine: July 1987 8) The Making of Sgt. Pepper television show 9) With A Little Help From My Friends/The Making of Sgt. Pepper. 1994, George Martin with William Pearson. Little, Brown and Company 10) Guitar Magazine: November 1987 11) Playboy Magazine: December 1984