I recently saw a video on YouTube where Lee Sklar talked about the time ToTo contacted him to fill in for part of their tour. They sent him a set list with the key of each song. From that he learned the songs and was able to finish the tour with them. He just listened to the songs several times and figured out a bass line from the key. I do realize he has been doing this for over fifty years and could possibly be one of the best bassists around.
Finally my question, learning a song from just the key of the song. If the song is in the key of C does that mean any note from the C major scale will work in the song?
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It will just not sound dissonant. But not every note will work the best. You don’t have to always operate around root of the tracks harmonics, there’s a lot of room for parallel melodies and counter-movement that bass can fill, but this all, including the playing of root on some trivial timing, is happening around particular notes of the song and these particular notes will be in some key. But there’s a lot of work in making a bass line still, the key of a song will only tell you which part of the palette you have at your fingertips will probably be instrumental in the matter.
I am sure Lee Sklar figured out the key by just listening and trying out a few notes on the bass while listening. For many/most rock and pop songs this is not too hard. After that, he mainly needed to spot the parts of the songs where non-diatonic chords were used.
Other than that, it’s about figuring out the structure, listen to the drums and the rhythm guitar and watch out for potential unison lines or common rhythmic breaks etc. - that’s pretty much it.
Recently, I read that Hiromi had to find a bass player to sit in for Hadrien Feraud with really no heads up (there was a problem with Hadrien traveling outside the US (to Canada) and potentially not being able to come back into the US) - the guy for one gig was contacted and hired at 10am, sent sheet music and recordings and was ready later that day for the gig at 8pm, having “learned” ten-twelve tunes. Of course, he was relying on the sheet music (or his own “cheat sheets”) a lot and reading while playing… but that’s yet another skill that the pros master 
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??? Not really sure what dissonant means in this context.
Let me rephrase my question. Can I limit myself to the notes of a scale and figure out how they fit in the song?
Dissonant means it will sound “wrong”, bad and out of place with the rest of the song.
So yes - you (generally but not always) want to stick to the notes in the key, and they will “work”.
What @wellbi was saying is that that will only get you part way though because from there on it’s either learning a very little bit of music theory around chord progressions, melody, and harmonization - or a whole lot of trial and error.
One example here, some intervals in a scale will build tension and others will resolve it. How you use those can change how a song feels. For example, the 4th usually will build tension towards resolving to the fifth.
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Firstly - the band probably didn’t have much information to give him beyond the key and maybe the basic chord changes. They all know their parts, not everyone else’s. The bassist probably never fully wrote out any parts.
This also almost certainly made things easier and quicker for Sklar to learn the songs. What he was almost certainly doing was writing a new part for himself, rather than trying to copy what the original bass player did. He’s going to be doing things that are easier FOR HIM, which are very likely different from what was easier for the original bass player.
My system for learning a new song by ear:
- Find the Key
- Find major chord changes to outline general shape
- Figure out what lines are “set” (melodies or other note progressions that have to be played in a specific order), and what areas are just vague shapes that leave room to improv/play within
- Fill in gaps.
For this - giving the key is more than enough for a master like Sklar.
As for whether any notes in the scale will work? Not all notes will work in all contexts and sometimes you will play notes that are NOT in the key at all.
Chromatic walk ups/downs regularly employ notes that aren’t in the key.
Within a key, two notes that are a half step apart will generally be very dissonant. If everyone is playing the 4th, you probably don’t want to be hanging out on a major 3rd. Even holding a whole step apart can rub.
But sometimes you want to create dissonance. I’m working out a cover of “Crazy In Love” by Beyonce. It’s in D minor, but I frequently grab and hold the Major 7 at the end of phrases (which is both dissonant and not in the key). That dissonance makes for lots of tension that heightens the emotion.
Note intervals can be described as having differing levels of Dissonance or Consonance. It is always in how all the notes in a chord relate to each other.
There are technical explanations, but the simple version is:
Consonant intervals/chords are ones that sound “pleasant” or “natural” together. Octaves are always consonant. 5ths and 4ths are also very consonant.
Dissonant intervals are ones that sound “harsh” or “grating”. It sounds like the notes are “rubbing” against each other with lots of friction. Two notes that are a half step apart are very dissonant.
Notes and intervals within the same scale can be very dissonant with each other (e.g. the Major 7th).
The Technical Explanation
Pitches have set wavelengths (distance between peaks) or frequencies (waves per second). The more two pitches are in a ratio where their peaks align with each other, the more consonant that interval will be. An octave is always doubling the frequency (2:1), so every other peak will align.
Fifths are very consonant because the ratio is 3:2. So every three cycles, the peaks are in synch.
Whereas if you’re only a half step away, like a Major 7th, the ratio is 15:8. This is a dissonant interval because the peaks only align every 15 cycles.
But dissonance is not bad. It’s just… harsh or irritating. That is something you want a measured amount of to add complexity, character, and balance. It’s like - cocoa is very bitter. That’s bad right? Sugar is sweet. That’s good right? But if you combine them both, you get chocolate which is better than either ingredient on its own. In music, you want a cycle of tension and release.
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This is a nice series of quick theory bites, and this one is pretty spot on for this thread.
more:
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Nahre Sol’s got some good content on these topics too:
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Another reason why the Key is the only thing Sklar might need…
They might not be playing the songs in the original key. We’re talking about The Who. They’re not young. The vocalist probably does not have the upper range he used to.
Also a lot of those old recordings were put on tape that then got sped up or slowed down for mastering.
So if he were to try to just practice to a recording, he might practice something wrong. Giving him the key lets him know to adjust the tuning of his play-along track to what it will actually be in performance.