Song 10 - "With or Without You" by U2

You too will love playing this U2 song.

Song: With or Without You
Artist: U2
Tuning: Standard (EADG)

https://youtu.be/XayyES2vO8Q

Spotify link

For a backing track with bass removed, join the Discord or contact @gcancella

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Did this one with the ā€˜testbed Ray4’.
The SIMs pickups are in J-J (full jazz bass mode), which is what the green lights mean.
Active Glockenklang preamp with treble and mids down a bit, bass up a bit.
Simple but fun tune. Tried to match dyamics of tune to the bass plucking.

https://youtu.be/AopKo-tMFMw

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Great job @John_E you nailed it perfectly! I had considered adding that song to my list of projected covers until I saw it was part of this contest. Adam Clayton would be proud of you!
The interesting story about this song is that it’s one of the catalysts to my finally playing bass . I was at the U2 concert here in Phoenix and spent the entire concert on the floor at the right side of the stage affixed on Adam Clayton (my date was in front of the center of the stage admiring Bono). It was a moment that stuck with me, and one of the stepping stones to getting me off my ā€œI’m too oldā€ excuse and fulfilling my dream.
Thank you @John_E for giving me something enjoyable to listen to.

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Here’s my take on U2. 4 cord progression I-V-VI-IV, D-A-B-G. Lots of chugging. Decided to leave bass high, so I can here it,with all my mistakes :grin:

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Sounded very nice. Love those pickups. Great job John_E

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Nice job @BigAl

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NAILED IT! The tone sounds like the original recording and great job matching the tempo @John_E !!

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Good job @BigAl.

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Nice job @BigAl
Man you have a lot of nice basses!

Your backing track has a high pitched squeal in it.
For some reason, I get this sometimes when importing the tracks, and have to reboot my system before recording to get rid of it. What DAW are you using? This happens to me in Abelton btw, no clue why.

I also notice you are using a different set of notes than what was in Josh’s score, and struggled to get to the next note in time some times further up the fretboard and back. Was there a reason you used these fingerings? Josh’s score moves between frets 0-2-3 and 5.

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Great job @John_E! Move over Adam Clayton! :grin:

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Nice job @BigAl! You do have really nice basses!

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There the same note. D-A-B-G. I have a U2 bass book and it’s transcribe with a slide G to D on second bar, I didn’t even look at Josh transcription. That why I record the bass high so I can hear my mistakes and people can tell me my struggles, thanks. That why I took the 50 song challenge
so I can get better and strive to be perfect like you.

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Interesting.
I just watched Constantine on YouTube and he played it the way you did too.
Must be official if out of the book.
I guess @JoshFossgreen easy-ified some of the tunes?

Hmmm, I would have liked to learn all these songs the ā€˜proper way’ I think.
No going back now, done is done.

That said, great job keeping up, it sure makes it trickier getting around but the slide seems to be a part of it!

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Oh I am not perfect, and I hope this is not a sarcastic comment by you.
I am trying to learn as well. On this one obviously not even the right version.

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I have not looked at it yet. If I have time after dinner I’ll start working on it.

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You played your piece, to me sounded perfect. You played the all right notes. There still D-A-B-G. I think we all strive to be perfect. Sorry if you think it’s sarcasm.

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Excellent performance John! :+1:
I haven’t been keeping up with the Challenge so I probably missed a few songs.
You did a great job as always!

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Great job @BigAl ! I didn’t hear any mistakes.
:+1:

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Wasnt sure is all. Didn’t want hard feelings here @BigAl

Peace and love

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I wish your line of thinking was more along the lines of ā€œhey I wanted to do that cover anyway, so here’s an opportunityā€, but whatever makes you happy… This isn’t a ā€œcontestā€ - it’s just a chance to learn by doing the covers that come with the course. You don’t have to do them all - just do the ones you feel like. But, I’m not trying to change your mind…

Great job @John_E ! Great tone, great chugging… excellent job. And I don’t think changing the fingering makes anything ā€œeasy-ifiedā€ or ā€œnot officialā€. Unless you were talking about the slide - maybe that didn’t come thru when the transcription was being done. I dunno…

Also great job @BigAl ! The only thing that jumped out at me was that the chugging seemed more staccato than I’m used to hearing (moreso in the beginning). Maybe it’s just because the bass was louder, but I’m used to it being more legato. Maybe it’s just me. Overall though - great job!

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