Sometimes due to
-having such short time to play (as little as a couple of minutes before the tea is ready) or
-simply being too tired to do anything complicated at all but still wanting to play SOMETHING or
-if I start getting overwhelmed by what I am trying and failing with and need to touch base…
My go to riff is < James Brown - Papa’s Gotta Brand New Bag >
It is like a home base and the licks between chord changes are so cool it makes me feel really bad ass to be able to play it…
Same goes for testing a bass, amp or any piece of equipment at a music store.
My runner ups are:
White Stripes - Seven Nation Army (Every time I touch the Higher E this one calls to me like when I am setting up the intonation)
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc (especially for making low ends growl and everytime I play it my wife goes “chaka chaka chaka”)
James Brown - I feel good (Again those licks man!)
The Knack - My Sharona ( I usually push myself to play it with slapp technique - it sounds so good in my head but I always mess it up!)
New Order, Procession
Husker Du, Don’t Wanna Know If You Are Lonely
Sisters Of Mercy, Lucretia My Reflection
Gary Numan, Down In The Park
New Order, Temptation <-- working on this now
This Must Be The Place - Talking Heads
Let’s Dance - David Bowie
Roses Are Free - Phish/Ween
Feel Good Inc - The Gorillaz
Tonight Tonight - The Smashing Pumpkins
I just learned Tonight Tonight this weekend, but I’m addicted to playing it. Such a gorgeous song, and playing my bass underneath the string section is really satisfying.
Honorable mention to Woo Hoo by the 5,6,7,8’s. It is a little to fast to “feel at home” in, but I’ve got it down pretty good and makes me feel great when I nail it. https://youtu.be/kqHnw5ggrJU
Too Rolling Stoned - Trower
Billie Jean - MJ
Tears of a Clown - Smokey Robinson
Aint No Good Life - BB King
Radar Love - Golden Earring
I realize that this is all over the place but it is what it is…If I’m not trying to come up with something new or not just playing with a jam track chances are I’m playing one of these. BTW Aint No Good Life is definitely a great walking primer give it a try. Spent most of the evening working on Sweet Emotion I guess I’ll have to throw that in on the next round of “What’s Under Your Fingers”
I don’t want to give you the wrong impression I play all of these perfectly. Some of them I just play a few riffs from the actual song, not necessarily the whole song.
Muse and Tool can get very overwhelming, there’s a lot happening on their basslines (more Tool than Muse, but you get the point) and the tempos are not forgiving
There’s so many out there to choose from. I seem to be discovering new bass lines on a regular basis that I had long forgotten or not even heard of before.
Presently my top 5 would have to be
1/ Ace of Spades - Motörhead
2/Crosstown traffic - Jimmy Hendrix
3/ When September ends - Green Day
4/ Feeling good - Nina Simone
5/ Simple Man - Lynryd Skynyrd
I need to memorize some more, but where I am 6 months in are:
Song For My Father - Horace Silver. SO glad @JoshFossgreen put that into the B2BA course. I love Jazz, but never knew this song.
7 Nation Army (for sure!) - White Stripes
Although I don’t have them memorized, I love: a. Feel Good Inc - The Gorillaz, b. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson (need to get to where I can play it at full speed), and many others.
I like playing the main riff Joy Division’s Love will tear us apart. That one works great soundwise even unplugged, and while working, I sometimes take my bass while thinking about something just for a minute or two.
Tool -Schism is also something I try, but that one really isn’t easy for me with those hammer ons.
And I put it in my head to learn the bass solo from Tool - Invincible. Even got myself a bass whammy for that.
Thanks to @gcancella and @JoshFossgreen of course Muse-Hysteria has quickly become my test tool as well… Did not learn anything plays that fast until that one.
Loving the D chord part there!
I am using it to see how much my right hand index finger has recovered day by day