Oooh playing Smooth seems fun, adding it to my list
3 Likes
It is! Between the syncopation, accents, and the shifts up and down the fretboard I found it to be a really good skill building song. Definitely gonna dive into more Santana songs in the future!
3 Likes
Recently-ish added to the working on list:
- Calling In The Coroner - Vio-Lence
- The Prisoner - Iron Maiden
- And Then There Were None - Exodus
- Best Time - Helloween
3 Likes
The basslines in anything Anderson Paak touches are fantastic
2 Likes
I’m enjoying Smooth too - guitar playing partner who loves practicing that one and now I can just slot in beside him and mess it up 
I’m also loving getting to grips with:
Riki Don’t Lose That Number - really nice one to get fluid and try for subtlety
Wasted Years - letting rip with a bit of Maiden, love the harmony descending line under the guitar
Take me out, Do You Want To, and just about anything else by Franz Ferdinand - great for trying for that bouncy tone
Other fun ones are Too Sweet by Hozier, Sweet Child o Mine, Supermassive Black Hole, Take It Easy …
My serious challenges at the moment are Master Blaster and the occasional attempt at Hysteria at 50% speed, neither of which are working at the moment but I’m a determined soul!
3 Likes
Working on this atm. I can play it all and it’s fine. I just don’t have the stamina to keep it going cleanly. By the end, my forearm is burning and the meat between my thumb and index finger is aching. I know that its because I start to grip too hard which exacerbates the stamina thing. For now, its just a fun song and a good workout for my fretting hand.
5 Likes
I started working on Master Blaster too after having fun with “Boogie Oogie Oogie" but completely underestimated the difficulty 
3 Likes
Ooh I’ll try Boogie Oogie Oogie next then, thanks for the idea! Yes, Master Blaster, I was okay till I looked at Songsterr and YouTube and saw what’s actually going on. I love the patterns in it, I know I’ll feel really pleased when I manage it, but my fingers are saying nah ahh at the moment. Keep on keeping on 
2 Likes
Love Supermassive Black Hole, it’s such a fun combo of rock with a somewhat funky vibe. Adding it to my “to learn” list. FF seems fun too!
1 Like
Enjoy! Take Me Out bounces along too - really satisfying
I’m still a beginner - just finished my first year - but finding tunes I love that can play (if slowly)
On my current practice list:
- All My Loving - Beatles - beautiful walking bass through the whole thing.
- Treat Her Right - Roy Head and the Traits - fast simple blues line
- Stir it Up - Bob Marley - great for my beginner hands
- A Town Called Malice - The Jam - Just love this tune. Only can play at about 75% speed
- Don’t be Cruel - Elvis - Surprisingly interesting bass line
- Red Red Wine - UB40 - Octaves, Octaves, Octaves
- Jokerman - Bob Dylan - Robbie Shakespeare absolutely kills this - but too fast for me. Also difficult key - Bflat.
- Can’t Turn You Loose - Otis Redding (also Was not Was) - The Vamp of all Vamps. I think every bassist should know this
- Mr Pitiful - Otis Redding (also Taj Mahal) - more Duck Dunn
- Dear Prudence - Beatles - Never realized what an incredible jam this is!
- Pass the Kouchie - The Mighty Diamonds - only 4 notes, but improves my plucking between E and A strings.
- Police and Thieves - The Clash (from Junior Murvin) - a little Punk Reggae
- Substitute - The Who - Love this song, but at 75% speed for now.
- I Want you Back - The Jackson 5 - My favorite bass line. So much fun to play, even at 75%.
- Nowhere Man - Beatles - nothing from Paul is Straightforward, but this is close. Love the AMajor arpeggio under AMinor chord
- Bad Boy - Beatles (from Larry Williams) - silly B-side
- You Can’t Hurry Love - The Supremes - James Jameson - most straightforward one I could find. Killer turnaround lines. Not got above 65%
- Sheena is a Punk Rocker - The Ramones - My favorite Ramones song
- Come Together - Beatles - a must, also not hard to get to 100% speed
- Black Magic Woman + Gypsy Queen - Santana - Have loved this song for many years and now I can play it
- I’ll Take You There - The Staple Singers - Great, simple soul groove. And a bass solo to boot.
- Smithers-Jones - The Jam - One of my Fav Jam songs. Also - written by Bruce Foxton, not Paul Weller.
On my todo list:
- Radio Free Europe - REM - this one is a challenge to even learn at 50%.
- Mayor of Simpleton - XTC - this one too.
I found all of the above as bass demo tablature on YouTube
3 Likes
That would make a great setlist. Fun tunes for sure.
2 Likes
I was recently brought on to a local gothic metal project, and while we’re looking for a drummer I’ve been practicing a few covers in our setlist: Tiamat’s Via Dolorosa, Silentium’s Forever Sleep, and Theater of Tragedy’s Bring Forth Ye Shadow.
Via Dolorosa is fairly straightforward; anybody that’s completed the first few modules can learn this one, with the caveat that they play in drop D (it’s lterally just three notes, and two of them are open strings). This one I’ve got fairly locked down without tabs.
Forever Sleep is trickier by a bit, but reasonable if you chunk it and start at half speed. I just got this one to full speed a few minutes before hopping on the forum!
BFYS is… going. This one hits above my paygrade because we’re fluttering between the first and tenth frets on three strings at 120 BPM, and I needed to slow it down to quarter pace just to start establishing muscle memory. And while this is absolutely the way to go, it would be much less problematic if I wasn’t playing a seven minute song at quarter pace. I’ve recently increased to a whopping 33% speed on this on. Weep for me.
Early on, i had a six or seven minute song that I was playing at like 40-50% speed. I had to change the screen timeout on my laptop because it would go dark partway through the song.
1 Like
wellerman-sea-shanty.pdf (76.9 KB)
RFE003.xml.pdf (723.4 KB)
Can’t upload the MP3 for the second one so will let people guess what song it is instead. The first one was a fun challange to play
I absolutely hear you! at 25% it’s not even music anymore. It’s just an unexciting rhythm game. I can’t wait to be at 50%, haha!
1 Like
Thanks to @joergkutter
I’m working on this one, the transcribing is coming along. Not a simple song, I hope I don’t have to dig up my keyboard for this, 
Moontune
2 Likes
That’s so cool, Al!!
Not an easy song, and a good example why it is a bit “easier” when played on a 5-string. Frans (the bass player) also plays it on a 4-string, but it’s definitely easier to play using the B string (and also what he does in the video).
Let me know if you get stuck in transcribing - I have the score with all the main riffs 
2 Likes
I’m a huge Michael Jackson fan, so of course I have to learn Billie Jean!
(TAB below, all 8th notes)
— — — — — — — — — —
— 4 — 2 4 2 — — — —
— — 4 — — — 4 2 4—
— — — — — — — — — —
Blackalicious - Alphabet aerobics
Muse - Supermassive Blackhole
1 Like