What's the hardest bass line ever?

What’s one bass line bassists consistently seem to struggle with?

More idle curiosity than me ever attempting it, at a guess :joy:

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Closer to Home, by Grand Funk Railroad would get my vote. :open_mouth:

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Haha, so many ways I could answer this question… first thing coming to mind is Use Me, Bill Withers.

It’s not that it’s a difficult line, it’s that NOBODY I’ve ever heard play it live actually bothered to learn the bass line, so they just play the keyboard part. Which is lame to do, you miss out on some important rhythmic counterpoint that makes that song super cool.

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Can I go back to my epic odyssey with Cissy Strut here??
The debate rages. The authorities are at odds.
George Porter Jr. himself may not be as trustworthy as hoped.
(see this thread here: Stories with Basses)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXI5Nuz6OHg

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I’m going to learn that at some point. And, I’m not even going to worry if I get a note or two wrong. :wink:

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I’m really late here but there haven’t been very many answers.

The songs YYZ and La Villa Strangiato by Rush are generally considered top tier difficulty. I have read, but can’t verify, that even Geddy Lee only nails the solo in La Villa Strangiato about half the time.

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I can verify that YYZ is hard!

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Excellent work, Josh . . . :+1:

Thumbs up as always, Joe

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The hardest bass line ever? It’s the 5 minutes of insane riffage that you played last night and thought “I’m going to record this tomorrow”… and then can’t remember. :smile:

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Holy shit! That was BAD ASS! :metal:

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@Korrigan Yes! This! It has bitten me more than once. Just thinking about it frustrates me! :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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I love this.
In my imagination, there’s an alternate dimension where all those brilliant ideas are floating around in a kind of idea purgatory. Wailing, gnashing teeth, waiting and praying for someone to rediscover them and bring them to life.
I’ve sent so many songs there…

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Maybe if you write a song that functions as an interdimensional portal, you can use it to travel there and get the rest of the songs out? :space_invader:

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Harder than you think it’s going to be, right? Getting the rest points and the flow of it were so hard for me. I do love the classic “arm raised to the god of rock”.

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I don’t even think I could consistently pluck 140bpm 16th notes on a single open string.

edit: verified, not even close :slight_smile:

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I can’t do that without a good warm up. Increase of bpm from say 80-90 and then up! (Slowly!) Moving to straight 16th @140 is never a good idea without a bit of warming up or practice of 4,8 and then 16 from a slower bpm. Even when I’m thrashing away at a punk thing I make sure I do the above first. It’s not as lengthy a process as it used to be but still applies after 45 years. Also I’d never try YYZ without a LOT of warming up. Even Geddy can miss a note and it’s his line.

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Man this happens to me on a weekly, if not daily basis. I’m playing away, oh? what dat? a new thing! Rushes to mac, opens logic, NOW, WHAT WAS DAT THING AGAIN? Dang, it’s in that damn ether again…

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Yes - the trick for me - the phone. It’s almost always handy - and saves me the dangerous trip to the computer.

I have so many recordings on my phone of me playing un-plugged in electric basslines in a music store, humming something in the car, noodling during soundcheck - I don’t care anymore about the social graces of interrupting whatever. I gotta get those ideas!!

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Most on here will probably have seen Davie504’s YouTube channel, right? Here’s a new one that is really funny. “The Impossible bass line”. You really should wait and watch rather than skip to the end because it’s worth it.

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That last chap killed it.

Just goes to show, necessity really is the mother of all invention

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