The Beatles Bible - Topic: Paul and bass guitar

Ben Ramon on Paul and bass guitar

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 12:45:42 +0000

My favourite bassist of all is James Jamerson, Motown session bassist and member of the Funk Brothers, who Paul considered a major influence. His lines on those classic soul records are absolutely jaw-dropping: highly melodic and complex while sticking firmly to the "less is more" philosophy and never showing off. I'm not surprised that the Beatles' bass element upped the ante so sharply in 1966 and 1967, with Jamerson's highly singable bass parts in such heavy radio circulation.

Funny Paper on Paul and bass guitar

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 03:24:49 +0000

Von Bontee said
Had to look up Paul Jackson, was pleased to find that he plays on at least two records I own! (Herbie Hancock's Headhunters)

Have a listen to this Paul Jackson bass-playing on a Hancock composition, amazingly complex:

Von Bontee on Paul and bass guitar

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 00:03:59 +0000

Had to look up Paul Jackson, was pleased to find that he plays on at least two records I own! (Herbie Hancock's Headhunters)

Funny Paper on Paul and bass guitar

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:31:38 +0000

Some random thoughts about Paul and bass:

Paul once sort of punned in an interview with a magazine called "Bass Guitar" I think, in which he was arguing that a bass player should try to stick to the deeper foundational notes and not stray too much in high notes and frills, and he concluded this thought with, "I mean, you have to have some ass down there!"

It was kind of cool to have (and see in the Let It Be movie) George play bass on "Two of Us", while the "two of them" -- Paul and John, played acoustic guitars together.

Though ...

Monkberry on Paul and bass guitar

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:22:35 +0100

The truest of songwriters play bass...
I'm a bassist so sue me if I'm a little byast (don't know if I spelled that correctly...fuck it...)
You can learn alot about music playing in the bass clef! You can learn about harmony, backbeat, rythym, groove, etc.
I think Paul probably jumped at the chance to play bass (as said by George on the Anthology dvd) because he knew that the bassist controls the song alot of the time. You can influence so many aspects of a song if you control the rythym rather than just the guitar laid on top!

skye on Paul and bass guitar

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 04:27:54 +0100

He considered that one too (for about five hours - ugh) but this was a $900 bass dropped down to $600 just because the color was discontinued, which improved the "sound" considerably.

Marcelo on Paul and bass guitar

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 04:05:33 +0100

skye said:

When my brother's bass was stolen from the back of his car, I went with him to buy a new one. I tried to get him to buy a Hoffner but both the sales guy and a random guitar guru told him that he shouldn't, basically saying that it's sound was too light. Plus, it's so closely tied to Paul that he didn't want to look like a poser. (I tried to get him get him to buy a Rickenbaker but he cheaped out. He ended up with a discontinued Fender Jaguar.)

Well, Rickenbakers had a shallow sound ...

Marcelo on Paul and bass guitar

Sat, 03 Apr 2010 04:00:44 +0100

iCaramba said:

Ahh... is that the accepted opinion among guitar enthsiasts or just an idiosyncratic preference?

The reason I ask is that I had always assumed people thought that the Hofner violin bass was cool, in a charming by-gone era sort of way...

I can't really say how many guitar players like or dislike Hofner violin bass, I can only speak for myself. The body is small and had a weird "european" shape.

skye on Paul and bass guitar

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:20:14 +0100

When my brother's bass was stolen from the back of his car, I went with him to buy a new one. I tried to get him to buy a Hoffner but both the sales guy and a random guitar guru told him that he shouldn't, basically saying that it's sound was too light. Plus, it's so closely tied to Paul that he didn't want to look like a poser. (I tried to get him get him to buy a Rickenbaker but he cheaped out. He ended up with a discontinued Fender Jaguar.)

iCaramba on Paul and bass guitar

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 19:01:15 +0100

Ahh... is that the accepted opinion among guitar enthsiasts or just an idiosyncratic preference?

The reason I ask is that I had always assumed people thought that the Hofner violin bass was cool, in a charming by-gone era sort of way...

Marcelo on Paul and bass guitar

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 05:48:19 +0100

iCaramba said:

Marcelo said:

mjb said:

Thus was born the most famous guitar in the world: the left-handed Hofner 500/1 'violin' bass guitar

And... I hate it!

Per che, Marcelo?

That's a very ugly bass.

iCaramba on Paul and bass guitar

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:08:11 +0100

Marcelo said:

mjb said:

Thus was born the most famous guitar in the world: the left-handed Hofner 500/1 'violin' bass guitar

And... I hate it!

Per che, Marcelo?

Marcelo on Paul and bass guitar

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:26:38 +0100

mjb said:

Thus was born the most famous guitar in the world: the left-handed Hofner 500/1 'violin' bass guitar

And... I hate it!

mjb on Paul and bass guitar

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:48:45 +0100

Thus was born the most famous guitar in the world: the left-handed Hofner 500/1 'violin' bass guitar

Marcelo on Paul and bass guitar

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 23:55:28 +0000

iCaramba said:

I love John, but he must have been a handful to deal with on a daily basis...

Yes, indeed.

But George said "No way!" too...