R&B Bass Masters

Okay, here's a new project. I am going to study Ed Friedland's R&B Bass Masters book and treat it like a college course. There are 10 excellent bassists profiled in the book, and I have gathered all the examples of songs. Here are some initial ideas:

• Identify the source track for each example
• Copy out the part on manuscript paper
• Identify the key
• Master the part as written with the drum track
• Attempt to play along with the actual song

The bassists that are featured are:

• James Jamerson
• Chuck Rainey
• Tommy Cobgill
• Duck Dunn
• Roy Porter, Jr.
  
• Jerry Jemmott
• David Hood
• Willie Weeks
  
• Ronnie Baker
• Bootsy Collins

I think the major part of the "course" will be listening. I should blog about it here. The first section is on Jamerson, and there are 6 tracks to listen to and I think 4 examples to play. I want to really mark up my copy and go to town with it. This will be kind of a warm up for working with the Standing in the Shadows book again.

Song Collection

Just finishing my "song collection" phase, where I get recorded versions of all the "Recommended Cuts" in Ed's R&B book. All but 3 were on Rhapsody, and the remainder were from 2 hard-to-find records: Donny Hathaway Live, and Roberta Flack's Chapter Two. I found versions of these three on YouTube. Now I have them all. I'll put them all in one place so I can listen to them as I study. For me, listening to these tracks will be as important as learning to play them.

It's funny--I am such a collector. Just listening to Willie Weeks on "Everything Is Everything," as Donny Hathaway tells the crowd, "the baddest bass player in the country." Solo is at about 8:44--what a great groove. The guy is just killer. I needed to have all the songs that Ed mentions in the book; not just find them one at a time. I wanted them all. Whoa, a quote of "Shortnin' Bread" and everything. Great playing. "Willie Weeks!"