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Transcription Techniques for Bass - Part 3
by George Urbaszek
CreativeBassLessons.com

I trust the resources provided in the previous two lessons on Transcription Techniques serve you well. (See part 1 & part 2) This lesson will dig deeper. We will look at the process of working out the bass line to an actual song.

I am telling you exactly how I transcribe and this lesson will be “me thinking out loud”. I encourage you to use the information in your own unique way – whatever works for you. I have chosen James Brown’s studio-and-mostly-played-on-the-radio-and-TV-ads version of “I Got You (I Feel Good)” because

    * Most bass players know the song and are required to play it at some time during their career.
    * It has some “traps” and challenges not readily recognizable
    * It should help improve your technique and groove
    * It contains funky syncopation
    * It aids musical concentration

Listening ONLY (no bass in hand)
First Pass (entire track)

The “I Feel Good” section (at the start) could be called the Chorus

Each chorus is a 12-bar blues form

After two choruses it goes to a Bridge with only sax and drums for four bars

I am calling the “When I hold you in my arms” section the Verse

The verse is eight bars long, begins on the IV-chord and completes another 12-bar cycle

Then:
Chorus
Instrumental Bridge
Verse
Chorus
Chorus
Two additional “So Good” bits with extended ending (tag) slowing down

Second Pass (still no bass in hand)

Beginning: “Wow” drum hit “I Feel Good” – The “Good” is the first beat of the 12-bar form

The horns match the bass from the second beat of the two-bar phrase to the first beat of the two-bar phrase

The bass rhythm is one quarter note and six consecutive eighth notes in the first bar

The rhythm in the second bar is quarter note, two eighths, eighth-note rest, eighth note, eighth-note rest, eighth note (making the second bar syncopated)

All instruments play unison hits with “So Good” at the end of every chorus

Guitar generally plays short stabs only on beat 4 of every second bar of the choruses

Bass drum plays some unison hits with sax during bridge and quarter-note rhythm on ride cymbal

Bass plays a type of descending walking bass line with two eighth-note hits per note during the verse

Guitar plays quarter notes during the verses

The end of each chorus (plus the tag) is an arpeggio with all instruments in unison

The final tag descends before the “Hey” and last chord

I suggest you now get a copy of the recording (I can’t provide one because of copyright) and compare your listening notes to mine. You may hear more than I did on the first two passes. If so, that’s great!

Next time I will “think out loud” again, showing you how I find the bass notes.

Until then, Bass of Luck!

George Urbaszek
Bass Player and Music Educator
Serving Bass Players Worldwide since 1996

PS
If you need a beginner-level, bass-specific CD to aid your aural skills, check out this CD. “Workin’ it Out – Aural Skills for Bass Players – Level I”