In this “Bass Oddity!” lesson we are going to take a look at “The Crunge” from Led Zeppelin. While there are some measures of regular old 4/4 and 3/4 time in this song, the main groove is in 9/8. So some odd time signature fun to play with.
Follow along with the sheet music that can be downloaded lower on this page.
(Video Bass Lesson Part 1 – Performance)
(Video Bass Lesson Part 2 – Instruction)
How to Count 9/8 Time
In Led Zeppelin’s “The Crunge,” I break down the count into an even number of beats plus an odd number of beats. In this situation counting: Even:1-2-3-4-5-6-Odd:1-2-3. The Eighth note gets one count or beat. It’s easier to stay in time rather than counting: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9. By counting 1-2-3-4-5-6-1-2-3, you’ll find it flows rhythmically with the music!
“The Crunge” Bass Line Breakdown
The drums introduce the song and the bass enters on the second half of beat number 8-9 in measure number 3.
Now we are into the main groove of the song, I’ll call this the “A Section.”
5 bars of 9/8 then1 bar of 4/4 or Common time.
Following the main groove, we’ll go into what I’ll call the “B Section.”
3 bars of 4/4 or Common time, then 1 bar of 9/8. This repeats 3 times, then moves to 3 bars of 4/4 and then 1 bar of 3/4 time.
After the song completes one round of “A Section” and “B Section,” the song returns to the “A Section” and adds an additional 2 bars of 9/8 time from the top of the section:
Part A: 7 bars of 9/8 1 bar of 4/4
Following this second round of “A Section,” will proceed into a second round of the “B Section” and vamp to the end of the song. There is NO BRIDGE! (unless anyone has seen the Bridge?)
Jam Track
“The Crunge” from Led Zeppelin
Here’s Led Zeppelin playing the tune for a little inspiration.
