Miscellaneous Observations in Paul's Bass Playing
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Paul McCartney
SnoozeAlarm — 13 years ago(February 08, 2013 04:00 AM)
- The bass progression in part of Mammunia is almost identical to that of Rocky Raccoon.
- His bass playing in Tax Man is great, particular beginning at "If you drive a car".
- Interestingly, in the last verse of that song, the lead guitarist joins the bassist and they play the same notes together. Don't think you see that too often.
- His bass playing in Rain is all over the place (in a good way), and actually sounds to me like rain falling.
- His bass playing in Old Brown Shoe is rarely if ever mentioned, and ranks right up there in my opinion.
I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man with no sole.
~ Ancient Disco Proverb
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gpicto — 13 years ago(February 08, 2013 07:33 PM)
The DJ at my local classic rock station is a professional musician and always praises Paul's playing. He says Paul's bass in The Word is "funky", as in no other song. He wonders if George got jealous over Paul's work in Taxman, and felt upstaged, or did he just feel glad that the song benefitted. He loves everything about Penny Lane and Martha My Dear (?!). I enjoy his thoughts as much as the music.
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
spyders — 13 years ago(February 13, 2013 04:12 PM)
Hi gpicto,
That is an interesting question about George being Jealous of Paul's contribution to Taxman. With regard to the bass line, I suspect George was elated with Paul's work on the song. This is one of the most innovative bass lines Paul ever put on any song. I do know, however, that George was quite angry about the fact that Paul's guitar solo was used on Taxman over any of the ones that George tried to put on it.
Spyders -
gpicto — 13 years ago(February 15, 2013 11:50 PM)
hi, Spyders
Maybe that was what the DJ was talking about, regarding Taxman. DJ said something about George doing it, then Paul seeing if he himself could do it better. And in DJ's opinion, Paul "just nails it". But it could be speculation by DJ, as well.
And I don't know if it's true, but I've read Paul was dissatisfied with George's guitar on Oh! Darling, and replaced it with his own?
Today's tune was Hey Bulldog, which DJ also 111cloves and says the bass is the loudest part of the song, which is really odd. He imagines that Paul was working one-on-one with the engineer and kept telling the guy to crank it, more and more, until the bass overpowered everything else.
FYI, he has also said Slow Down is the sloppiest track they ever recorded, with errors galore, and that he'd love to know whether the vocals on I Want to Tell You were deliberately flat, or just turned out that way. Either way, he thinks only the Fab Four could have flat singing contribute to making a song amazing.
I could be wrong, but I think he said that you can't hear Ringo's drumming on Lady Madonna until the last few seconds lol
I love listening to experts
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
spyders — 13 years ago(February 18, 2013 07:13 PM)
gpicto: "And I don't know if it's true, but I've read Paul was dissatisfied with George's guitar on Oh! Darling, and replaced it with his own?"
I know that Paul added a guitar part to the song after the basic track was recorded but I don't know whether he overdubbed George's work or not.
gpicto: "Today's tune was Hey Bulldog, which DJ also loves and says the bass is the loudest part of the song, which is really odd. He imagines that Paul was working one-on-one with the engineer and kept telling the guy to crank it, more and more, until the bass overpowered everything else."
In the early to mid sixties EMI (who owned Abbey Road and also the company who pressed the Beatle's records) had strict rules against mixing bass guitar parts too loud on recordings as they felt like it caused problems with the interaction between the stylus and the 45 or 33 record during playback. So the rules in place at studios such as Abbey road forbade the engineers or producers to mix the bass parts or bass drum parts too loud during the mix downs.
This really aggravated not only Paul but the other Beatles as well as they felt as though they were not allowed to have their music mixed the way they wanted it. They would protest that they wanted more bass and the authorities at EMI would answer back &quo5b4t;with no it will cause discs to track improperly". Then a new tune would show up from an American artist, recorded in America with a loud, bold bass part and the Beatles would march in with a copy of the tune, put it on the turntable as say "Listen to how loud the bass is on this tune, it isn't causing any problems at all".
By the time Hey Bulldog was recorded, the Beatles were the biggest band in the world and they had the clout to demand that the bass be mixed much more loudly on their records. EMI relented.
Slow down does sound kind of sloppy but whether it is the sloppiest or not is really just a matter of opinion.
Spyders -
spyders — 13 years ago(February 24, 2013 06:35 AM)
The story about "Taxman" is also pretty interesting.
In the days that "Revolver" was recorded, the Beatles still had a pretty tight schedule. They were obligated to many other activities besides recording and also Abbey Road was a working studio which was typically booked pretty solidly. The Beatles only had a limited amount of time in the studio on any given session. Later they pretty much had unlimited time but not at the time "revolver" was recorded. George Martin had to get The Beatles in and out of the studio in a pretty timely fashion and be as productive as possible during studio time. George Harrison often struggled on guitar. During the recording of "Taxman", The group was in the studio and George was having trouble coming up with a suitable solo for the song. In fact, he spent several hours trying over and over again to come up with a great solo and just wasn't pulling it off. George Martin and the other Beatles were getting tired of waiting for George to get his act together and so Martin finally convinced Harrison to let Paul give the solo a try. Paul went down into the studio and within about ten minutes had laid down the track that we hear twice on the recording today. Harrison wasn't happy at all about it. He was so upset he got up and left the building for several hours. He finally came back but frankly the reason he didn't play the solo on his own song is because he wasn't able to come up with a suitable solo despite having been given several hours to do it.
Spyders -
gpicto — 13 years ago(February 24, 2013 06:17 PM)
Very interesting. so were George and Paul both improvising, and Paul did it more successfully?
Forgive if the question is fatuous, but I know nothing about music, except how to listen to it
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
spyders — 13 years ago(February 24, 2013 07:20 PM)
Yeah, that is essentially correct. Multi track recording had arrived by the time The Beatles first started recording at Abbey Road even though it was quite limited compared to what came later but still it gave them the ability to do things like record the rhythm tracks first and add things like vocals and guitar solos later. Typically lead guitarists will lay down multiple solo attempts (sometimes as many as 20 or 30 or more) until they find one they really like.
George just couldn't come up with one that day that anyone was pleased with so Paul was given a shot at it and nailed it. Don't forget that Paul was one of the guitarists in the band long before he ever took up the Bass.
Spyders -
gpicto — 13 years ago(February 24, 2013 11:29 PM)
I can understand and empathize with George's tremendous frustration. He always said Paul made him feel as if he were terrible at the guitar. In his book "Shout", author Phillip Norman says that after the White Album was done, George took a vacation, and was praised everywhere, by fellow musicians, for his work on the album. He returned to Abbey Road studios feeling pretty good about life, but soon found himself dealing the same old Paul, for whom George could do nothing right. We all know how the two clashed over George's playing on I've Got a Feeling.
I read elsewhere that during the break-up and its legal proceedings, Ringo said in an affadivit that Paul was always making suggestions to him and George, on how to play better, and would NOT take no for an answer. Paul took exception to Ringo's claim and set out to prove it false, by going into the vaults and going through the tapes of their Help sessions. The result? Paul came back and sheepishly apologized, saying he'd had no idea how domineering he'd been.
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
blaydes — 10 years ago(October 16, 2015 11:09 PM)
Your dj friend knows his stuff, until the last part. How you cannot hear the drums throughout Lady Madonna (except for the intro) is insane. It is exceptionally loud and may be the most pounding drums heard on a Beatles track. It could be compared to John Bonham.
As for, "I want to tell you", tell your dj friend the flat tone by George, Paul, and John were all intentional. The theme of the lyrics is that he is having a hard time "getting through" to someone; and the trippy, wavy, flat sound is all intended to support that theme." -
gpicto — 13 years ago(March 27, 2013 01:02 AM)
They played Maxwell's Silver Hammer the other day. At the end, the DJ said Paul made his bass sound like a tuba in the song, though he added he had no idea how McCartney did that.
Marriage is between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. -
cbartal — 13 years ago(April 01, 2013 04:28 PM)
I like the interplay between everyone on this thread, especially the thoughts on Taxman. I suspect that some of what was written was based on Emerick's book, Here, There, and Everywhere.
Emerick makes Mccartney out as the dedicated, brilliant, musical genius of the group. He obviously has a preference for Mccartney.
But the fact is that he is right especially when talking about most of Harrison's solos compared to Mccartney.
For the most part, Paul reels these chaotic, frenetic solos off with the Beatles and even with Wings and his solo work.
George strains to eek out chord based, simple minded solos throughout the Beatles. And even past the Beatles, what George solos do you remember from Goerge's career?
The one caveat I have with all this is George's playing on Abbey Road. If George played all those parts on side 2, that is genius. The montage on Abbey Road definitely benefits from the guitar playing for those 15 minutes or so. I will give that to George, also I will give him the great solo on Let it Be. -
Troll_Dahl — 12 years ago(June 08, 2013 09:30 PM)
I'm a fan of George. I'd refer you to That's the Way it Goes, Cheer Down, Life Itself, Any Road, Give Me Love. I'm assuming George was responsible for most of that. And what about the instrumental Marwa Blues? George really shone with slide guitar. Possibly that was his niche. If I ever watch the Concert for George, it's wonderful, but I notice that none of them get the same slide sound he produced. Listen to his album Live on Japan. George comes out with solos that, to me, are quite engaging and complement the songs greatly. Eric Clapton is also on that album, but I think it's possible to discern who's playing what. Taxman solos=Eric but I Want to Tell You=totally George.
Also, his slide on This is Love is simply exquisite and I've always liked his work on the reunion tracks-muscular yet soulful. I admit, I have little music theory. I'm much more of a qualitative than a quantitative thinker. I just know what sounds right to me and I tend to like George's style, although he may not have been a rock guitarist in a conventional sense. That Which I have Lost from Somewhere in England would be another instance. And have you heard Poor House on the second Wilburys album? Furtherm7ecore, I'd love to know who was responsible for the spiky leads on Wilbury Twist. -
jefgg — 10 years ago(August 01, 2015 01:44 PM)
I really like the way Paul plays the bass. I remember winning the "Pipes Of Peace" album on the radio when I was a kid. Yes, I'm old. I was a little surprised Stanley Clarke was listed as the bass player. I guess Paul was probably busy singing, playing other instruments and/or co-producing with George Martin. Then I thought if Paul was going to bring in a bass player it should be a great player like Clarke.
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blaydes — 10 years ago(October 16, 2015 11:01 PM)
Paul plays both bass and lead guitar on Taxman. The similarities between Mamunia and Rocky Raccoon are vague at best. I love alot of your commentary here, especially about what he does on Rain. I had never thought of the analogy you made, how it reminds you of rain. Some of the other things they do have thunderous or rain-like qualities. Good point, and shows where they were all headed as artists.
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SnoozeAlarm — 10 years ago(November 19, 2015 02:33 AM)
Mamunia :
Rocky Raccoon:
I find them strikingly similar:- The bass is kind of like being "picked"
- At very regular intervals
- In a descending scalar progression
- Accompanied by strumming on the acoustic guitar
- Very sparse percussion
- Even the melody is similar
It should be against the law to use 'LOL'; unless you rea1c84lly did LOL!