Love is Stronger Than Justice
Another plectrum/pick tune this week, from Mr Sting himself. This track is from one of my favourite albums growing up. I was listening to this before I had any idea what a bass guitar was. Turns out I had great taste! Let’s have a look at it.
This is one of those harder to play than it sounds tunes, keeping the main riff consistent should be your greatest concern. I played it in open position but there are a few different ways to play it. Experiment and find out what works best for you.
It’s based around an A blues sound in the verse, not quite minor or major, somewhere in between, where the blues lives. The chorus is all C Major and a classic example of a 3 chord trick. Sting uses a few nice approach notes and runs to keep it moving along, he’s a master of ‘playing for the song’, not all basslines need fills every 4 bars! Use this lesson wisely in your own playing. Your bandmates will thank you for it.
I recorded this using a Dunlop 2mm Delrin pick (the purple one) on my 2001 Fender Jazz Bass with Aguilar 60s pickups and Badass III bridge. Both pickups and tone were on full. I went into my Mark Bass compressore set so every note I played was compressed, the ratio was at 12 o’clock. I DI’d out of my Tech 21 VT BASS DI with a slight mid bump and a rough Ampeg B12 sound. I added a tiny bit of compression in logic and a little EQ bump at 200hz.
Thanks for reading. If you like the song, make your own video and tag me on social media, @jproudbass on twitter and instagram.
Till next week.
Jonathan Proud 