You’re All I Need To Get By
I heard this tune in a cafe the other day and loved the bass playing. I had to transcribe it! I’ve done some digging around online and have come to the conclusion that it’s either Jerry Jemmot or Chuck Rainey laying down the bass on this one. Whoever it is, they’re doing a great James Jamerson impression.
This tune is a great example of pedal point playing and chord inversion. The verse has the bass playing an A while the rest of the band changes chord. It’s a classic chord progression,
I IIx (sub for IIm) IVm (sub for V) I
The chorus starts with a A/E (2nd inversion) which to me has an unsettled but uplifting sound. Try it out on a gig, stick the 5th over the I chord. Sounds glorious when done in the right place, use your ears as always. A lot of the fills follow the classic bass secret formula: root, third, sixth (and then a myriad of options, often fourth or fifth). Once you’ve clocked this one you’ll start hearing it everywhere. It’s used heavily in Raphael Saadiq’s bassline on L.O.V.E. Bar 3 is the first example.
I recorded this on my Fender 50s Precision Bass with Ernie Ball Slinky Flatwounds and a Badass II bridge. Volume and Tone fully up. I stuffed a whole load of foam under the bridge to get that 60s muted bass sound. I’m sure there are more elegant ways of doing it! I went into my Markbass Compressore set so every note was compressed when i was playing at normal volume. I DI’d out of my Tech21 VT BASS DI with the character knob at around 1 o’clock and the drive and bass dialed back a little. I added a little compression in Logic to tie it altogether with the vintage FET setting. I also boosted around 1k by about 3 dB.
Thanks for reading. If you like the song, make your own video and tag me on social media, @jproudbass on twitter and instagram.
Jonathan Proud 