Emergency help needed with a song

[Ross Brown]

I have trouble playing Johnney B. Goode. The "Go Johnny Go" part I am ok with. What the heck is the bass part for the main part of the song. I want to just thump on the roots. One-five sounds alright too. More than that seems to be competing with the guitar.

 

We are cutting a demo tommorrow evening and somehow this song ended up on the list. The other songs are just fine. Ideas please... (besides cut it from the list). Am I the only bass player in the world that doesn't know how to play this song?

[The Geoff]

I just play a boogie through the whole thing. Works for us.

 

G.

[jeremy c]

Am I the only bass player in the world that doesn't know how to play this song?

 

Possibly.

 

Chords:

 

I I I I

IV IV I I

V V I I

 

Boogie it is. Just roots or roots and fifths won't cut it.

Try 1 3 5 6 8 6 5 3 for each two measures.

 

Or just download it from iTunes and learn it by ear like everyone else has done for the last 50 years.

 

(No, they haven't been using iTunes for 50 years, but they've been learning it by ear for that long.) :grin:

[Ross Brown]

Am I the only bass player in the world that doesn't know how to play this song?

 

Possibly.

 

Chords:

 

I I I I

IV IV I I

V V I I

 

Boogie it is. Just roots or roots and fifths won't cut it.

Try 1 3 5 6 8 6 5 3 for each two measures.

 

Or just download it from iTunes and learn it by ear like everyone else has done for the last 50 years.

 

(No, they haven't been using iTunes for 50 years, but they've been learning it by ear for that long.) :grin:

 

Thanks Jeremy. This what I have been doing. Just sounds ... dumb/repetitive. I think it is me, I don't know. I did download a couple of versions a while ago. I got got nothing from that for some reason. (I do learn most songs by ear doing just what you said). Thanks for the answer (I asked for the flaming, I guess), it helps...

[jeremy c]

Didn't really mean to flame you, Ross. I did put in the smileys.

 

Nobody is supposed to listen to the bass on that song anyway.

 

They are supposed to listen to the guitar and singing.

 

As long as you don't do anything that distracts from that, you'll be fine.

[Ross Brown]

Yes. I saw the smileys. I guess flaming is the wrong term, maybe "ribbing".

 

I started thinking about this because we are making a demo tommorrow and I started thinking, hey I might be on a track by myself and everyone is going to hear that I stink at this song. When playing with the band, all is OK, in that I am buried in the mix.

 

I will try not to distract on this song. Thanks again.

[jeremy c]

Actually, Chuck Berry is famous for miserable renditions of his own songs.

 

He has the places that hire him supply him with musicians and then he walks out on stage and starts playing. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

 

And the drummer on the original record wasn't sure whether he was supposed to play swing eighths (like the piano) or straight eighths (like Chuck) and he changed in the middle.

[Ross Brown]

Interesting... Hey why aren't you out playing? It is Saturday night... maybe it is just too early there... nevermind..

 

[Johnny Crab]

Best advice already given.

 

Chuck Berry's bass player wasn't Geddy Lee, Flea, Sting, or any "lead bass" players. You'll do fine. Relax. Your function(and mine, we cover this tune) when playing this song is to make a place where the guitar & vocals stand out anyway.

[Nicklab]

Check out "Hail, Hail Rock!" if you can. I think the bass player for that particular Chuck Berry gig was Joey Spampinato of NRBQ, and he's got a great groove on those tunes. There's nothing like stealing for a great player to get some great ideas.

[The Geoff]

If you want to make the boogie more interesting, then double it up.

 

G.

[jitter]

Coincidentally I recently looked at that song. At least in my recording the (upright) bass is *very* muddy in the mix and in some places the intonation is slightly off.

 

Anyway, according to Wikipedia it's been played by the Producer of the track. I'm not able to find this reference now, though.

 

http://www.student.tugraz.at/trobin/johnny_b_goode.jpg

 

This is a close approximation of what I hear, straightened out a little bit

 

When I play it I play the nice riff in the verse as in the original version, but I play a Boogie in the choruses and during the solo. That verse riff rocks, though

 

Hope that helps,

jitter

 

[Ross Brown]

I am on it today.... I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks.

[dhomer]

I've played this song in just about every band I've been with for the last 30 years... in four different keys...lol... And its generally unrehearsed, someone will request it and off we go.. Generally, I lay back a little and pump eighths on the verses (give the vocalist some room), then do the "double boogie" on the choruses and leads.

 

IMO, if you want to hear some good interpretations on Berry tunes, listen to some Thorogood. Theres a very early version of "Nadine" he has on record, I'm thinking with a different bassist, that has a very tasty bassline. Dave Edmunds/Nick Lowe comes to mind as well as folks who have refined the style.

[Ross Brown]

OK... It's gettin' there. 1 3 5 6 8 6 5 3, buy not every time... sometimes just 1 3 5 6 1 3 5 6.

 

Thanks.

[Phil W]

How did it go, Ross? Was it Sunday or Monday night you were doing it?

 

The simultaneous presence of both swung and straight eighth notes on the original makes for an interesting recording and, as Jeremy says, the drummer changes mid-stream. I find that everyone has their own take on this tune. Basically the tune is about making the guitar player sound good though so adapt accordingly.

 

Like most of the rock 'n' roll stuff I do, I tend to play this with thumb and palm mute (which makes a big difference) and I tend to play quarter notes and leave the eighths for everyone else to play. You still have to decide if you're going to play with a swung or a straight feel though as this really effects the feel of a quarter note walking line.

 

Though I play it basically as Jeremy says, this is a tune you can take a few more liberties with than some of the other classic r n r stuff. I sometimes play a fairly adventurous (for rock) walking line - nowhere like jazz but lots of chromatic walk-ups and a little less repetition than in other tunes. Also as you have two bars of D7 (10th and 11th bars) you can act a bit jazzy and put an A under the 10th bar and then walk up to the D7.

 

Check out Ed Friedland's excellent book 'The Working Bassist's Tool Kit: The Art and Craft of Successful Bass Playing'. I know it's a bit late but it'll be useful in the future. He suggest some neat jump/swing muted lines/phrases which work over this tune.

[Ross Brown]

Demo recording went well. JB Goode was a nothing. Just played the "boogie" as suggested. The isolated bass tracks sounded fine, everyone seemed happy.

 

BTW, it was a great experience to hear the bass track isolated for all to hear. Fortunatly the first track that everyone got to hear just bass was Hey Joe. Cool bass line and I didn't mess it up. Was intimidating though...