How To Play Bass Guitar To Stepping Out by Joe Jackson/Graham Maby

[ThreeStrangeDays]

Awesome Lesson....but what I'm really waiting for is....FRIDAY by Joe Jackson...now that would make my year!!!

[howtoplaybassdotcom]

@ThreeStrangeDays Ha ha - that would be awesome. For the moment I'm finished with Graham Maby....but I plan to revisit him in the future (too many cool lines to cover). So we'll see in the future!

[Jcahalane]

I've always used my thumb for the lower note of octaves and my index and middle finger for the higher one, my fingers get lost trying to do it your way, haha. Great bassline though, reminds me of YMCA.

[howtoplaybassdotcom]

@Jcahalane Hey man, there's lots of way to do it - I tend to use the thumb in the way you suggest when I'm playing tenths as the stretch is a lot for my hands. But for octaves I can use the way I show here....it is a great bass line. Try playing it to tempo and playing through the song....ouch, good workout.

[FluffyWagglekins]

An interesting note is that to my knowledge Graham did not actually play bass on the album version of this song. It's a sequenced keyboard line.

[howtoplaybassdotcom]

@FluffyWagglekins Ahhh that's something that I didn't check out. I just assumed it was Graham. And I was wondering how he played it so evenly with a plectrum!

[FluffyWagglekins]

@howtoplaybassdotcom He managed to pull it off live -- there's a clip on YouTube from SNL where Graham plays the song on bass with a pick. He stays up around the 9th fret and uses the "E" string, instead of jumping down to the "C#" on the "A" string.

[howtoplaybassdotcom]

@FluffyWagglekins I thought about doing that....but found that at tempo it made my fingers get 'caught up' in the strings....so I did it the way you see on the video. I'll check out that video though...thanks for the heads up.

[FluffyWagglekins]

@howtoplaybassdotcom It's definitely difficult to play it Graham's way, but that's why he's amazing! I tried to post a link to the clip but YouTube doesn't allow links (even to their own site) But if you search "Joe Jackson Steppin Out SNL" it's the first thing that comes up.

[howtoplaybassdotcom]

@FluffyWagglekins Don't worry - I've found it, seen it and picked my jaw off the floor!