Jamerson Bassline - Bernadette

This one seems to be the subject of debate about whether Jamerson only used one finger, so hopefully this will dispel some of that nonsense. I've spent a couple of hours trying to understand the 1st part of the original and here's where I got to. I've not cracked it yet but I'm nearly there - I just need to relax more on it. Jamerson makes amazing use of the open strings and grace notes on this.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jamerson
• bassline
• Bernadette
• jamersonshook

[rodcrippler]

yeahh for the predominant riff he could have never used just one finger, not even entwistle would change the position of his finger that fast, or maybe he could have...

[jamersonshook]

Not sure what you mean - this IS just one finger - check out my other DI version.

[eliecalano]

You know, after watching your video, I did a research on James Jamerson and he seems underrated. I couldn't believe that he was also the session bassist for Jackson 5 and Marvin Gaye. No wonder it sounds great.

Thanks for posting.

[jamersonshook]

Thanks - JJ played on thousands of tracks - hope my stuff helps show what a genius he was!

[gibandy]

I like the birds chirping and the person screaming in the background. I also like your playing.  I took my bernadette down and replaced it with something different. Will tackle Bernadette again after I visit the woodshed for a while.

[jamersonshook]

LOL - the birds respond sometimes - it puts me off 'cos I end up trying to jam with them...the scream is my lunatic 4 year old...keep listening to JJ in that woodshed and you'll be fine!

[rknnc]

nice bird chirps in the background...they're obviously diggin the funk

[mattaki]

people should spend more time playing guitar and less time writing on the internet.

[allrequiredfields]

Good playing for sure, and great tone but in the descending part of the verse, he's definitely not hitting a hammer-on from the 4 to the 5 between those octaves; he's essentially playing a power chord - and there's no 4 in there. And like most bass players in the 60's hammer-ons pretty much never happened unless it was for a very specific vibe (thinking Gezer Butler).

[sp1midholm]

@eliecalano JJ isn't underrated amongst other bassplayers - JJ is THE player we all listen to - but you may be right that he's too little known outside the bassplaying 'community'.

[ocean4315]

Jamerson moved his index finger back and forth to get more speed on some passages. Chuck Rainey talks about this method in one of his instruction books.

He would play a note with the finger pad (in) and flick his finger (out) hitting the string with the top of his finger or nail. You can see him doing this on a live perfomance of "What's Going On?" with Marvin Gaye on youtube.

[TheAlmightyBassist]

Loving this, and your videos. also loving the bass. what amp, and what strings do you use for this? btw, are you an upright player at all?

[WeCamefortheDead]

Subject to debate my ass. If you listen to any of the Jamerson bass recordings (it's easier if it's isolated), you can definitely tell that it's only with one finger.

[mikeedmikeedmikeed]

It doesn't do me any good to not see what notes are being played. Move the camera back.

[JonHammerHeart]

Excellent Jamersonshook, and just like the master himself, with 1 finger! Kudos man!

[pop9900]

how do u get that upright bass kind of sound?

[InnoViaBassest]

can you please put up some tabs for you jamerson lines, would love to learn them but cant find tabs anywhere! would love any help you can give

[stevieplez2]

That was awesome that u can play like Jamerson, I didn't know he and the bass was sp important in those songs....AMAZING ...check out the funk brothers intrumentals on YouTube... I know u all ready have