Daily Licking 029: First Two Choruses of Bass on Mr. P.C

More bass this time, once I started I couldn't stop myself, so maybe we will catch up with the tenor solo and do the bass line up to chorus six as well.

Walking? More like running.

At this tempo it is more like a sprint than a walking bass line. But, just like Coltrane, does P.C care? Of course not. Let's see how he attacks this thing at a tempo this crazy.

Repeating Repetition

Again he uses patterns he has used before again. This is not a bad thing. Just like we saw how Sam Jones did this on the "Autumn Leaves" transcription, Chambers repeats specific patterns in specific places. Repeatedly. Like the first two measures, he plays the same phrase both times.

Not Rooted in Roots

He also plays notes other than the root on the down beats, like in measures 2, 8, and 12, in both choruses. He uses the third, and the fifth, and even the 9th/2nd to start some measures.

Bassed on the Bassics

But most of the time, he uses very simple and basic note choices - roots, fifths, chord tones.

In measure 4 of the second chorus he plays a walking line that anyone who has been playing bass for a day has probably learned - root, 5th, root, octave. It doesn't get anymore simple than that. Even the greats used phrases like this. For a reason! Because they work!

More Chord Tones

In the first chorus, the Ab7 and G7 measures he plays just the notes in the triad. That's as simple a group of note choices as you can get, he just changes the order and mixes them up a bit, but its just root, third, fifth, with one of those notes played twice to get to four notes. Simple huh? It doesn't have to be crazy weird to work.

Also check out the shape of the line, how it has an arc and a melody to it, even at this tempo, it is a like a little solo all by itself. That's some presto ridiculoso in action.

Mr. P.C. Chorus 1 & 2 Bass Line at 250 bpm

bass 4/4 tempo 250 | CMin7 c4 d eb c | eb c b d | c bb g bb | c d eb e | Fmin f c d eb | f g ab f | Cmin7 g f eb d | c d eb bb+ | Ab7 ab eb c ab+| G7 g d b d | Cmin7 c bb a ab| g bb a d | CMin7 c4 d eb c | eb c b d | eb c g+ bb | c g c- c+ | Fmin f- g d+ db | c bb ab f | Cmin7 g f eb d | c d eb c | Ab7 eb c ab a | G7 g b a d | Cmin7 c d eb c| d b c d |

Mr. P.C. Chorus 1 & 2 Bass Line at 90 bpm

bass 4/4 tempo 90 |CMin7 c4 d eb c | eb c b d | c bb g bb | c d eb e | Fmin f c d eb | f g ab f | Cmin7 g f eb d | c d eb bb+ | Ab7 ab eb c ab+| G7 g d b d | Cmin7 c bb a ab| g bb a d |CMin7 c4 d eb c | eb c b d | eb c g+ bb | c g c- c+ | Fmin f- g d+ db | c bb ab f | Cmin7 g f eb d | c d eb c | Ab7 eb c ab a | G7 g b a d | Cmin7 c d eb c| d b c d |