Blues Bass Transcriptions

What can I say, I've always been a big fan of Albert's.  His unique guitar tuning (F#m - F-C-F-Ab-C-F)  capoed around the 5th,6th and 7th frets and bridge pick-up on a fender telecaster gave him his unique tone. Hell even how he wore his strap was cool.  This album was originally released in 1965 as the Cool Sounds of Albert Collins, but is more common as the release as Truckin' with Albert in 1970.  This a pretty straight forward song, with some slightly different note choices from the typical walking blues.  This is a good song to play through a few times if your blues walking lines are starting to all sound the same. 

Updated: 9/24/25 

Please click this link to listen to the song.  For some reason it auto plays and I can't resolve the issue

https://youtu.be/zJC2QB3GXPw?si=UmwQQ9R8gVGvc5gK

Thanks to feedback I made a few changes. I fixed the key and made a change to the rhythm notation on the 2nd beat for example. The original rhythm, although accurate (or better yet equivalent) was more difficult to read

I was familiar with Carey Bell and his son Steve Bell from his work with John Primer.  I was aware of Lurrie but hadn't really listened to him.  If you haven't listened to this album Blues had a Baby, I'd highly recommend checking it.  If you have been following my blog entries, you know I'm a sucker for certain chord progressions and grooves.   I don't think this one has reached the iconic level of green onions for example.  This one is based on James Brown's Doing it to Death.      The Bass Player is Harlon Tearson, a main stay on the Chicago Blues Scene.  He is still very active and teaches bass at the Old Town School of Folk Music.  For the musescore play-along I've added the guitar riff so you can hear the context but then mute it so the bass is prominent.  

I have to agree with the  Allmusic Review of this album,  It is one of his best albums.  I attempted a transcription a while ago and am now happy with the results.  Lots of nuance in his playing as well interesting note choices over a non standard blues chord progression

With her latest release, Samantha Fish reinforces the case that Blues based rock is in good hands.  You can tell that this was recorded with her live band.  they did a great job of capturing the energy of her live shows. The bass is a driving  8th note groove, with some really nice fills.  If you're not familiar with her check this song out.

Robben Ford's tribute to B.B. King, with Roscoe Beck on bass.   A great driving bassline over (for Robben Ford) a pretty straight forward cord progression.  There are good version if the guitar tab available so guitar players won't have an excuse not to play this song.  The intro is interesting in that the bass comes in on the 2 even thought he guitar riff starts on the 1.   

This song was suggested by a subscriber to my blog.  I'm a big Robben Ford fan. He's got great chops and great tone for days.  I've seen him on a multiple performer bill where he sat in with each artist.  He's one of the few players that makes everyone sound better.  The only other guitar player I've experienced that with is Tony Rice.  Fyi chords extensions may not be perfect but the will set the context for note choices by the bass player.

So I made a "mistake" transcribing this song.  This was the first single off of Buddy's latest album, and I started transcribing before performing my typical first step.  Normally I go thru the song and mark the different sections, verse chorus, bridge etc. to get a feel for the layout and how much effort it will take.  After transcribing for a bit I released there wasn't a typical blues "structure" to the song structure. Do me a favor and give it a listen and let me know if I got the sections marked correctly.

I really like the intro to this song.  C9, Fm, Ab9-G9, C9-G7.  The rest of the song is a I9 IV9 V9 slow blues.  From a theory perspective I think its a switch to the parallel minor (f to Fm) that  gives you a im III, (Fm, Ab9)  then back to Key of C.  Greg Rzab (the bass player on this song) plays the R lower 5 R over the Ab9, and R Lower 5 b5 (chromatic passing tone) back to the C9.  

I'm always on the look out for Blues songs that stray from the standard I IV V and this one does. Verse is a pretty typical I IV V, in this case it's !6 Bars I7 8x then V7 IV7 V& V7 then I7 4x.  The Bridge is 8 measures total with  2 measures each of  IV7 I7 IV7  then G7 to C7  (V/V or II7) then V7

Released in 1982 the first single was a crossover hit, and today is considered a modern blues standard. While Robert Cray received all the critical claim, this song is considered the best selling blues single of the 20th century.  A relatively straight forward blues in G , influenced by R&B and gospel , watch for the variations in measure 4 

The Album that allowed John Lee Hooker to live out his remaining years in comfort.  Released in 1989 at the age of 73, this was the highest charting album of his career.  A pretty straight forward bass line transcribed in Drop D tuning.  One thing to watch out for is the switch between D and F as the first note when playing the Dm9 chord. Look at measures 37 and 41 for example.  This is a good song to practice your reading on so I posted the sample page as notation only, 

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The studio follow up to Completely Well, is an underrated classic.   A heavily pop influenced album, (Carol King and Leon Russel play keys) B.B.'s open mindedness when it came to the blues really shines thru.  Check out the chords in verse of this BB King co-written song. I I IV #V I VI II V not your typical blues progression by a long shot.  Bryan Garofalo plays bass on this album.  I was not aware of his name, but definitely his playing.  I have officially entered the Brian Garafolo rabbit hole.

Another great song off of a great album.  The bass line includes a number of classic Jerry Jermott stylistic choices.  Check out measures 6 and 8 for some great examples. As with any great blues bass line, subtle variations are introduced through out the song.  

BB King and Jerry Jemmott together is a great combination.  Completely Well, and this Album Live & Well were BB Kings commercial break through albums.  Jerry's bass playing gave an R&B feel to BB Kings playing, helping him to achieve his first Top 100  album.  This song, clocking in at around 8 and1/2 minutes, highlights Jerry's ability to create lines that are a counter melody to the song.  He varies his playing to keep the listeners interest but never in a away that distracts from the song.

 Another  straight forward blues tune.  Not a lot a variation in the  bass line.   A couple of things caught my attention. First, the last 4  bars of  the  chord progression are. V7 IV7 V7 bVII7. (instead of the standard V IV I  V) 2nd, The change to the triplet groove for bar 12 and last the 1/4  note on beat 2 vs 1/8 notes every where else.