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. 

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.

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.  

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.

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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Lil Ed is A Chicago Institution.  Do yourself a favor and check out his greatest hits album.   This is raw old fashioned Chicago blues.  On my original blog, I shared the basic structure to the barn burner - Never Miss your Water.  The lyrics of this song (written by his wife Pam) crack me.   

I'm a big fan of Lil Ed & The Blues Imperials. You hear the influences of his Uncle JB Hutto and Hound Dog Taylor on what Guitar Player magazine described  “a snarling boogie-blues machine...they blow down the walls.”   The Bass really drives this song. 

So here's another song that had a good transcription available, which I found after completing this one.  If your into blues bass this song (with John McVie on Bass) is worth  playing thru a few times.  There are some different note choices that would be good to add to your repertoire.  A side note : One of the areas I struggle notating while  transcribing are songs with a free time ending.  Luckily have a friend who is willing to review my transcriptions and point out my errors.  

I had shared the first part of this song on Talkbass a while ago, tossed it on the "shelf" and moved onto other songs.  I really like the bass in this song.  Nothing difficult just a great what I consider a "Soul Blues" 16 Bar Minor Blues Groove

Like my other John Primer Transcription, this one has a number of subtle changes.  Look at measure 4 , and sometimes 12  for variations in the bass line.  Dave does a great job of keeping things interesting without  distracting from the overall groove of the song.  Also pay attention to the ending where they switch from a swing rhythm to straight time. .

One of the last of the original Chicago Blues Players, John's still going strong as he celebrates his 80th trip around the sun.Hard Times, released in 2022, features Dan Forte on bass.  Since I've been working to improve my blues bass chops, to date I've transcribed the first 5 songs of this album.  As I transcribe more I'm starting to notice the details.  For the verses he does the "quick Iv" going to the 4 chord during measure 2  and during the 12 measure he goes to the V chord on the 1st beat.  For the solos he stays on the 1 for the first 4 measures and during the 12 measure he goes to the V chord on the 3rd beat .   Keep an eye out for the 4th measure,  lots of variations to keep things interesting with our distracting from the feel of the song. Check out measures 45 and 105 for example.  He also varies the turnaround in measures 10-12.