bennythebassman

Syrups - Backstage Pass

Getting back into these! I talk about pick playing a bit, and break down the elements to the song, and we work on the harder part near the end.

Foals - Syrups

Oooooooook, back after a little hiatus that I really needed to get my head on straight. Trying something new here too - as a lot of you can tell I'm basically a beginner with a pick, so please don't judge too harshly. Instead of just playing the tune fingerstyle though, I wanted to give it a shot. Looking at the video I can tell that I'm using way too much wrist and too little forearm... any other suggestions besides that??   

Such a cool tune by Foals. Thank you to the memeiest Patron, Memes_lolol for the request. Loved working on it. I especially love how intense it is - a slow burner and building from beginning to end. The bassline itself is also pretty cool - Aside from the two "chorus" parts of the tune, there's a lot of variation on a common theme. Could make for a great sight-reading practice tool for those of you a little newer to reading.

Enjoy, all!

Burned out, but coming back!

Hi all! 

I'm sure some of you have noticed that there hasn't been a video in the past few weeks. That's something that's been a constant source of stress and guilt for me, and I'm really sorry! Especially to those of you who are waiting for requests - it's on my mind literally all the time. I just wanted to write a quick post to you all, and explain what's been going on, in case you're wondering. 

My story is not at all a new one, but it's mine, so here it goes. 

Covid has really messed me up, mentally. I'm a deadline-oriented person. I thrive when I'm overworked, and I self-destruct, mentally, when I don't have enough to do. I've always been this way, and luckily over the last several years I've had more work than I know what to do with, which keeps me "in the zone" of pro-activity and solid work ethic. Since all the live music work I'm used to is gone due to Covid, I found myself suddenly stuck in my danger zone - endless amounts of free time and no "purpose". To add to that, I turn to Krav Maga (self defense/fighting) for stress relief and physical exercise, and with that gone too, I'm all out of balance. Again I know this isn't new - I'm sure so many people have similar stories.

How this seems to have manifested in terms of making videos for you, is in feelings of severe apathy/burnout. I've found it really hard to make videos. I hate it - I wish it wasn't the case, but I've just not been able to bring myself to do it these past few weeks, although I've really tried. I know it's counter-intuitive - I have so much "free time" - but what I'm feeling isn't logical - it's definitely mental/emotional, and it's really been holding me back.

Good news is that the funk seems to be lifting now though, and I fully intend on getting a video up this Friday, and each week after that, again, and also on getting back to the Backstage Pass videos for you $4 patrons, hopefully several a week.

Some of you have sent me little check-in messages and I really really appreciate that. I'm good, just - you know - dealing. As we ALL are, I'm sure. 

So thanks again, to all of you, for being here and sharing in this really cool little community. If anyone has any similar COVID stories or just wants to connect, let's start a little discussion here. I promise to be more active, again, here on out. 

Really hope you and your loved ones and families are keeping well.
Best,
Ben

Evil Vibrations - The Rebirth

Getting west-coast funky this weekend with LA band The Rebirth. I have to admit I'd never heard of this band before Patron Marcin hipped me to them, but they're great. Killer bass playing, and great funk/soul grooves. 

This one in particular can be a great tool to practice your ghost notes in the 16th note "grid" - really chop-heavy but rewarding once you can get it up to speed. Don't be afraid to slow it down!!

Enjoy, all.

Home At Last - Steely Dan

Quarantine continues, and this tune just seems appropriate, for so many reasons.   

Plus everyone can use more Purdie Shuffle in their lives. If you don't know this should get you started https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1j1_...  

Enjoy all. Hope you're all keeping well.

Home Cookin - JR Walker (James Jamerson)

1st position madness!!

JJ gets psycho in Ab without ever leaving home base.. Some may believe that some of this could be played elsewhere on the neck but with all the open strings he's slipping in there I honestly believe JJ's trolling us all with this 100% first position tune. The rest of the instrumentation just seems like a vehicle for him to go off on his rhythmic vision quests..   

Enjoy all! And thanks to Patron Janek for the awesome request.

Gimme Gimme Gimme by ABBA, taken down

Sorry again all - I had to take this tune down, because a Eurpoean law firm issued me a copyright strike and had it taken down etc.

I re-uploaded a bass-only version (no music), but Youtube's content ID still recognized it (I guess my playing was that similar to the original, huh).. and I can't risk any more copyright strikes on my account so I just took it down for good. Message me privately if you'd like a copy of this video for practicing, etc.

Best,

BennyTheBassman

10:30 at the Airport - David Tao

David Tao is an award winning Taiwanese Singer/songwriter. He's got a great voice and has had a great career - and I'm very grateful to patron Ken for hipping me to this guy! As a result, I now know about Michael Ning, the bass player on this track and Fodera artist. Foderas are definitely my dream basses - that tone... One of these days! And Michael plays the crap out of his. His lines in this live show are very embellished and awesome compared to the album version of the tune, which is why Ken requested this one. The show this live tune comes from is here, on David Tao's channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOMfe.... Check it out if you have an hour - absolutely killer band.  

Enjoy Michael's great shuffle groove and choppy (but always tasteful!!) licks near the end!

A Love Bizarre pt. 2 - Sheila E. & Prince

Here's the (long awaited!!) Part 2. 

Prince goes nuts in this half. Seriously. The man was a god. I did my best!

Enjoy, all.

Community Rules and Regs

Hi everyone! It's been just over a year since I started this page, and it's really exceeded my expectations already. I've met so many cool people, been shown so much amazing music, and yes, have been able to help put food on the table, and keep the lights on, thanks to you, the patrons. I'm very grateful for that, and also proud to know that the work I'm offering in return has helped you either learn, or reignite this passion that we all share for the best instrument in the world (!!!!) the bass. Quite a cool little community is forming and it's all because of you. So, at risk of sounding like a broken record, THANK YOU!

I thought it was time to make a kind of BennyTheBassman community manual, to tell you what this page is all about, how I operate, and also lay some ground rules, etc. I'll update this post periodically as things change, so you can trust that the below is the current set of rules and processes for this page. Let's get to it! 

BennyTheBassman's Code of Conduct 

Firstly, I just want to lay out the basics for this little community. All of this should be common sense (and to date I haven't experienced ANY of this here on Patreon, to be clear. You're all the best), but just so that it's in writing...

  - No discrimination of any kind will be tolerated. We're all equal, and we're all here to enjoy and study the bass. There's no place for any kind of hatred or discrimination here. I'll simply remove you if I see any of this. Requests from different styles of music, or which are sung in different languages, etc, are encouraged.

  - Keep it about the bass. That's what's bringing us all together. Nothing political please - we can all get our fixes elsewhere for that, and anything else off-topic is probably better suited somewhere else too.

  - There are no stupid questions! Ask away. I studied music at Humber College in Toronto for four years, and have been working as a professional musician for more than 15 years - I have a pretty good grasp on theory, harmony, a bunch of musical styles, and proper technique. I'm really happy to share that knowledge with you, so please ask, either publicly or in a private message. If you see another's public question, please feel free to chime in with your own knowledge if you think it's constructive. Remember that everyone is at different skill levels, and we're all allowed to ask questions. No ridiculing or otherwise bullying someone who's asked a question will be tolerated.

Song Requests 

These are the lifeblood of this community and of the channel. I'm extremely committed to working on your requests, and if they're appropriate for public consumption and not disrespectful/discriminatory, I'm very likely to happily accept them. Message me! Any style of music. Any bass part. Any language. I'm into it!!

You can see an up-to-date list of Patron Priority Requests from my google spreadsheeet. I've pinned the "Priority Request List" tag, so it should be the first tag you see anywhere that you can find my tags. Feel free to check that out as much as you like. Here's how the request process currently works:

  - As a Patron, your requests have priority over any of those from Youtube comments. 

  - Once in a while, I might opt to do a Youtube request, or pick a song to do for myself, but in general the vast majority of weekly uploads will be from your requests. 

  - There is no way to increase your priority or to cut above someone else in the request cue. Although grateful to have received some already, I won't accept accept monetary or any other kinds of offers to move your song up the list. It's first come, first served for the first time requesters, and that will not change. $1, $2, or $4 Patrons are all the same in this regard. I know it can be a month or more before you see your request on Youtube, and so I'm trying to keep this list as fair and transparent as possible.

  - I now seem to have reached a tipping point where I can't see clearing all of my first time requests. Thank you all for your fantastic requests and for getting the channel to this point!!!! However, this poses a problem for 2nd and 3rd time requesters; with no new rules in place I can't see ever being able to get to your followup requests, which isn't right either! So after some consideration and after bouncing ideas off of some of you (thanks for that!), here's how I will deal with 2nd+ requests:

  - I will dedicate the last week of each month to clearing the top 2nd request in the cue, unless I have already done a 2nd or third request that month. So on average, any given month should see three first requests, and one second(third, etc) request. 

  - I will also immediately make a request top priority (work on it that very week), if it has passed a certain date threshold:

     - 2nd requests: 3 months or older
     - 3rd requests: 4 months or older
     - 4th requests: 5 months or older, etc.

  - The only exception to THIS rule will be when I've already done one of these the previous week. IE - no matter what, every second week will be a first request, period.

  - You must have maintained your patronage in order to get your request filled. I fully understand that financial situations change, and I don't want this agreement to be a burden on anyone. I fully support suspending your patronage due to any kind of financial difficulty, but it wouldn't be fair to all the paying patrons to spend a week on a video for someone who is no longer part of the community. 

  - Should you rejoin, I'll re-add your request to the bottom of the current cue, with your rejoin date as the request date, and all the above rules for clearing it will apply.

I hope all of these rules and regs seem fair to all of you. I'm definitely open to suggestions, and would love to hear what you think about any of this, so please feel free to leave a comment or send me a message if you have any concerns or ideas. Once again, for the last time (in this post anyway), THANK YOU PATRONS!

Best,
BennyTheBassman

A Love Bizarre pt. 1 - Sheila E. & Prince

Another 2-parter comin’ atcha by way of Patron Tom! This one is a killer track from Sheila E. And Prince’s collab album called Romance 1600. Special treat for you all - it’s Prince on bass on this track! He kills it. Nails it to the wall. It’s so damn funky! A 12-minute 2-chord jam where Prince is able to just go off on super funky pick/slap bass is pretty much a gold mine for a lot of people, myself included, so huge thanks to Tom for hipping me to this. Part 2 next week…  

Enjoy the funkiness, all.

Where are we all from?

Hey Patrons! Just wanted to make a quick post here - Hugo made a cool post on the community page - he's wondering where we're all from. If you've got a sec, head over to the community page and reply to his post! It'd be really cool to see the countries that we all represent :) 

Thanks all! Have a great day. Hope you're ready for some oldschool Prince funk tomorrow...

- BennyTheBassman

No video today! Sorry! Here's why

Hi Patrons! 

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on why you won't be seeing a video this week. I just had a crazy one! It started on Saturday with a Country artist show in Ottawa that I was the MD (musical director) and TM (Tour Manager) for, and we got back Sunday night around 5PM. While I was away my Fiancee found her wedding dress and she was super happy about it, so we spent the night kinda debriefing and talking wedding plans etc (Wedding's in November)

Monday, I helped one of my good friends pick up and transport a fridge. He just bought his first home (a huge accomplishment for a drummer, in the city of Toronto!!) and I have a van so I helped him move it and install it, and then he showed me around the neighborhood etc. It was then time to go to Krav Maga (my fight gym of choice that I absolutely love), and get a good workout in, because I knew it was gonna be my last one for the week....

Tuesday morning I got up at 4:30AM, left by 5:30, and made it to the airport for 6:15. Met an awesome band there and we flew to Grand Cayman for a gig! Got there Tuesday aft,  hung with the band. Good times :)

Wednesday was interesting. Was actually hoping to work on some content in the morning, but thankfully I tried the backline bass in the morning, only to find that I wasn't getting any signal out of it.. Spent two hours sourcing 9volt batteries (I guest Grand Cayman just doesn't use em?), and bugged a resort maintenance guy for a screwdriver. Got that all fixed, and the bass working, and then I only had time to review tunes and head to the gig. After the gig, got 2 hours of sleep Wednesday night agian, because....

Thursday, up at 4AM  to catch a 5AM shuttle back to the airport. The rest of the band had a nice leisurely afternoon departure, but I needed to get on the earliest flight, to make it to another gig back here in Toronto.  Flights were delayed a bit because of weather (going from beautiful island breezes and 25 degree heat to -7 and snow sucked!), and I had pre-loaded my van with gig clothes etc, because as soon as I landed I needed to head straight to sound check. Luckily I made it with a few minutes to spare, and the gig went well. Went home and straight to bed... 

And here we are on Friday, and I'm reviewing tunes and about to head to a bar gig with friends and hopefully my Fiancee, so we can have some semblance of Valentine's Day together. Happy Valentines to you all out there with partners. And to those of you who are single, happy strong, independent don't-need-anyone-to-live-your-best-life day!

Anyway, of course all weeks are NOT like this, and I'm really grateful for the work I had this week... Just wanted to share with you all what it takes for me not to be able to post a video for you...

Next week is gonna be a really cool (probably 2-part) oldshcool Prince/Sheila E. tune, requested by Tom S, so stay tuned for that one :D

Tom I'm sure you were waiting with baited breath for it and sorry to make you wait one more week! Thought it was worth an explanation. 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

BennyTheBassman

How Long Do I Have To Wait For You - Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings

Dap Kings time!!! Such cool grooves coming out of this legendary band, and such a vibe. Thank you to my Patron namesake, Ben, for this request!  

I think what makes a bassline like this so compelling, is that it's basically an ostenato, ie the same figure over and over, but Bosco "Bass" Mann manages to slip in some kind of imaginative variation, almost every time it comes around. He does this without taking away from Ms. Jones (that'd be a difficult task!!!), but while at the same time being a pretty foreground instrument in the mix. A true master of this kind of music.   

Also, I had to do some tuning shenanigans to get this at all in tune, as the original was pretty much exactly in between Eb and E. The tuning was super weird throughout the whole thing, but I did my best to get my bass as close as possible. I put it in Eb because it seemed a bit closer than E - hope that doesn't offend anyone!  

Enjoy, all!

Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes - Paul Simon

It's a milestone week for the channel. We hit 10,000 subscribers!!!! Thank you, everyone, for subscribing, watching, and liking these videos. It makes such a huge impact on me knowing you're all out there and that you appreciate the work. In return it's a truly humbling, and fun, experience for me to make these for you.   

To celebrate the number 10,000, here's another famjam (you OG subs will remember the one I did to mark 1000 subscribers, about a year and a half ago. In case you missed it - it's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Acx...  The tune is "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes" from Paul Simon's earth-shattering Graceland album. This album changed LIVES, mine included. Bakithi Kumalo's fretless style was something no-one in this part of the world had heard before and it became extremely influential, not to mention the lines in this tune (and, really, on the entire album) are just...the greatest. They're filled with so much joy and hope... this band truly brought African music to the world stage, and cemented it there. It really made a huge mark on me, and so I thought it only fitting to use this song for the 10,000 party.  

We'll be back to your regularly scheduled programming next week, but I wanted to do something special for this one. Hope you all enjoy it, and thanks again.  

SPECIAL thanks to Tim Dawson for the use of his beautiful double basses, and of course a huge thank you to my awesome family for their willingness to spend the time on this!  

No Slack - Jaco Pastorius & Brian Melvin

Woo - patron Duncan trying to take my fingers off this Friday. 

This one is actually one of the last recordings Jaco ever made, recorded in late 1986. He was socially deteriorating fast at this point, but man could he still play the damn bass. This track is super interesting because he managed to give us a kind of distilled summary of his legacy, favourite riffs, and chops, all in one tune.   

Gone are the glory days of Weather Report, gone is his classic fretless (this bass sounds fretted - probably supplied for him for this session), but there's so much here that just takes us back... Jaco was struggling for his life at the point that this would have been recorded, but he clearly was -not- struggling with the four strings.   

Enjoy, all.

What A Fool Believes - Backstage Pass

Everything I can think of to talk about in regards to Yacht Rock, this tune, and the approach. Some chordal insights as well. 

Pokemon Theme - Backstage Pass

Let's step through the tune and the guitar solo! Also some insights into the style, a bit of theory, and some typically random general thoughts.

Send It On - D'Angelo

Silky smooth sliding our way into 2020 with this gem of a tune from D'Angelo, featuring none other than Pino Palladino on bass. Voodoo was an absolutely iconic album when it came out - I remember the waves it made - and every bass player I knew in college at the time would immediately go home and practice playing behind beat. If you don't know this album I'd say it's a must-have for anyone looking to expand their concepts of groove.   

Anyway, all that to say that this was a great request by patron Rani, and I really appreciate it! A great, chill way to start off 2020. Happy New Year every one, now go enjoy some sweet sweet bass fills from the master himself, Pino Palladino.

Gestalt No Hakoniwa - Paranoid Void

Time to get Math Rock! It's Paranoid Void - a super crazy all-female band from Japan. Their tunes are nuts! 

To quote one of my friends - "Why do all your Patrons hate you?" Hah. I know you guys don't hate me. You just like pushing the my cranial limits each week, right??

Well anyway I did have a blast doing this one and have since been listening to math rock non-stop, so... send help. 

It's all you, Patrons. Thank you.

Streetlife - Backstage Pass

OK! So I broke out the new camera today, for the first time. THINGS I LEARNED:

- Don't play with your cats just before recording, because this camera picks up ALL THAT cat hair 

- Brush hair/shave/actually check your appearance before recording now because real HD is unforgiving - yikes. Sorry about all that.

- Learn how to colour correct because now with a proper camera and my lights, I look sick/pale (no, NOT going to put on makeup for these, haha)

- Fully charge my camera battery so that it lasts an hour.. 

Anyway! Learning. Thanks for bearing with me while I up my camera game. And please enjoy this Backstage Pass on Street Life. 

We Could Be The Same - maNga

A really cool request this week from Patreon.com patron Tomel. This band is out of Turkey, and they made waves around 2009 when they were featured on some MTV Europe contest shows. This tune features elements of metal and rock, but with a really cool eastern flare. Apparently the genre is called "Anatolian" rock according to wikipedia, and it's a really cool sound. The bassline also obviously incorporates a disco influence and is really fun to play.  

Enjoy, all!

Limelight - Backstage Pass

Getting back into Backstage Passes for you $4+ patrons! Here's Limelight by Rush. I mostly focus on feeling the different time signatures, and how that's different from "counting". We go through the whole tune and talk about some of the other cool interactions between Bass and Drums in this Rush masterpiece.

You're All I Need To Get By - Marvin + Tammi

More JJ for your weekend! This one from the vault of lesser-known Marvin + Tammi duets... but still so quintessentially JJ. I have to wonder if he came up with all the slash-chord ideas himself - this one's full of them - and the lines he weaves through are once again a masterclass in lyrical, supportive and funky as hell bass playing.

Enjoy!

Continuum - Jaco Pastorius (pt 2!)

Part two of this Jaco classic! Part 1 was last week - see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcn6dMM1s18

Thank you again to Patron Nathaniel for requesting this one. It kicked my ass to do but it was well worth it.  

Enjoy, all! 

Continuum - Jaco Pastorius

Here we go with another Patron putting me through the ringer. Thanks Nathaniel for this extreme challenge... Had to break it up again into two parts because, well, it's Jaco at his finest. I've always been in awe of this solo - it's so exceptionally melodic and beautiful but also ultimately technical. The 16th note lines are crazy difficult but Jaco makes them sound effortless, and the way he weaves through the chord changes is absolutely incredible - he truly could play the bass like a horn, with inflections and jazz vocabulary that few bassists can match even to this day. Also, it bears mentioning that the comping by Herbie Hancock and Alex Darqui on this track is breathtaking. One of my (and a lot of your, I know) favourites from the entire jazz/fusion era.  

Enjoy, all! 

#ThankYouPatrons

It's Patreon.com's official #ThankYouPatrons day, and I just wanted to contribute my little part to it and thank all of you who support the channel. We're still small, but definitely mighty, and your continued support has been what's allowed me to keep posting these videos. 

Your comments inspire me, and your pledges allow me to spend the time to put each week's project together. We're also really close to the channel's first goal of $150, at which point I've pledged to invest back into the channel with a new video camera, so thank you also for that. 

Looking forward to entering into 2020 with you all, which will also mark the beginning of the third year of this project. I don't know what my end goal was when I started, but it certainly didn't look quite like this, and for that I'm extremely greatful. Thanks for coming on this journey with me, everyone! And a very happy #ThankYouPatrons day. 

Best,

BennyTheBassman

Isn't She Lovely - Victor Wooten (part 2!)

Heeere's part 2! Enjoy all. I'm not charging for this post - expanation at the beginning of the video! So enjoy your free one. Thank you, as always for your support, Patrons!

Isn't She Lovely - Victor Wooten

Another 2-parter comin atcha! Thanks to patron Tom for requesting this one. 

Vic was recorded going off with a loop station on Stevie's Isn't She Lovely - the original recording is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eynnY... - and a lot of people's minds were blown. Dude's -so- good. 

In part one, we examine each of the loop layers, the melody, and one chorus or soloing. Next week I'll get into the crazy part of the solo (wish me luck!!!)   Enjoy, all.