bennythebassman

Agitations Tropicales - Backstage Pass

We get in-depth into the groove of this tune. Potential influences, and how to play it.

We've Only Just Begun - Backstage Pass

I step through the song and talk about influences/where the inspirations likely came from, as well as playing through every line.

What A Fool Believes - Doobie Brothers

OK I've had this song stuck in my head for over a week now. For some reason it's just coming back in such a big way right now. I've heard it playing in a bunch of restaurants and also heard it in two different TV shows in the past week. I'm just dancing by myself in the street at this point - someone send help. 

I just had to do it on the channel.  A Yacht rock classic. One of the Doobie Bros' best tunes imo. So smooth! Such cool transitions between keys! Michael McDonald! How could you go wrong? 

Enjoy, All!

The Pokemon Theme Song! (Gotta Catch em all)

In honor of Ash finally winning a Pokeon league, and thanks to an awesome request, here it is - the Pokemon Theme Song!   

Gotta Catch em all ;)

Everytime You Go Away - Backstage Pass

We step through the whole tune and all the epic fretless licks!

Street Life - Randy Crawford + The Crusaders

Such a funky tune. Thank you to Partron Mike for requesting it! It just sits so well in the groove...and the super jazzy chords in the bridge! This is a great one for anyone looking to improve their groove playing through some different and potentially more challenging keys. That bridge will getcha! But the final result is so good. Had a blast working on this one.

Enjoy, all.

Would You Be Impressed - Backstage Pass

Let's get into some Ska! In-depth study of the tune, note/rhythmic choices, and how to play it.

Limelight - Rush

Time for some good old Canadian Content. It's Rush! One of the most-loved and respected rock bands to ever come out of Canada - and an absolutely legendary force in the world of prog rock. They're unmistakable. I particularly love how they manage to play technically difficult and highly theoretical music, but keep it melodic and entirely musical. Grateful for Patron Kirk for requesting this one - had a blast doing it.   

Get out your crazy time signature hats and dig into that bass! Enjoy all.

Lost In Japan - Backstage Pass

We talk style/arrangement of the tune, and step through it with all my thoughts/observations along the way.

Thanks for bearing with me!

Hey Patrons! Just wanted to send a quick note saying thank-you for bearing with me over the past two weeks of inactivity. Of course it's my goal to release a video every week, but these last few weeks of festival season got the better of me... At least with Patreon's great structure, if I don't release a video, you don't get charged. But I still do not plan on making a habit of taking two weeks off. There's a lot of great requests to get through :)

Also, for you $4 patrons, I plan on doing two Backstage Passes a week until I'm caught up. It's been a while for those too. They're coming!

What's next for the channel - well, I'm looking at starting a discord channel for the community to meet and talk Bass, etc. (this was a great suggestion from my Aussie patron, Austin). Any thoughts or suggestions on that? I don't use Discord that much so I'm not really sure what's "done" there.

Also, I thought, since there's 50 of you now (Wow! Thank you!), I'd ask if anyone has any suggestions for other things like Discord you'd like to see from either the channel, or from your Patreon subscription. Accepting any and all suggestions. I really value your support and would love to know what you think, and how best to grow/improve this thing.

Anyway, it feels only right to end this where I started - a big thank-you to all of you for being my Patrons. Your support means so much to me. I'd really love to hear what you think and if you have any suggestions for the future. Leave em here, or send me a message! Thank you. 

Have a great weekend!

Best,
BennyTheBassman

Agitations Tropicales - L'Imperatrice

I'm back! Took two weeks off to get through the last bit of festival season - thanks for bearing with me. And thanks to Patron Cole for this awesome request. I'd never heard of this band before, but I'm definitely glad that I do now! Such a cool sound. Is it just me or are there are lot of really great modern pop/disco bands coming out of France these days?

Anyway, really cool lines and groove here. Great for working on your 16th note playing, and of course, ghost notes :) 

Enjoy, all! 

We've Only Just Begun - The Carpenters

The Carpenters. Such an interesting duo to study. Almost unanimously considered "uncool" in their time, but absolutely unabashedly themselves and unapologetic for their soft rock, they were one of the biggest acts of their tragically short era.

California session bassist Joe Osborn sneaks some really cool obviously Jamerson-inspired lines into the tune, and of course Karen's velvet vocals add the final touch.

Thanks to Patron Mike for requesting this one!!!!

Enjoy, all.

Everytime You Go - Paul Young

So glad this tune was requested. 

It's a little-known fact (maybe only to my generation), but this awesome fretless playing is courtesy of none other than Pino Palladino, of John Mayer and D'Angelo fame. I guess in the 80s he was just hanging out in the studio nailing sweet sweet fretless lines on pop ballads. Quintessential 80s fretless tone. Sorry I don't have a fretless to help recreate it, but at least we have the lines here to enjoy.

Have a great weekend, all!

Would You Be Impressed - Streetlight Manifesto

Let's do some ska!!!! 

Definitely grew up with this style of music and love this band. The basslines are so prominent and technical and important in this kind of music - I've always loved them. Hope you do too!   

Enjoy!

Introducing The Fearless Flyers - Backstage Pass

Talk style and mindset when playing this kind of tune, where some of the licks come from, and of course, we break down the solo for a full "how to play".

This Is It - Backstage Pass

Let's step through this awesome tune! Thoughts and observations, and of course how to play the harder parts, and what Hawkins Jr. might have been influenced by when coming up with the parts...

Lost In Japan - Shawn Mendes

I'm a huge fan of this guy, everything he stands for, his band, his talent, and his music. So it shouldn't be any surprise how happy I got when Patreon.com patron Austin requested this tune!! Thanks Austin. 

Such a cool vibey bass part here, and deceptively complex for such a relaxed tune.

Enjoy, All!

Shaolin Monk Motherfunk - Backstage Pass

Let's step through the tune and break it down theoretically and harmonically. Thoughts and observations! And suggestions on how to play some of the harder parts.

Backstage Pass - delays

Hi $4+ Patrons! I just wanted to write a quick note to you to say that I haven't at all forgotten about backstage pass videos - I've just been having an extremely busy few weeks with shows and rehearsals and simply haven't had enough hours in the day to make the last few - They are quite time consuming to make and with my crazy schedule I just haven't been able to get the time. I'll make them all up and post them ASAP - hoping to get caught up this week.

Thanks for your patience and understanding, and of course, your support!! 

<3

Ben

Introducing The Fearless Flyers - The Fearless Flyers

Back on the Vulfpeck/Fearless Flyers/Anything Joe Dart grind! Thanks to Patron Nicolas for this awesome request. 

Love this band. Love Joe Dart. Love his absolutely quintessential little bass solos. Love Nate Smith. Love baritone guitars and spanky clean strat funk. 

Anyway needless to say I love this track. Hope you do too!   

Enjoy, All!

This Is It - Kenny Loggins

Thank you to Patron Michael for this request! Such a great soul tune. Kenny's voice sounds incredible here!! And the smooth backups of Michael McDonald are the icing. 

Very cool bass playing on this track too. You can obviously hear the disco influance, but there's also definitely some finger-style funk playing going on here - maybe Mr. George Hawkins Jr. listened to some Tower Of Power? :)

Enjoy all! 

Shaolin Monk Motherfunk - Hiatus Kaiyote

What a cool band. I have to admit I didn't know of them before Patron Alex requested this song... but I sure know them now!!

From Australia, the band has been nominated for two Grammys, and has been featured alongside, and supported by, some very prominent artists in the RnB/Hip Hop communities. And they deserve it!! This track is so musical and deep and groovy and interesting. Really glad I got hipped to this.

Enjoy all!

Bad Guy - Backstage Pass

How to play the line, and a few nitpicky details! Also my thoughts on Billie Eilish and her amazing career thus far. 

Bad Guy - Billie Eilish

Had to do this tune this week. Love Billie. Plus she headlined Coachella before she could legally attend it. That's....pretty cool.

Road Games - Backstage Pass

I step through the tune and examine some of the cool licks Jeff Berlin plays, and of course go over the bass solo, and talk about some of the theory behind both.

Road Games - Allan Holdsworth

Jeff freakn' Berlin. 

The bass playing on this track is so damn decisive and tasty. This is fusion at its most fusion-y, but damn you gotta appreciate the talent on display here. This one was a blast to work on, and thanks to Patreon.com patron Martin for requesting it.

Enjoy all!

Legz - Backstage Pass

Didn't really have a lot to talk about with this one - it's got a lot of cool lines so instead of just blabbering about them I thought I'd play the tune at 60% for you so that you could play along with the PDF and practice sightreading! As a reminder, youtube can play the original video at 50 and 75%, so I thought 60 was a good middle ground. Hope it helps!

Legz - Jaffa

Some cool "downtempo" electronic music for your weekend, courtesy of Patron Ty! 

Jaffa makes some really groovy electronic "lounge" music and I can see why this track in particular was requested - bass licks! The tune is pretty much one big clinic on cool minor pentatonic bass fills, albeit originally played on keyboard, but they translate really well onto the actual bass.   

So, if you're looking for some material to freshen up your funky fills, look no further! And, enjoy.  

P.S. I tried my best to get my bass in tune with the record, but it must have something to do with the tuning of the key bass vs an actual tempered string instrument - some of the notes are a little clashy. Sorry about that. I really tried!!   

Enjoy, all!

Faith - Backstage Pass

I talk about the style, the form, and break down how to play the tune.

Faith - Stevie Wonder ft. Ariana Grande

An awesome Patreon request here (thanks Victor!). 

This tune is from the 2016 movie "Sing" and features Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande. An interesting mix to be sure but not nearly as crazy or out there as Hollywood has cooked up in the past... I'm definitely a fan of both artists - Ariana of course does much more modern and potentially less meaningful/culturally important music than Stevie was doing in the 70s, but she is nevertheless an absolute world-class talent vocally.   

Stevie doesn't do much recording anymore but he apparently really loved/aligned with the message of the song and the movie, and thus agreed to do the tune. And we're all better off for it!  

Like a lot of modern movie soundtracks, the mix is a bit weird and the bass is super buried in a lot of parts. I did my best to pull everything I could hear out, but I also added in guitar/horn parts where I'm pretty sure there was no bass, like the bridge, just for interest's sake. So, a bit of an arrangement here as opposed to a straight lift.   

Enjoy, all!