The Bass on Abbey Road

[westen44]

If you're interested in the bass on Abbey Road, here it is.  How accurate the writer of this article is, I'm not sure.  He is obviously not a bassist, but apparently is some kind of musician.  Most likely a guitarist.  He also doesn't seem to be aware that George Harrison played bass on a few of the Abbey Road tracks.  Still, I found the article worth reading and I'm going to listen to all those isolated tracks the first chance I get (which will probably be soon.)

https://www.openculture.com/2022/04/hear-the-beatles-abbey-road-with-only-paul-mccartneys-bass.html

[Dave W]

Thanks. I'll listen when I have more time.

[westen44]

Thanks. I'll listen when I have more time.

You're welcome.  I wish I knew for sure which songs George played on.  I'm still looking into that. 

[godofthunder]

   McCartney is the master of rock bass no doubt about it,  many giants stand on his shoulders maybe not even realizing it.  As much as I  love Jim Lea, Entwhistle etc. Paul McCartney is always my first on my list of influences.

[ilan]

How about 8 hours and 37 minutes of just the bass on ALL their catalog

[westen44]

How about 8 hours and 37 minutes of just the bass on ALL their catalog

Wow!  I haven't even got through Abbey Road. 

[ilan]

Abbey Road is fun. Years ago I learned it and played along with the album. His best bass work imho.

[westen44]

Abbey Road is fun. Years ago I learned it and played along with the album. His best bass work imho.

..
After running across the isolated tracks, that has got me interested in learning it.  But Paul McCartney said somewhere in an interview he thought his bass on Sgt. Pepper was the best.  The Sgt. Pepper album was what inspired me to learn bass.  I'm not so much of a fan of the album itself compared to other Beatles albums, but the bass is great. 

[Alanko]

The important lesson is to be found in Paul McCartney's sense of harmony and how he composed bass lines. I will never understand why people squabble about whether the dull thump on a specific track came from a Jazz Bass, Ricky or Hofner.

[westen44]

The important lesson is to be found in Paul McCartney's sense of harmony and how he composed bass lines. I will never understand why people squabble about whether the dull thump on a specific track came from a Jazz Bass, Ricky or Hofner.

Based on what I've read about that (which is limited) it seems to often be J bass devotees wanting it to be a Jazz.  However, in this particular case (Abbey Road) I think they got their wish.  I think Paul was playing a Jazz and George was playing his, too.  Personally, I like the way Paul's Rickenbacker sounded with Wings the best.  In the case of the Beatles, as often as not they seem to be unsure which songs the Ric was used on.  I've never got involved in all that minutiae. 

[Pilgrim]

The important lesson is to be found in Paul McCartney's sense of harmony and how he composed bass lines. I will never understand why people squabble about whether the dull thump on a specific track came from a Jazz Bass, Ricky or Hofner.

Thank you very much!!  If it sounds good, I don't care for endless speculation about what bass was used.

[uwe]

   McCartney is the master of rock bass no doubt about it,  many giants stand on his shoulders maybe not even realizing it.  As much as I  love Jim Lea, Entwhistle etc. Paul McCartney is always my first on my list of influences.

Man, how I can relate, Scott! It's incredible (and somewhat unsettling) how much I still sound like him to this day. I never consciously emulated his style - I concentrated on people more in a hard rock vein such as Simper, Glover, Hughes (the DP Holy Trinity of Bassists), Martin Turner, Alan Lancaster, Gene Simmons and Jim Lea (though all of them cite Macca as an influence as well) - but otoh there has never been a time since my childhood when I did not enjoy listening to the Beatles.

I've always had a strong pop influence in my playing, my bass lines are largely melodic and give me half a chance to play the third rather than the root or the fifth, then I'll do it! McCartney'isms are littered all over my playing though I have never covered more than perhaps half a dozen Beatles songs in my life.

[Alanko]

I'm struck by how much of an influence Paul McCartney had on Roger Waters' early playing. The Syd-era Pink Floyd stuff is awash with busy, florid bass lines. They don't always land as well as Paul's, and sometimes seem a bit too thematic in their execution, but the feel is there. Weird that Roger became less and less inventive as a player over time.

[uwe]

I saw Waters a couple of years ago doing his The Wall thing (my wife loves that album, I myself prefer the Wish You Were here/Animals era, The Wall is to me a Waters solo album with the other guys guesting) and I was surprised that he's quite a heavy-handed player. Not in a bad way, but he digs in hard when playing bass, no professional experience ease about it. My guess is also that he must prefer high action on his instruments. He "works" the bass.

He has anchoring authority in his playing though, but supple he ain't.

[ilan]

To paraphrase John Lennon on Ringo: Roger Waters wasn't even the best bass player in Pink Floyd. But he wrote some masterpieces.