Beatles Bass Lines

Paul's bass line on the Beatles' song "I'm Only Sleeping" from Revolver  (1966) is bouncy and melodic. Much of the line is based on a root-fifth motion, but this isn't a simple "country" groove. Measures 1-2 provide a good example. He plays the root on beats 1 and 2, moves down to the 5th on beat 3, and then beat 4 is 5th-root in 8th notes. The bass line on the refrain is similar though slightly more embellished. But the basic idea is the root on beats 1 and 2, the 5th on beat 3.  With all of McCartney's other bass highlights like "Something," "Rain," and pretty much all of Sgt. Pepper , his Revolver bass lines are often overlooked. But this is a great bass line and is very fun to play. I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Here's a cover of Paul McCartney's bass line on the Lennon/McCartney (but primarily Lennon) song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" from the Beatles' 1965 album  Rubber Soul . This was the second song recorded for the album, but was completed on the first day of recording, along with "Run for Your Life." The bass line on "Norwegian Wood" is fairly straightforward and not as adventurous as McCartney's bass lines on "Nowhere Man," "You Won't See Me," and many others on this album. It is, however, solid, functional, and an entirely appropriate bass line for the song. Playing a more active line may have distracted from the simplicity of the song. The song was inspired in large part by Bob Dylan, who had demonstrated that pop/rock songs could be more sophisticated lyrically than the traditional "teen romance" song of the 1950s and early 1960s. The song is notable for being the first widely released popular s...

Paul McCartney plays a great R&B groove on "Drive My Car," the opening track from 1965's Rubber Soul album. He was beginning to be inspired by bass players like James Jamerson of Motown, Donald "Duck" Dunn of Stax Records, and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys (and, unknowingly, Carole Kaye of the Wrecking Crew who played bass on many of the Beach Boys' iconic recordings). These players showed McCartney that the role of the bass in a pop song could be far greater than he had imagined.  For "Drive My Car," McCartney basically copied Duck Dunn's bass line on the Otis Redding song "Respect," which had been released earlier in 1965. The chord progression is different, but the groove is almost exactly the same. I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney's bass line on George Harrison's song "If I Needed Someone" from the Rubber Soul album (1965) is really fun to play, but is also pretty easy to learn. It mostly involves playing one measure again and again--but it's a good measure!!  Below is a video breaking down this fun and simple groove.  

John Lennon's song "Run for Your Life" has what is probably McCartney's least imaginative bass line on the 1965 Rubber Soul  album. It certainly is not a bad bass line, it's just not as inventive as what he played on most of the rest of the record. It is solid and supportive, but offers little in the way of innovation. It sounds like something he might have played on the previous album, Help! . This is not entirely surprising, as "Run for Your Life" was the first song recorded for Rubber Soul . Perhaps McCartney hadn't yet realized how adventurous he could truly be with his bass parts.  The lyrics on this song are problematic and always make me cringe. The opening line, "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man" was taken from an Elvis Presley recording of a song called "Baby Let's Play House" by Arthur Gunter. Lennon takes that threat of domestic violence as the subject and tone for the rest of th...

Arpeggios abound in McCartney's bass line for "You Won't See Me" from 1965's Rubber Soul . It is repetitive, but also constantly changing. McCartney finds numerous ways of subtly varying the patterns.  It's hard to imagine him playing this bass line even 6 months earlier. Not because he couldn't  have, but because he wouldn't  have. He certainly played some great bass lines before the Rubber Soul album, but his concept of what the bass line could be in a pop song changed so much in mid-1965. He went from playing solid, supportive lines to playing melodically, his bass offering a contrapuntal voice to sit at the bottom of the musical texture. I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

My bass is a little out of tune in this video. The recording is tuned somewhere between Eb and E. I'll have to redo this video at some point, but for now, do your best to ignore the wonky tuning. "Nowhere Man," the Lennon/McCartney song from 1965's  Rubber Soul , features one of McCartney's supremely melodic bass lines. While the vocal harmonies are probably the most recognizable part of the song, the extremely active bass line keeps the song moving.  This song, with its jangly electric guitar, tight vocal harmonies, and introspective lyrics, seems to be a response to "Mr. Tambourine Man," the Bob Dylan-penned song that was a #1 hit for the Byrds earlier in 1965. It is kind of ironic, though, because the Byrds were modeling their sound largely on the Beatles (with a touch of the Beach Boys as well). Roger McGuinn played a Rickenbacker 12-string electric guitar similar to the one George Harrison played in A Hard Day's Night . The Beatles inspired the ...

This is one of the funnest videos I've made because I got to play two bass parts! On George Harrison's song "Think for Yourself" from Rubber Soul  (1965), McCartney played a bass line as usual, then overdubbed a second bass running through a fuzz pedal. They are similar lines, but not exactly the same. The fuzz bass part essentially becomes a lead guitar. There are a couple of songs in the Beatles' catalog that feature two basses, but this is the most prominent and intentional example.  I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by George Harrison

"The Word" from Rubber Soul  (1965) is one of McCartney's funkiest bass lines. It shows the influence of Motown bassist James Jamerson and Stax bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn. It has melodic passages in a couple of places, primarily at the end of each verse under the lyrics "It's so fine/It's sunshine," but this groove is most notable for its repetition of a one-measure pattern that gets transposed from D to G. It also has some really fun and tricky fills. I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Here is my cover of "Michelle" from the 1965 Beatles album Rubber Soul . This was primarily a Paul McCartney composition. The bass line feels very "composed," like McCartney had worked out exactly what he was going to play ahead of time. Much of it is simple, but notice the exact repetition of the bass line on the two statements of the bridge - there is absolutely no variation. Still, it is a nice bass line with a few beautiful melodic choices. The intro (which is taken from the last four bars of the bridge) is simple, but so nice. Beginning on the 5th of the Fm chord (C) instead of the root sets up the elegant melodic motion that eventually settles into a root-5th pattern once the verse begins. I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney Full transcription is below

Here is my bass cover of "What Goes On," the Rubber Soul  song credited to Lennon, McCartney, and Richard Starkey (Ringo). Ringo admits that his contribution to this song was minimal - by his own admission, he wrote "about five words." McCartney's bass line is essentially a root-fifth country style bass line, which is appropriate for this Country and Western flavored song. The bass line feels largely improvised. It is likely McCartney didn't deem that this song was worth a lot of thought. He could have been a little more creative, but at the same time, a root-fifth bass line on a country song is absolutely typical - no reason to reinvent the wheel. McCartney does add some interest by moving to a walking line during George Harrison's very Carl Perkins-esque guitar solo.  I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Richard Sta...

Here is my bass cover of "Girl," the Lennon/McCartney (primarily Lennon) song from Rubber Soul  in 1965. It is a simpler, more straightforward bass line than McCartney played on the majority of the album. It could be that, as this was the final song recorded for the album at the end of a marathon session, McCartney opted for a simple bass line that he could nail relatively quickly. On the other hand, McCartney was ALWAYS playing in service to the song. It may be that he determined this somewhat delicate song required an unobtrusive bass line. And though this bass line is simple, it is well-suited to the vibe of the song.  I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney Full transcription is below

Here is my bass cover of the Lennon/McCartney (primarily McCartney) composition "I'm Looking Through You" from the Rubber Soul  album in 1965. While he is often thought of as writing cheerful, optimistic love songs, 1965 saw McCartney writing a series of songs about romantic frustration and disillusionment, based largely on his relationship with Jane Asher. Other songs in this vein include "We Can Work It Out" and "You Won't See Me." I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Here is my bass cover of the Lennon/McCartney song "In My Life," from 1965's Rubber Soul . This is one of the few songs Lennon and McCartney disagree on the authorship of. While the lyrics are certainly Lennon's (likely with McCartney's contributions to the bridge and final verse), McCartney remembers writing the melody and chord progression on piano by himself. This is a pretty reasonable claim - the melody sounds more like McCartney than Lennon.  I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Here is my bass cover of "Wait," the Lennon/McCartney song from Rubber Soul  in 1965. This song was actually recorded for the previous album, Help! , but was left unfinished. It was resurrected for Rubber Soul  in November 1965 when the band realized they were one song short of their typical 14-song album length. McCartney almost certainly played his Hofner 500/1 on the recording, as the backing track was recorded June 17, 1965, the final day of recording for the  Help!  album. McCartney didn't begin recording with the Rickenbacker until the Rubber Soul  sessions. I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings.  Music and lyrics by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Here is my bass cover of "If I N eeded Someone," the George Harrison-penned song from 1965's Rubber Soul . McCartney's bass line is fairly simple and r epetitive, but pretty ingenious. He plays the same one-measure pattern through most of the song, only changing when the song moves to the bridge. Far from feeling monotonous, the repetition of this pattern is a brilliant an innovative choice. It's not a melodic line, but it shows McCartney thinking outside of the typical function of the bass in a pop song.  In the video I am playing a 1985 Rickenbacker 4003 through a SansAmp VT Bass Deluxe. My bass is strung with LaBella flatwound strings. Music and lyrics by George Harrison