Jimmy Johnson – Bass

Allan Holdsworth has played with some great bassists in his time and I was a massive fan of his trio with Jeff Berlin but, when he brought on board Flim Johnson, I had great expectations because I had already been a fan of Johnson through his work on the first three Wayne Johnson Trio albums. I wasn’t disappointed and Johnson was a glorius addition to the Holdsworth ensemble. The 1987 album ‘Sand’ was Johnson’s third with the band. The tune I have attempted here (and that is the important word on this occasion) is called ‘Pud Wud’ and features an extended bass solo from Johnson. I am not at all confident in this one (which is why I said attempt). I gave up on it after scratching my head for days and then left it alone for a while. I revisited it today and, whilst I am still not happy with it, I thought I would put it out there so anyone who is looking at this can use it as they see fit. If anyone wants to try a better, more accurate version using this as a starting point, they have my blessing and admiration.

It’s astonishingly melodic but very difficult to play and transcribe. Johnson has always used the whole neck of his Alembic 5-string within his performances and this can make things hard to execute without his chops. The man is a total genius.