Bass Player: Rob Palmer (Bilbo) A bit of fun and self indulgence. This is the first 32-bars of Bilbo’s (Rob Palmer’s) solo on the Charlie Parker tune ‘Yardbird Suite’. It was recorded at a gig undertaken during the COVID-19 lockdown so there was only a small, invited audience but the gig was streamed by the…

Bass Player: Geddy Lee From the 1978 Rush album, ‘Hemispheres’, this is a transcription of Geddy Lee’s bass part to the instrumental ‘La VIlla Strangiato’. The tune is broken up into sections as follows: I. “Buenos Nochas, Mein Froinds!” II. “To Sleep, Perchance to Dream…” III. “Strangiato Theme” – Bar 37 IV. “A Lerxst in…

Bass Player: Jack Bruce Another transcription from the Cozy Powell ‘Over The Top’album. A composition from Whitesnake’s Bernie Marsden, the track features some great Rock bass playing. There is a bass solo over the closing riff that is NOT included in the transcription. This is becasue the soloo is chock full of bent notes that…

Bass Player: Joe Dart Bilbo noticed that a significant number of these transcriptions dated back to the 1970s and early 1980s. In an effort to bring things at least a little up to date, he thought he would see what was out there getting noticed that didn’t involve slapping or tapping (Bibo is not inclined…

Bass Player: Jack Bruce A highly influential album for the young Bilbo and he still maintains that the bass sound on Cozy Powell’s 1979 album ‘Over The Top’ is the sound that is the ideal he looks for every time he puts on an electric bass. There are a number of transcriptions from that album…

Bass Player: Paul Martinez Paul Frank Martinez is a British session bass player best known for his work with Robert Plant, Cat Stevens, Dave Edmunds, George Harrison, Maggie Bell, Peter Gabriel, Chicken Shack and The Adverts amoung many others. On 13 July 1985, when Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones reunited for the Live…

Bass Player: Percy Jones Transcribing Percy Jones bass parts is problematic as a lot of his stylistic idiosyncracies are very personal and unconventional. Sliding harmonics, non-specific notes and phrases etc peppper the more fundamental notes but what is particularly important with Percy’s playing is the sound! It is often the case that a bass part…

Bass Player: Jeff Berlin Following the publication of the transcription of Pt.1 a few weeks ago, this is the full transcription of the track ‘One Of A Kind: Pt.2’ from the 1978 Bruford album of the same name. This is a tough little nut to crack as the notes are going past so fast. We…

Bass Player: Mike Rutherford When discussing bass playing, it is easy to forget the many bass players are not ‘just’ bass players but wear many hats and Mike Rutherford, as well as playing bass guitar for Prog legends ‘Genesis’, plays guitar and bass pedals and also adds backing vocals. More importantly, Rutherford is primarily a…

Bass Player: Geddy Lee Arguably Rush’s most successful album, ‘Moving Pictures’ appeared in 1981 and presented it’s audience with a set of tracks, each of which has become a classic; ‘Red Barchetta’, the instrumental ‘YYZ’, the evergreen ‘Tom Sawyer’ and the first of the ‘Fear’ series, ‘Witch Hunt’. One of the most celebrated tracks featured…