Bass Player: Jeff Berlin Another Jeff Berlin transcription. This is ‘Q.E.D’, another track from the Bruford album ‘Gradually Going Tornado’.  ‘Some tough counting in the early stages of this transcription and it is absolutely possible that I am not hearing the pulse correctly (I am thinking 6:4 listening to Dave Stewart’s keyboards. Once the melody…

Bass Player: Jeff Berlin Another Jeff Berlin performance from the Bruford LP ‘Gradually Going Tornado’. Another bass sound that Bilbo would look to emulate consciously or subconsciously. Unsurprisingly, Jeff Berlin was a big fan of Jack Bruce also so this is not at all surprising. This is a full transcription of Jeff’s bass part to…

Bass Player: Jack Bruce An early influence for Bilbo , in terms of defining the sound of a bass, was Jack Bruce on the ‘Over The Top’ album by Cozy Powell. ‘I remember that I bought my first ‘expensive’ bass (an Aria SB600) because Jack had an Aria SB1000. I couldn’t afford the more expensive…

Bass Player: Chris Squire Another Chris Squire part, this time ‘South Side Of The Sky’ from the LP Fragile. Again, nothing chopsy about this one, just great simple bass parts. Some interesting Proggy time changes etc but, otherwise, a fairly easy read. We don’t think it goes over eighth notes throughout.  Again, the transcription was…

Bass Player: Jeff Berlin A bit more Jeff Berlin. This one is the most difficult solos we think he ever recorded outside of his set pieces (Dixie etc). The solo starts at the 1:30 mark. If anyone ever nails it, please video yourself – no-one we know can get anywhere near it!! The tune is…

Bass Player: Jeff Berlin The tune is ‘Crossroads’ from the 1986 Jeff Berlin album ‘Pump It’. The piece is a straightforward blues with a couple ripping ‘guitar’ solos by JB. Lots of guitarist tricks so you will need to listen to this as you read it to get the feel of the phrasing etc. Our…

Trumpet Solo: Wynton Marsalis We have long believed that there is a lot to be said for transcribing solos from instruments other than bass. There are problems with doing this, however, as there are different techniques and tricks associated with other instruments that don’t translate particularly well to bass. Bilbo started this transcriptions and got…

Bass Player: Chris Squire A bit more Chris Squire – again made possible by the isolated bass tracks available on YouTube. Great songs, great arranging but seldom virtuoso playing, despite the reputation the band had during this time. ‘Long Distance Runaround’ from the Yes LP ‘Fragile’ (the first one with a Roger Dean cover).

Bass Player: Steve Berry This transcription is something a little bit ‘off the beaten track’. It is the bass part for a piece called ‘Cha Cha Con Meatus’ from the trio of bass player Steve Berry. Steve was the main bass player throughout the history of the band ‘Loose Tubes’ and his trio album features…

Bass Player: Chris Squire More Chris Squire. This track often gets a bad rap from Yes fans but we could never see what was wrong with it. It may be because it came when the Punk thing was fresh in people’s minds and may have sounded a bit naïve at the time. We find the…