Bass Player: John Wetton

John Kenneth Wetton (12 June 1949 – 31 January 2017) was an English singer, bassist, guitarist, and songwriter. He was born in Willington, Derbyshire, and grew up in Bournemouth, Dorset. Between 1972- 1982, he rose to fame fronting the bands King Crimson, U.K. and Asia. Notable work as a bass guitarist and backing vocalist included brief stints with Family, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash.

The transcription features the full bass part for the tune ‘Starless’ from the 1974 King Crimson album, ‘Red’. There are some really tricky passages in here including sections that jump between 4:4 and 5:8 and where the same riffs are played twice as fast so are written in 13:8. Unreadable but, if you spend a little time with those passages, you will quickly recognise that there is a lot of repetition so, once you have it under your fingers, you are half way to playing it. Nevertheless, it is still a tricky little sucker even if you know what they are doing!!