Bass Player: Mike Oldfield

‘Tubular Bells’ was the debut studio album by English mult-instrumentalist, Mike Oldfield. Released on 25th May, 1973, it was the first album on the Virgin Records label. Oldfield, who was 19 years old when it was recorded, played almost all the instruments on the mostly instrumental album including the bass guitar. The first part of the album length piece is 25 minutes long and features some interesting time/feel changes. The main riff behind the ‘Tubular Bell’ theme is the trickiest bit and requires stamina. The secret is to find a fingering pattern that works for you and allows you to execute the lines smoothly.

There are several passages which have no bass so watch those chunks of empty bars. Learning to count when you are not playing is a useful discipline to acquire for reading gigs.