Say That You Love Me Bass Cover

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TJH3113

What would John McVie do?

Just because a bass line is simple doesn't make it weak or unremarkable. John McVie is a master at creating bass lines that perfectly serve the song. Purely supportive with a hint of melody at just the right time to let you know he's there.

Back in the mid/late 90's I'd grown tired of the 10-2 bar band thing. For me, 10-2 really meant 8-4. It wasn't worth the money and I didn't find it rewarding in any way so I began looking for something different and, dare I say, more fulfilling. I saw a "bass player wanted" ad in a local newspaper. It was for an original power-folk band. Now "that" was different. I went to see the band play live up in a coffee shop in New Paltz before I responded to the ad and liked what I saw and heard. "Tracking Buddha" was a 4 piece band fronted by vocalist/guitarist, Liz Graham who, to me, had a sound and style that was reminiscent of Natalie Merchant's. Besides Liz's voice and the songs, one of the things I really liked about the band was that the drummer played a "cocktail" set (look it up, they're pretty cool) which seemed to take up less space both physically and sonically. I thought I'd be able to nicely furnish all that "sonic real estate" with some tasty bass lines.

At this point in time, even though my playing was quite restrained when compared to the bass parts I'd been playing years earlier with Crisis, I was still, what some would consider, a "busy" player. For the audition I learned a few of their songs, made a few "improvements" and was sure I'd misheard them when they said they didn't think I was the right guy for the band. Obviously they had no idea how difficult it was to fill up every available measure of a song with cool bass riffs.

It wasn't the end of the world but I really did like what they were doing. So when I saw they had run their ad again a month or two later, I phoned Liz and told her that I was very interested in what they were doing and would play whatever they wanted me to play if they'd allow me the opportunity. They agreed and I began one of the most difficult periods of my "musical development."

I was so used to playing through, over and around everything that I was suddenly having to think about things I'd never really had to consider before. Things such as note choice, note duration, dynamics, tone... All of these things took on much greater importance now that I was playing many fewer notes than I ever had prior to joining this band. There's a big adjustment that needs to take place when one goes from playing sixteen notes in a measure to just one or two. Each note becomes much more significant and carries much more weight than ever before. I was definitely struggling to learn how "not" to play and then I remembered an article I'd read years before with Mike Mills, the bass player from REM. He was asked a question about how he goes about composing his bass lines and he said that he would often think to himself, "Okay, how would John McVie of Fleetwood Mac handle this?" At the time I read the article I remembered thinking to myself, "Well who would want to play like John McVie anyway?" Or Mike Mills for that matter. But now, it made all the sense in the world and "I" started to think, "Well, how 'would' John McVie approach this song, or Leeland Sklar, or Paul McCartney, or even Mike Mills?" This technique was a huge help and I've used it ever since when I've gotten stuck on trying to come up with a bass part that best serves the song.

Actually, come to think of it, this is one of John McVie's busier songs.

I did a search for Liz on YouTube and found she'd recently started a channel. Here's one of the songs I recorded with Liz and her channel -

   • Liz Graham sings "Improbable People"  
   / @lizgrahammusic