![]() The colored notes (green for roots, red for thirds, blue for fifths) are all notes found within the chord played during that measure. The image below contains music notation for an excerpt of his bassline. It was on this album that each member of the band stepped outside the traditional roles of each instrument and sought out new ways to contribute to various songs.įor example, consider John Lennon’s song, “Nowhere Man.” The bassline McCartney plays on this song mainly consists of chordal tones. What emerged was an album that featured a strikingly different sound when compared to their earlier hits, with influences ranging from Indian classical music to dense vocal harmonies influenced by contemporaries like the Beach Boys. ![]() They were nearing the end of their touring days and, as the most successful pop band of the day, had the clout to insist that they be afforded significantly more time in the studio working out arrangements and harmonies of greater complexity than could be found on their nine previous US albums. Released in December 1965, Rubber Soul marked a clearly audible change in direction for the Beatles. The focus of these songs is on the vocals, so McCartney (and Ringo Starr, for that matter) kept things simple, with only slight variations on the powerful live performance techniques they had mastered over the previous three years of non-stop gigging. Listen to his playing on “ Can’t Buy Me Love” and “ I Feel Fine” - classics from 1964 - and you’ll hear almost nothing but roots and fifths in the bass part. ![]() Aside from the fact that early recording and amplification techniques did not treat the sound of the bass very well, the pop music they played in these early years was much simpler than what can be found on the group’s later albums. In early Beatles albums, where the audience was primarily screaming teenage girls, we hear McCartney sticking pretty closely to that role, with a few exceptions. Unique basslines can be created around chord progressions by using these chord tones, but more often than not, the role of the bassist in a rock and roll band is to stick to the root note. The image below demonstrates these chord tones and their relationship to the chord being played. Usually a bass player will do this by playing a steady, repetitive bassline using mainly the root note of whatever chord is being played (C note on a C chord, G note on a G7, etc.) and occasionally the fifth or even the third of the chord as well. The normal role of a rock bass player in a song is to accomplish two tasks: Let’s rewind through a number of Beatles’ tracks and identify just what McCartney did to make the bass parts stand out from what other bassists of the day were doing. Through the Beatles’ evolution, McCartney’s basslines became an integral part of each song’s texture, sound, and color. ![]() Paul McCartney’s development as a bass player provides a textbook case for today’s songwriters and music producers on how a little creativity can go a long way to help make a recording stand out. We identify just what McCartney did to make his parts stand out from what other bassists were doing at the time. Paul McCartney’s basslines are an integral part of the Beatles’ evolution from world-beating pop band to musical pioneers.
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