Easy Bass Beatles Songs?

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whyseye

whyseye

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Am still very much the newbie player, but I'm getting to the point where I'd like to add some songs to the repertoire, rather that just scales and such, so that if the opportunity presents itself, I could play with other people.
I was thinking specifically about Beatles music, since almost everyone knows a Beatles tune or two....any ideas of something that would be fun to play, without overtaxing my basic skills? :o
 
"saw her standing there"

E-A-B then a C every now and again. I think they are 7th chords too.
 
Have you tried Come Together? I haven't played much bass so I don't know how hard that would be.
 
Yeah, the 'Ballad of John and Yoko', you know the one, 'standing at the dock in Southampton...', it goes something like:

_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
___________2___4___2_________________2___4___2___
___0___4____________________0____4_______________

over the E chord, and then move the riff up to the A string for the A chord.

Come Together has a great intro bass riff in Dminor:

_________________________10__________________________
_______________________________12____________________
_______________10_h_12_______________________________
___10____10__________________________________________

I'll try to work out some more for you.
 
I would start with their early work and move forward. From Me to You, She Loves You, etc. Very repetitive and predictable, for the most part. I never thought of the Beatles as a band with any really tricky bass work... Drive My Car has a cool bass riff in it. Anyone else know of a beatles bass part that's really challenging? I'm probably forgetting something. Me & My Monkey, maybe...
 
tc4b said:
Anyone else know of a beatles bass part that's really challenging? I'm probably forgetting something. Me & My Monkey, maybe...
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's challenging, but some of their later stuff has really 'busy' bass lines. Hey Jude always annoyed me, there's just too many notes in the bass line.
 
Thanks for the input, everyone.... :)

I was thinking about "Lady Madonna".....too busy?

I know that the early stuff is simpler, but I don't want to play something JUST because it's easy.....I have "Mary Had a Little Lamb" for that.... :D
 
Easy stuff; Hide your Love Away/ Rocky Rackoon
Lady Madonna wouldn't be too hard.
 
whyseye said:
Thanks for the input, everyone.... :)

I was thinking about "Lady Madonna".....too busy?
Click to expand...

Lady Madonna isn't too busy, it's kindof a honky-tonk thing if I remember correctly:

______________________________________I______________________
______________________________2_______I______________________
________________0__0__3__4____________I______________________
___0___0__3__4________________________I_repeat________________
 
Any Beatles song is easy if you want it to be, just play root of each chord. You're a bass player, no one is listening ;)

Even so, McCartney's playing is very inventive and melodic, but it isn't technically difficult. Try something like "Oh Darling", that's fun to play and not too hard.
 
If you can walk a little bit, Many Beatle songs will "Come Together" :)
The Lady Madonna walk is similar to the bridge in Good Morning, Good Morning. Birthday walks through the chord and does a pretty basic I IV V progression.
What I love about the production on Beatle albums is that you can hear every note Paul plays. And I find his playing to be a bit more staccato (short note durations) than most bass players, especially on Sgt Pepper.
 
metalj said:
"saw her standing there"

E-A-B then a C every now and again. I think they are 7th chords too.
Click to expand...

That's easy? Not for a beginner, if you want to play it like Sir Paul. Yeah, the chords themselves aren't too tough, but it involves some fast multi-string picking.
 
tc4b said:
I would start with their early work and move forward. From Me to You, She Loves You, etc. Very repetitive and predictable, for the most part. I never thought of the Beatles as a band with any really tricky bass work... Drive My Car has a cool bass riff in it. Anyone else know of a beatles bass part that's really challenging? I'm probably forgetting something. Me & My Monkey, maybe...
Click to expand...

There's a lot of bass work starting with Revolver which is pretty sophisticated musically, if not so much technique-wise!

The early Beatles song "All My Loving" is a good one to learn because it's a classic walking line. Not challenging, but you can learn a lot from it.
 
I appreciate all the suggestions, folks....I find it kind of interesting that no two people have said the same song yet.... :cool:
 
danny.guitar said:
Have you tried Come Together? I haven't played much bass so I don't know how hard that would be.
Click to expand...
This one is pretty good, and not hard. I've done a cover of it, and have drums and guitar somewhere, if you want the music for it. The tab I found was pretty accurate for this song.
 
Love Me Do....great plodding bass with an acoustic guitar that always makes me think of someone jumping on a trampoline.
 
I'm surprised that no one mentioned "Day Tripper," which to me is the most memorable Beatles tune for bass, also the first Beatles song I learned (way back when I was still struggling with C, G and D.)
 
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