Friday, April 12, 2024

James Jamerson

I heard Paul McCartney claim that before Jamerson, bass playing was pretty rote and unexciting. bum bum BOM BOM bim bim bum bum: repeat indefinitely. Mc Cartney got stuck playing bass because his guitar was so cheap and the others refused anyway, to hear him tell it.  In those days any guitarist could pick up the bass and be serviceable. But when he heard Jamerson, it opened up a whole new world to him.


There's good history about Jamerson for the first nine minutes but just after that you will start hearing the Motown music he played on and will likely recognise the lines immediately.  "Oh, that was that guy? Oh yeah, I know that. It's a great bass line."

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