Unpacking the Bass Line of Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas”: History, Technique, and Full Transcription

I wasn’t aware of “This Christmas” until recently, when I was asked to play for a Christmas lights event with my friend’s big band. We rehearsed the usual material (“Frosty the Snowman,” “Here Comes Santa Claus”), but the piece that stuck out for me was “This Christmas” – when I saw the chart, and Donny Hathaway as the composer, I knew it was going to be interesting. It was an uplifting piece with a cool R&B groove, and a complex bass line that included some very challenging fills, lovely chromatic runs, and an unusual time signature change in the main riff.

Having played it a few times to get up to speed before the gig, I checked out the original version, and tried to find out who the bass player was. I assumed it was Hathaway’s long-time guitarist and bassist Phil Upchurch, but surprisingly, I discovered that it was actually Hathaway himself playing a Rhodes keyboard bass. This instrument was owned by Upchurch, who played guitar on the session for the song, and had been given to him by Harold Rhodes himself. It’s a great testament to Hathaway’s skills that he could create a bass line on a keyboard that sounded like a genuine bass part played by Upchurch or Jamerson.

Hathaway’s intention was to write a Christmas song that spoke to African Americans – one that reflected their experience, and had more of an R&B feel to it, rather than the more straight-laced fare of the time. He didn’t yet have any lyrics, but that was to change due to a convenient set of circumstances.

In late 1970, Ron Pulliam, who was fitting carpets at the Audio Finishers studio in Chicago, overheard Hathaway talking to musician Ric Powell about his plans to record a Christmas song. Pulliam suggested his friend Nadine McKinnor, who soon met with Hathaway, and showed him some of her work. One was a festive song she had written in 1968, but hadn’t found a home for the lyrics – Hathaway was impressed and immediately got to work writing the music to accompany them.

The first thing Hathaway wrote was the main riff which was surprisingly inspired by the score of “The Magnificent Seven.” Powell recalled that “It had little theme like duh-duh-duh-dunna-duh-duh-dunna. We flipped the music and we put our spin on it.” This created the seven beat long main riff that opens the song, returns after each chorus, and is also used in the long outro section.

Phil Upchurch was very impressed with the final results: “We knew when we left the studio we hit something. Our hair stood up on our arms. Working with Donny was as exciting as working with Quincy Jones or [Bob] Dylan.”

The song was released in December 1970, but sadly it wasn’t a hit – it took another two years to finally make it to the charts, but it only peaked at #11. However, over the years, the song’s reputation has grown, with over a hundred cover versions by such diverse singers as Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Harry Connick Jr, and more recently Christina Aguilera, Seal, and Train also did their own versions. But the original still shines brightly, and is now regularly included in Christmas compilations.

NOTE: The transcription is marginally different to the original to make it more bass-friendly – some judicious use of different octaves for the F notes in the main riff for example. I’m also very grateful to fellow No Treble contributor Ted Gould for allowing me to use his excellent video lesson on how to play through the very complex run in bar 58-9.

Download the transcription and follow along with the video below.