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Isolated Bass Archives - Page 4

“All Along the Watchtower” Live: Bill Cox’s Isolated Bass (1970)
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“All Along the Watchtower” Live: Bill Cox’s Isolated Bass (1970)

On July 4th, 1970, Jimi Hendrix performed at the Atlanta Pop Festival – just two months before the guitarist’s death. By this point, Hendrix had assembled his Band of Gypsys, recruiting his Army buddy, bassist Billy Cox. For a long time, fans traded this concert recording as a bootleg. In 1991, Warner Bros. released a four disc set which included...

Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf”: John Taylor’s Isolated Bass Line
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Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf”: John Taylor’s Isolated Bass Line

During the ’80s, my music snobbery was going full tilt. As a result, I overlooked just about everything Duran Duran recorded. So I never really knew much about bassist John Taylor. When we shared the isolated bass line for Duran Duran’s “Rio” last year, plenty of people shared similar stories – and were surprised by his lines. Others said they...

“Digital Man”: Geddy Lee & Neil Peart (Isolated Bass and Drums)
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“Digital Man”: Geddy Lee & Neil Peart (Isolated Bass and Drums)

In today’s isolated track, we find two-thirds of Rush laying it down on “Digital Man”, from Signals. No guitar, no synths, a little bit of vocals leaking through… just plain awesome.

“Immigrant Song”: John Paul Jones’ Isolated Bass (and Drums)
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“Immigrant Song”: John Paul Jones’ Isolated Bass (and Drums)

Here’s a great isolated bass track to kick off our third Isolated Bass Week, featuring the combo of John Paul Jones on his Fender Precision bass and John Bonham on drums. The tune is Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”, from Led Zeppelin III. There’s a little guitar in the mix, but that didn’t bother us. Much. What a duo!

John Entwistle: Isolated Bass on The Who’s “Sea And Sand”
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John Entwistle: Isolated Bass on The Who’s “Sea And Sand”

No Treble reader Miles Graf-Brennen shares this epic isolated bass (mostly) track of John Entwistle, performing along with the Who on “Sea And Sand”. We’ll let Miles set it up: “This is a pretty random choice, because the bass part on this album are so critical to both its lyrical emotion and its rocking drive. Listening to the isolated bass...

The Police: Sting’s Isolated Bass on “Next To You”
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The Police: Sting’s Isolated Bass on “Next To You”

In 1978, the Police debuted with the release of Outlandos d’Amour, an album dominated by punk influences. The opening track, “Next To You,” is a perfect example of this, especially when you hear the isolated bass line from Sting. The muted notes really act like a train engine, and gives greater impact to the end of the song where he...

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Flea’s Isolated Bass on “Scar Tissue”
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Red Hot Chili Peppers: Flea’s Isolated Bass on “Scar Tissue”

Flea can be a crazy funk-rock bassist, but here we get a look into the mellower side of the bassist with his isolated bass track from “Scar Tissue” from the 1999 Red Hot Chili Peppers album Californication. He sets a steady groove with some nice higher melodic content. Interestingly, you can hear the use of some flanger, which isn’t as...

Cliff Burton: Metallica’s “Orion” Isolated Bass
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Cliff Burton: Metallica’s “Orion” Isolated Bass

“Orion” is a heavy metal masterpiece, mostly due to the incredible bass work by the late Cliff Burton. Released on the groundbreaking 1986 album Master of Puppets, the instrumental track is the band’s most progressive work up to that point. Burton plays “lead bass” throughout, with in-your-face distortion and wicked solos. The interlude changes the feel completely with the bassist...

Won’t Get Fooled Again: John Entwistle’s Isolated Bass (Live, 1978)
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Won’t Get Fooled Again: John Entwistle’s Isolated Bass (Live, 1978)

Has there ever been anyone cooler than John Entwistle? I don’t think so, and here’s Exhibit A – the Ox’s isolated bass from “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, performed live in Shepperton, UK in 1978.

James Jamerson: “Bernadette” Isolated Bass
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James Jamerson: “Bernadette” Isolated Bass

This wouldn’t be much of an “isolated bass week” without including the legend, James Jamerson. So here’s a (mostly) isolated bass track from the 1967 Four Tops hit, “Bernadette”. There’s some disagreement about whether this is the bass on the actually released single, or if it is an out-take from the Motown vault. Doesn’t matter to us… it is still...

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”: Isolated Bass & Drums
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Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”: Isolated Bass & Drums

The 1973 studio version of “Free Bird” appeared on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut album, from Pronounced ‘Leh-‘Nérd ‘Skin-‘Nérd and featured Ed King on bass and Bob Burns on drums. Here’s the duo in isolation on the track, showing just how a drummer/bassist pairing should be. King is reportedly playing his 1964 Fender Jazz on the tune. Sweet.

Pearl Jam’s “Alive”: Isolated Bass & Drums
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Pearl Jam’s “Alive”: Isolated Bass & Drums

Based on the huge popularity of the isolated bass tracks, we’ve decided to do our second “isolated bass week”. (Check out our previous isolated bass week, after this video.) Here’s Jeff Ament‘s classic bass line on the Pearl Jam hit single, “Alive”, from the album Ten. Such a cool line, with all the right mix of awesomeness: fretless (I believe...