How James Jamerson Made This Forgotten Song Go Viral

[@mcclendonreport]

I am the fellow who posted that James Jamerson video a decade and a half ago. I did so with reverence and intentionality. Thank you for referencing my post and acknowledging a true pioneer of the bass guitar. I’d be honored to discuss WHY I posted that video with you.

[@HowToBass]

Oh wow, thanks for posting that video. It made a big impression on me. I'd love to chat. If you see this reply then drop me an E-mail. [e-mail]

[@Lakeibo]

What's Going On is another amazingly lovely bass line. Thanks for this educational video!

[@Redbeard4321]

His bio Standing in The Shadow of Motown is definitely worth checking out and includes bass lines and CD. He was always improvisational and was asked to play simpler parts for the sake of the musicians who would tour with Motown artists. As I remember it- in 1964 Jamerson, out of boredom or frustration decided to play however he wanted. By then he was so sought after, Motown couldn’t fire him and risk another label picking him up.

[@misterarthur]

Not his bio - it's the bio of the Funk Brothers

[@Redbeard4321]

@@misterarthur are you mixing up the book and the documentary? Cause the book is subtitled The Life and Music of Legendary Bassist James Jamerson. I read something in college that had a chapter just on The Funk Brothers, wish I could remember what it was.

[@MrNathan791]

All so complicated was Jameson notes structure. Was a big part of all those classic Motown songs. His playing was so mesmerizing. I actually started learning to play bass by listening to those old Motown 45 records on my record player. It’s so incredible to think Jameson playing “Darlin’ Dear” with the hook (the one finger). If he’s not in the Rock Hall Of Fame, he and the rest of those legendary musicians at Motown from that era should be. Those guys help influence the whole music culture in the period in beyond.

[@debiear]

Smokey Robinson wrote "Darling Dear" for The Miracles before Michael Jackson was even born. Jamerson was also the bass player on that recording too. Same song, two different approaches to the bass playing.

[@michanota4230]

playing ‘open strings’was a stand up bass tip i learned back in ‘70s…sustain and volume🎸

[@TheSSMusicChannel]

My faves of him has to be I was made to love her with Stevie and Bernadette with the 4 tops.

[@HowToBass]

Both excellent!

[@missann1985]

Agree with those choices. I also love Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Marvin and Tammi.

[@retohofmann5878]

Yes, I just listened to Stevies song and thought "man, who plays that bassline?". And so I found out about the bio of James Jamerson...incredible, a genius...and not seen much during his lifetime - sad!

[@sandrasanders706]

And "You Keep Me Hanging On"

[@richardpayton9671]

There's a story in Berry Gordy's autobiography where he said Jamerson was playing bassline that was too jazzy for what Berry wanted. So he asked James to simplify it. He didn't. they rewound the tape. Jamerson simplified it but it was not the simple bass line wanted. They rewind again. Jamerson scaled down a bit more but still snuck in some passing notes. Finally, Berry said, "screw it, just keep it!" LOL!

[@HowToBass]

Thanks for this comment. Great story.

[@nylesfrench3568]

The Godfather of the Electric Bass. A Funky Soulful Virtuoso

[@PapaEli-pz8ff]

I also read Berry Gordy's autobiography many years ago. I remember that story quite well 😊

[@puffnstufflovelove6550]

Greatest of all time!

[@debbimouradjian5305]

Incredible. I loved the documentary 'Standing in the Shadows of Motown'.

[@CharlieBass5]

I've read that Jamerson was basically left alone, allowed to let flow. There is a Video titled "Standing In The Shadows Of Motown", I have a feeling you will appreciate the historical perspective.

[@CharlieBass5]

I'm a believer that James had a thing for Gladys, Check out "If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight and The PIps.

[@unc1589]

On the question of improvising vs structured or both…. No. This bass performance was 100% improvised! Darling dear was never meant to be the single. It was the B side to a song that I forgot. ( because it was forgettable). The main cuts were heavily scrutinized by the front office but “filler” songs were not. By 1970/69 James was proven to be the sought after bassist. He’d walk in the studio, look at the lead sheet, find the changes, toss the sheet on the floor…. “Whenever y’all ready!” Pride or ignorance prevents many from admitting that he was the greatest bassist that ever lived. No bass player could or would ever say they were better than him. The bass is a relatively young instrument. Usually the youngest on stage besides synths/electronic. James came up at the height and abrupt death of the jazz era. He found iconic jazz bassist boring. Even though they are celebrated to this day. After 63/64, young Americans found jazz to be a novelty. Change was blisteringly rapid in those days. In stepped Jamerson. Who could go roots & fifths (zzz), bang bang repetitive funk, or, the thing that others could never really master and weren’t allowed to even try, Melodic Improvisational bass playing. The bass was never meant to be played like that outside of the jazz environment. Yes they had to contain him in the beginning. Songs were yet to be written where you could just let the bass player do whatever he wanted to. (You can fake bad notes with the guitar/ keyboard… But even today, one bad bass note…!) So lead sheets were simple for the bass. I think I’m right when I say that Gladys Knight and the pips heard it through the Grapevine was the first “leave James alone” recording that Motown allowed. That thing is amazing. And as busy as it was, not a single bad note. Same with Bernadette . That’s scary for a producer. Darling dear made some bass players put down their bass and consider other professions. (No lie). It’s like being celebrated by your friends for being a great tennis player, then seeing Serena Williams in her prime. (Maybe I should stick with accounting). Jamerson didn’t change the rules for bass he made the rules for bass! (I didn’t know we could do that!) was the thinking. He’s got to be the only “absolute musical genius “ bass player. I’m mean… who’s the other guy? Fun fact: Marvin’s WGO album was painstakingly created and took about 2 years to complete. Marvin (the rebel) wanted nothing to do with the “Motown sound” on his project. So he picked orchestral drummers and arrangers. The arranger that he went with was David VanDepitte. Who’s primary personal instrument was… The Bass! He probably was one of the first Jamerson superfans. He saw Jamerson as the key to his success as the arranger on this highly anticipated/ late to the record company/ one shot to glory/all the marbles/ piece of music. Nobody coddled and worked one on one with James before that project. Nobody was musically intelligent enough for James to respect. He walked through every single note with Jamerson, (JJ read sheets for the first 5 tracks.) Professional! No goofing around. Jamerson was a student on that album! (Just listen to Save the Children and ask yourself “what other song does something like this with a bass as the strong component? I never heard one!) All other instruments were background noise (sorry). “A song within a song” Is what they shot for. (Honestly 90% of Jamersons songs were of that nature). “Playing” is not what makes the player great… Hearing is! James “heard” completely different from the rest. All this Afro Cuban stuff that he pick up… He played to a different tic. He thought in complete phrases. When other musicians said “I’m going to play Da Di Di Da” Jamerson said I’m gonna play “D D D Di da Dum Dee Dee dum-bi-dd dah” lol. Genius stuff. He was stark raving mad! A lunatic on the bass. He never rests. Never played filler notes. Never gives you a break. He does a lot of this “last note of phrase A is the first note of phrase B stuff” Nobody could guess him! Still! You can’t anticipate his next move. Try it! Lol A freak of nature that only happened once! The way he played was so “natural” sounding, so “yes that’s correct!” That it tricks you into thinking “no… I’ve heard other bassist do that!” Till you say “wait, am I right about that?” If they came after Jamerson then they’re students of Jamerson. Almost every RnB bassist of the 60s/70s/early eighties owes part of their check to him.

[@HowToBass]

I really enjoyed reading this comment.

[@basicstickfigure1087]

James started off as a Piano player. I'll guess that learning to play piano first would teach someone a lot about cords and cord structure. A lot of bass players don't do enough of that.

[@TristanDelroeux]

@@basicstickfigure1087i would probably assume it has more to do with his jazz background

[@amyjr7950]

Lol, Where can I buy the book 😊 Your comments are on a different level 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👊🏽

[@danap8044]

You made me cry .thank you

[@DarrylMiglio]

the open string is my friend. It is a challenge to use but worth the effort

[@Iconoplastt]

Great video, I LOVE Jamerson and this on is one I've been playing for years, super fun to play and all over the place sonically

[@HowToBass]

Its one of my favourites!

[@paistebob3163]

This was a really incredible analysis of Jameson's style and technique and I love the Deep dive and nerding out with darling deer I thought I knew just about everything about his technique but you enlightened me to some newer stuff that I never thought of. Very enjoyable and really great footage of the master in action as well you edit your video really well great production! Yeah, I guess I really love your video thanks so much for this was a real treat! BTW, when I was much younger and standing in the shadows of Motown first came out I read it probably at least 20 times over and over and wore out the cassette that came with it first learning what's going on of course and there were so many great things to learn in that book I would recommend it to any aspiring bassist. Of course with KZbin they're probably is a accompanying video for almost all of his popular songs now so younger musicians don't know how lucky they are to have the road at their fingertips musically when I tried to figure songs out back in the day mostly my option was fast forward reverse and play LOL. Thanks again for a awesome tribute! Peace, Bob BTW, I still practice through an early '60s Ampeg B15.. it really nails to Jameson town and that's basically what he used in the studio for those early great hits through the 60s I think they just mic'd it up and ran it through the board slightly hot to give it some balls from what I remember reading about his recording technique or what very Gordy and the producers decided to do with his tracks in the studio in that little basement at hitsville USA just FYI but you might already know about all that

[@VCT3333]

The more amazing thing is that he played with one finger, nicknamed the hook. I can only use my index while I'm learning to play bass due to an accident, so Jamerson's my idol and lodestone!!

[@rcnation8910]

He was a jazz guy who played constantly. I would guess it's all improvisation. But to him I believe playing bass was like you and I speaking. We don't have to think about it. I would guess for these pop songs he just listened, followed the drummer and the singer and improvised. I don't think it would have been some deep thought out thing. To him it was like talking and compared to his jazz gigs it was probably easy I would guess.

[@seranaeuropegmbh9004]

Check out "How Long has that Evening Train Been Gone?" by the Supremes

[@PsyJaye]

Great information and playing - I might mention JJ's percussive style on "Love is Here and Now You're Gone" and other superb sounds..

[@wmkennard]

Love this and you do a great job teaching n playing 😎✌️ thank you.

[@kane6529]

You do a wonderful job with your videos man I hope you really get more views because you deserve it with the Production quality and breakdown of the theory with nice visual aids and even an awesome history section

[@HowToBass]

Thanks Kane! I enjoy making them even if it only goes out to a small audience. It's nice to know someone likes them though so I appreciate the comment. 😀

[@nyobunknown6983]

Because he was a Jazz player my understanding is that Jamerson improvised all his bass lines.

[@TheSledge77]

I read that he like all members of the Funk Brothers were given some music notation to follow as they were making the music. He would get it handed to him, he put it down without looking at it and just played what he felt.

[@nyobunknown6983]

@@TheSledge77 There's a video of Marven Gaye playing live where Jamerson can be seen behind him at 1:22. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIHOfmt8Zdididk He was clearly looking at sheet music while he played. What I suspect is he was following the sheet music but was not playing what was written. He used it as a guide but was improvising over what was read. I good sight reader can read what was written so they know the structure of the song and then play what fits best. Studio musicians play on so many songs, thousands in many cases, that they couldn't possibly know them all by memory. There is an interview where bassist Joe Osborne said he played what was written for the song Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In by the 5th Dimension on the first take. The producer told him "To play more". The result was one of the best bass lines ever to be put on a record. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJ3VgmCYhN-jobM

[@nyobunknown6983]

Upright players tend to use a lot of open strings to help them play in tune on the fretless instrument. Jamerson also tended to use a lot of 6ths.

[@kwanchaiamocha4294]

Darling Dear is the Symphony No. 5 of Jamerson

[@damondavies4736]

Curious, what song is that playing around the 1:29 time?

[@napirod513]

👏🏽👏🏽

[@HowToBass]

Thanks for checking out the video! Here is a link to my ebook.... www.buymeacoffee.com/howtobassdave/e/137455 Here is the link to the video I mentioned. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mIrMoKl9g52lmMk

[@fross1203]

Your bass tone is full and fat, feels like those baselines of the 70’s. Would you share your signal chain and strings?

[@HowToBass]

Hi there, I usually just use a Sans Amp for recording bass. I think the strings are d'addario flatwounds.

[@erich1308]

There was nothing obscure about the Jackson 5 song "Darling Dear". It's just that you weren't aware of the song but please don't think that it was an obscure song to the MILLIONS of JACKSON 5IVE fans that grew up in the J5 era.

[@HowToBass]

Ok, that is a fair comment. What did you think about the video?

[@erich1308]

@@HowToBass Get instructional lesson. Thanks for the video!

[@dem1456]

What’s the bass guitar he using?? 😮

[@TheSledge77]

He used a few. The P Bass was what is heard on most of his recordings. In the early years, he used an upright bass

[@Charlie-hp2oh]

of course it was improvised. Thats why it is so hard to copy

[@MaurizioMezzatesta]

I love James Jamerson a lot but I think Portrait of Tracy is the prettiest. Just me though.

[@dog61]

Darling Dear was never a forgotten song.

[@HowToBass]

This is an interesting point of view. Thanks for sharing.