How To Play Bass (A Bit...) Like Bernard Edwards

[@bronxrailfan9827]

Thanks for playing this. He’d be really proud. Miss my uncle a lot.

[@OnlineBassCourses]

He was and is one of greats of our instrument, Jhared. An absolute legend - you must be really proud of him! 👊🙏🙏

[@curtiswilmore1611]

We miss him too 😢

[@DannySapko]

Thanks, very helpful! I'm putting a together a Chic/Sister Sledge bass line video

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Nice one!

[@brexitdave8995]

One of my all time favourites is Bernard Edwards - He knew how to lay down a groove. He is one of the reasons why I picked up a bass back in 1980 and never looked back. I want your love is another great example of when to play and when not - spacing, let the track breathe - Nile & Bernard together were the best.

[@Kassiusday]

Forbidden lover is also a fantastic bass line … with open string …

[@Kassiusday]

Another fantastic bass line of Bernard is “open up “

[@michaelanthony9068]

Thank you Dan. Great lesson, I especially appreciate your mentioning plucking pressure. You said, “You can dig in a bit”. I know that’s hard to teach on line, and I’ve really wished for much more instruction on that.

[@OnlineBassCourses]

It’s an interesting topic for sure - maybe I’ll talk about it more! 🙏🙏

[@uberdonkey9721]

I'm pretty new (but totally obsessed) bass player and just listening to bass lines Bernard Edwards really stood out. Really grateful for this video.

[@goldenturdZeniru]

My favourite bass player along with joe dart. Thank you so much for the video. Begginer here, 9 months, 43 year old!😅

[@abacadaniel04]

God rest Bernard Edwards, I don’t think anyone will be able to play bass exactly like how he did. ✌️😇

[@chrisgambaro-vega9504]

Regarding his basses, the first album was done with a Fender Jazz bass. He didn't start using the Stingray until the 2nd album. He told me this when I met him.

[@CurtisGabrielMusic]

The first Chic album? Jazz bass bridge does have a similar sound to a Stingray at times I must say.

[@megavega4]

@@CurtisGabrielMusic similar. But thinner as it's a single coil pickup. The Stingray is a bit fatter being that it's a humbucker. And again, this is directly from his mouth. I hung out with him for 2 days in 1996 during the rehearsals for the concert in Japan.

[@hsepo7227]

Very quality analysis of Bernard Edwards sound. Very close to the original sound by the way. Thank you for gear info!

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks very much!

[@bassplayer9432]

Great content! Thanks for this no-BS, straight to the point lesson 👍

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks for watching!

[@erikhoegee8223]

Thanks for this video, Dan. The aspect that stands out in your videos is your mature approach. Keep up the good work :-)!

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks, will do!

[@retypefoundry1120]

Best Funk bass teacher that there is :)

[@OnlineBassCourses]

You're far too kind...

[@buckcannon1811]

I’m still trying to immulate him! He was the GOAT!

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Agreed!!

[@BlackRootsAcademyOfSoul]

One of my favorite Electric Bass Players 👌🏿

[@roberthaviar8243]

Great lesson, thank you. Bernard would be proud!

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks very much!

[@MrNathan791]

Really appreciate your lesson. You kept it simple t ok the point. Your lesson will really help with my learning to play this awesome bass line. Bernard Edwards one of my favorite bassist. His playing was so smooth, funky and seemingly so effortless.

[@OnlineBassCourses]

He was an amazing player - one of the greatest. 🙏👍

[@troybranch]

Well done Dan, you did Bernard Justice. 👏

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thank you.

[@spazkong]

Outstanding explanation. Thank you

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Glad it was helpful!

[@bronxrailfan9827]

R.I.P Uncle

[@Andrewausfa]

Thanks for this, superb. I read a quote from Nile Rodgers where he said Bernards fingers would be bleeding after a two hour gig from using that chucking technique. Blood all over the strings for that Bernard Edwards tone!

[@OnlineBassCourses]

I read that one too. That's commitment!!

[@stephenbennett1643]

That was in the Bass Guitar magazine, when they did a feature on him on the anniversary of his passing.

[@donh5794]

Dan, I appreciate you doing this great lesson since I always enjoyed Bernard Edward's precisely crafted and punchy basslines. Your demonstrating and explaining short notes really stood out to me too. You described his playing style the same way that I hear it. I recently re-discovered a Chic song titled "Sometimes You Win" from around 1978 that includes another catchy Bernard Edwards bassline and I believe he is also the lead male singer. He also sings lead (solo) in "Happy Man" with a bit of bass chucking. He and Nile Rodgers produced songs and played for a variety of well-known artists. You are right, he was an amazing bass player. Thanks again for doing this video.

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks Don. I didn't know that one - I could listen to Bernard's bass playing all day!

[@fixey007]

Great video, his playing on Why by Carly Simon is amazing...

[@robinkoutakis7020]

Your my favorite bass teacher on youtube

[@OnlineBassCourses]

An honour...!

[@bluerhumba1753]

Great breakdown, good tips, thanks for the vid. And what a beauty that Music Man is

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Cheers. Love that bass!

[@mattgwardesq]

As always, brilliant lesson. I wish I could get your name out there to the bass playing masses. Such good, clear instruction. Thank you!

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks very much. Appreciate the comment!

[@marciosouza8656]

Great video Dan. Thanks for sharing with us!

[@paultraynorbsc627]

Thanks for sharing much appreciated 👍

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Cheers for watching 🙏👍

[@richardrichard5409]

Incredibly talented guy taken too soon. Played ohh so slightly late off beat (We Are Family) subtle palm muting, lots of playing the dusty end of the E and A strings, on many tracks all to great effect. Surprisingly, according to Nile, Bernard Edwards used a Fender P for recording, but used other basses when playing live for looks... Stingray, BC Rich, Yamaha, 2x Sadowsky, Spector, a lovely Surf green jazz etc. I wonder where they all are now? There's a great story of how another great bass player heard a Chic track and had seen pics of Bernard with a BC Rich, went out and bought said guitar, couldn't get that tone, only to find he'd recorded with a P on flats, according to Roger Sadowsky, that guy was none other than Marcus Miller 😊 I've read that the story of Bernard never changing strings was him being sarcastic with the interviewer, Bernard was the original bass nerd. He often used Dean Markly flats. He had a savage sense of humour, but was a pedant when it came to recording and liked to keep their production techniques, tweaks and tricks close his chest for obvious commercial reasons. Great upload Dan.

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks for the comment. Lovely stuff.

[@gustavosanders1948]

Great info abt him,thank you! Did you get all this info from Nile's bio book?

[@richardrichard5409]

Info, interview with Nile from ohh, years ago and, my good friend Davide Romani of Change Italy Disco fame, whom shared studios and musicians and singers with Bernard and Nile.

[@kelvinbrooks9588]

Do you have any lessons on the knobs on the bass guitar?

[@OnlineBassCourses]

All basses are different. What do you have?

[@kelvinbrooks9588]

@@OnlineBassCourses I have a 4 string Ibanez 4 knobs. It is a PJ bass.

[@OnlineBassCourses]

@@kelvinbrooks9588 difficult to say without seeing it but it will be volume, pickup blend, bass/treble if the bass is active (has a 9V battery). If passive (no battery) it’s probably two volumes for each pickup then possibly tone for each pickup (maybe not though…). Best thing is to check the specs on the ibanez website.

[@kelvinbrooks9588]

@@OnlineBassCourses wow. Ok then. Man, I really appreciate you taking out time, to answer my question. Thank you so very much. I have been playing a year now, and I am 4 instruments in now. And for some reason there are no instructions with them. Thanks again!!

[@OnlineBassCourses]

@@kelvinbrooks9588 anytime! Let me know if you have any other bass questions.

[@josephcoriz1221]

Nice if kinda understood this lesson,I have a hard time! Thank you

[@andropolisstudiomusic]

Cool Video. Thanks! Bernard was the man!

[@OnlineBassCourses]

He sure was!

[@winstontk]

That was very enjoyable. And informative!

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks, Tony!

[@SombraDeLaMosca]

Great video, thank you, there's everything covered that made Bernard the ultimate funk player =)

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks for checking it out. 👊🙏

[@robinkoutakis7020]

My favourite video Of yours

[@OnlineBassCourses]

I thought you might like this. Thanks!

[@jaschul]

An Ibanez SRX 400, made in Korea, can get you close to a classic MusicMan sound. And they're much less expensive than you'd expect.

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Cool. Thanks for the info...

[@bazmole]

Really useful Dan :-) thanks again

[@OnlineBassCourses]

No problem!

[@BassGods]

Hey Dan! Do you need that particular Bass, to get that same sound? Or could you achieve it on any other Bass? And how much does an Amplifier fire factor in to producing that sound?

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Nothing sounds like that other than a MusicMan really. Or at least a bass with a MM style pickup, preferably voiced for that era. I didn’t use an amp for this video. It’s more bass and player than anything else.

[@BassGods]

@@OnlineBassCourses thanks

[@BassGods]

@@OnlineBassCourses Well! It looks like I'm gonna have to come out my pocket. I've just listened to the sterling by music man version. It sounds kind of similar to the Ernie Ball, But "It's Not" Ernie Ball. What do you think about the Sterling by music man?

[@OnlineBassCourses]

@@BassGods I’ve never played one but they look and sound pretty good to me.

[@BassGods]

@@OnlineBassCourses Thanks. There's nothing like the real thing. I've made my decision. Good luck to you and your channel, and Happy New Year Dan.

[@sonykroket]

Very good....

[@OnlineBassCourses]

🙏🙏

[@rrdream2400]

Great video Dan, you really got that great feel and tone! I read an interview with Bob Clearmountain years ago and he was asked how did he get that amazing bass tone on "Good Times" and he said it was mostly from Bernard's fingers. He played a Musicman Stingray with no amp, just straight into a direct box built at the Power Station and the EQ was flat (on the mixing console I assume he meant).

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks very much! Great info too - that sounds about right...

[@jdb123ize]

I love this tone. Can you get this with the sterling. Is it the bass or your recording equipment

[@OnlineBassCourses]

I don’t have any experience of the Sterling. It’s a mix of the bass (mainly) and the recording gear.

[@tkroll]

Excellent as always, Dan. How about a Paul Jackson video?

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Great suggestion. 👍👍

[@dreamyguitars]

Great stuff Dan :-)

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thank you. 👍

[@ravindraajith4084]

nice

[@hampuslundgren7300]

How much bass and treble would you boost?

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Depends on the bass. I boost the bass about half way and the treble about 20 percent. But I sometimes change that and just go by ear and feel.

[@hunpisi8829]

I’m trying to get his tone with my Fender Player P bass.

[@OnlineBassCourses]

To be completely honest, I think you'll struggle to nail it exactly. P bass tone is amazing but it's different to a 2 band active, pre Ernie Ball MM. BUT, if you focus on his style, playing, timing, and groove, you'll sound awesome. Good luck!

[@hunpisi8829]

@@OnlineBassCourses thank you

[@stealingtomorrowband]

I think i like your Ibanez bass better than this 1.. Great lesson, been watching quite a few of your lessons and have been learning a lot.... A+++

[@OnlineBassCourses]

That’s great, thanks very much!

[@paolozak3014]

Bernard also did a lot of utterly tasteful slapping later on

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Excellent point 👍. This was focusing more on his earlier stuff.

[@stephenbennett1643]

Great lesson as always Dan . I'm a huge Bernard Edwards fan and love playing and learning his basslines. Just out of interest you like myself dabble with frettless bass. Would love to see you feature some frettless players ! Particuarlly Mick Karn, of JAPAN . He is an icon on frettless bass for me, he had his own particular style that kind of made the instrument his own. More frettless please. Do hope you'll give it some thought 👍

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Thanks, Stephen. I have quite a lot of lessons in the pipeline but I’m very much up for more fretless too!

[@stephenbennett1643]

@@OnlineBassCourses Look forwad to that Dan 👍

[@robinkoutakis7020]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@columben7272]

Do you need compressor

[@OnlineBassCourses]

No. I didn’t use one for this.

[@RobertWadlow292]

I don't know how he can play those very fast disco sounding basslines that he does in some Chic songs

[@rubenverastegui6227]

Aquí esta usando un G&L L1000 WUNKAY!... kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z2XOiZSOaqlphMk

[@paultraynorbsc627]

🎸🎸

[@tigerscott2966]

As a bass player, Benard was under rated... Today's music is so bad, people are finally appreciating the classics....

[@thefriendlypsychopath3894]

Damn that 76..i have the reissue stingray, the musicman stingray classic4 ..how do you get that tone, you have flatround strings on your bass?

[@OnlineBassCourses]

This one’s a ‘78 with slightly worn in Elites stainless steel strings. I go straight in with no EQ or compression. I boost the bass a fair amount and just a touch of treble on the onboard EQ.

[@thefriendlypsychopath3894]

@@OnlineBassCourses Thanks I have to try that EQ advice.

[@nicolagiori517]

Good

[@Williamk492]

As a guitar player who only recently got into bass, I only heard about Bernard Edwards since now. I have a huge gap in my musical knowledge! 🫣

[@OnlineBassCourses]

Listen to everything he’s ever done. He was amazing!!

[@Williamk492]

@@OnlineBassCoursesI will! All the best from Belgium 👍🏼🇧🇪☀️