Mark King's bassline on 'Easy' by Nik Kershaw

This video is a play-through of Mark King's bassline from 'Easy', by Nik Kershaw. This great song appeared on Nik's 1983 album The Riddle. Mark plays a slap groove throughout most of the track, although the Intro and Re-Intro sections feature a slippery fingerstyle unison line.
To closely mimic Mark King's recorded tone, I used a JayDee Supernatural bass, played through a Yamaha E1010 analog delay unit for a chorused sound. The bass was strung with Rotosound strings, gauges .030, .050, .070, .090. Mark used the same equipment on the original recording.
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[@Sinjinator]

Nik Kershaw is an underrated musical genius!

[@Generalbas1972]

One of Mark King most overlooked basslines, it's pure brilliance.

[@andreljungberg4255]

Never get tired of seeing u play this fantastic bass line, from my childhood idol!

[@StuartClayton]

Thank you!

[@danielpalmersofficial]

Definitely Mark King’s most underrated bass line, I love this song and this damn catchy bass line!! ✌️😙

[@ninathilas-mohs7626]

One of my favourite Kershaw tracks ever!! Really nice, tight job. Thank you 🙏🏻

[@jaydeebasssociety268]

That MK signature still stands out like a badge of honor,..........nice job, mate!

[@StuartClayton]

Thanks - and yes, very pleased to have that signature!

[@wecanrebuildhim]

Being from the states, we never had access to any of Kershaw's music in the music stores back in the '80's. It wasn't till youtube came along that I could finally be introduced to and appreciate this classic masterpiece.

[@matty6598]

Do you know if that was true for the whole of the USA?

[@wecanrebuildhim]

@matty6598 Only the major artist like Duran Duran and other high-profile bands only appeared on the store shelves in the U.S.

[@guidobruzzone9462]

A great almost forgotten masterpiece..Your cover is superb.Great tone too.Bravo.

[@gideonsikk8733]

Got a pocket full of fluff Nik is quite the genius

[@AngelicusImmortus]

many dont know but, Nik Kershaw wrote the intro but wasnt sure how to do the rest eith flourishes etc. so he called in Mark King and basically said "This is the riff. You work out the rest of it" They played through it twice so Mark could get the feel of it, and then recorded the whole thing. Done in one take. He is acknowledged for it on the album. I have been told that its one of the first songs/tracks to feature the bassline so front and centre in the mix throughout the track. Basically its a bass guitar with the rest woven around it. i did hear in an interview in Germany from nearer the time, Nik said it was lyrically one of his favourite songs so he really wanted it on the album but having only got the riff knew he needed a really talented guy to come in and do it, and in thinking who's the best Bass player could only think of Mark. Subsequently, Level 42 included it in some of their tours with Mark singing it as well. Very overlooked bass player, which is rather scandalous.

[@Frontier2000AnoDomin]

Nice. Tight. I was a Kershaw fan li g before a Level 42 fan. After becoming a L42 fan I rember going back to listen to Easy and thinking "wow, Kershaw's bass player on that track sounds completely different from the rest of the album. Jeeeez, sounds like it could have been Mark King". It was only years later that I found out it was King. There must be a story behind how he ended up on that track. Great track and one of King's most interesting (and forgotten) bass lines.

[@Sinjinator]

Pretty much the same thing happened to me! I knew Nik since 1984, King since 1989. But I couldn’t make the connection until the internet age… now I’ve gone back to see who the bass players were for Paul Young and Gary Numan…fascinating stuff!

[@pompeytheriddle]

Heard an interview by Nik recently where he said he met Mark King at a Top of The Pops recording. They got chatting and Mark really liked what Nik was doing on the Human Racing album. Mark said he’d love to collaborate and work on something together. Insanely Nik’s second album (The Riddle) came out only 9 months after the first, and Easy is off that album. So it seems they quickly found a time to collaborate. What a great track Easy is. Should’ve been a single.

[@andreljungberg4255]

@@pompeytheriddle I was sure The Riddle came before Human Racing, wierd!

[@kevinallen9106]

That intro is sublime. The harmonic and the descending run at the end… such detail.

[@BassFan1]

Perfect playing there by Stuart, unbelievably smooth

[@GrumpyD73]

This is phenomenal - well done sir! I've always thought as a bluffer musician that's there is a certain irony that this song is called Easy 🤪

[@kevinallen9106]

So little found about this track. Loved it since 1984. Glad you covered it!

[@davegiordano7821]

Wonderful tone for tone adaptation... and also to admire how Mark makes the bass line sound interesting with the many chord changes until the end.... 🎉

[@commuterbranchline8132]

Wow, that brought me back a decade or two. Bravo Sir, Bravo!

[@andyg4082]

Awsome fella 👏👏👏

[@markbass354]

sounds really good, much thanks Stuart

[@golddusttraining9892]

Great playing Stu! Lovely to see that bass in action

[@victorinoxgroupe6690]

Absolutely love this song and you did it perfectly. The sequence behind is also very well programmed. Congrats man, this is a powerfull performance.

[@StuartClayton]

Thank you!

[@twehnes]

That's really great! Respect and compliment.

[@galza36]

Such a great song and great playing..cool man

[@OliverHall1]

You've done it again Mr Clayton! Un-frickin-believable :) Now to start very slowly working through the lessons on your site!

[@wesleycoutinho6650]

Muito bom!!!!! Bela pegada de mark king🤙

[@re2dymade]

This is absolutely amazing! I had no idea about this song. This is such a hooky and memorable bass line though, the song would’ve been a great single.

[@judsonleach5248]

OH MY God!!!!!! Sooooo GOOD!!!!!!! :-)

[@rossco420]

Awesome Stuart 🔥🔥you have some beautiful instruments

[@YankeesInLove]

This is great!

[@MatsEvensen]

Awesome job Stuart

[@GustavoFernandes0]

Very nice!

[@alexcarrerimusic6140]

Super! 🤩👍🏻👍🏻

[@michaelb.42112]

This bass line is SO difficult to play, and you have Mark's signed JD. I kind of hate you right now. You are awesome !

[@StuartClayton]

Haha, thanks Mike. It's not one of Mark's Jaydee's though, just one I got him to sign. And you're right, it is a difficult line to play

[@GoldenBoyDims]

Great playing nothing “easy” about this bassline at all lol so funky, I wonder if you’ll ever touch on the bassline on I like it by debarge that’s another great one

[@roberto2k1]

Man, where did you find the instrumental of the original song?

[@StuartClayton]

I didn't. I hired some excellent musicians to help me recreate it

[@ckv6]

You're awesome for playing to such a high standard. Bravo! Must be so satisfying to play. I just realised that the backing track sounds like the original. Did you play in the original recording and have access to the original studio track?

[@StuartClayton]

Thanks! I hired some excellent session musicians to help me recreate the track.

[@philipedelmann397]

What a great video and tutorial this is! Thank you so very much. ´But´ in the downward moving at 01.30 for example (and in the beginning), there is one note missing imho. It´s the first note of the movement coming on the exact 1 of the transition. In my view it wouldn´t make sense for Mark King to leave this note out, and so I guess he wasn´t. You know what I mean?

[@StuartClayton]

Thanks. No, I don't agree with your comment - the phrase starts on the second sixteenth of the beat, there is no note played on the beat.

[@Mr.HYd3]

Nice clean playing and outstanding groove Stuart! 👍 What kind of bass is that?

[@OliverHall1]

He he... you'll need to subscribe to Stuart's video lessons for that - he explains the full rig and how he gets the tone in the Lesson Overview video. (Spoiler: It's a Jaydee Supernatural ;)

[@Mr.HYd3]

@@OliverHall1Thank you for the info 😁 I'm a pro bass player since '80s.

[@OliverHall1]

Actually - this is all in the video description!

[@Mr.HYd3]

@@OliverHall1 Hahaha my bad! Thank you anyway 😁

[@StuartClayton]

It's a JayDee Supernatural bass - same instrument Mark used on the original

[@Chinchu86]

Hey Stuart. Quick question, what's your EQ configuration to get this sound?

[@StuartClayton]

Just a small boost on the treble and bass controls. There's also some chorus on there, as it says in the description. The bass has a pretty unique tone, which is most of what you are hearing.

[@Chinchu86]

@@StuartClayton thanks!

[@scarbee1]

what bass model is this? And was it modified?

[@StuartClayton]

Jaydee Supernatural Series 3 I think. Not modified.

[@scarbee1]

@@StuartClayton thanks. Love the sound… well played.

[@scarbee1]

@@StuartClayton thanks. Love the sound. Hope to find one soon😉

[@lawrencepaul457]

sir what are string gauge?

[@StuartClayton]

30s on this one. I use 40s for everything else, but went lighter to more accurately capture the tone.

[@lawrencepaul457]

@@StuartClayton thank you for that info

[@ronmoes42]

Perfect! and now play as if your life depends on it :P slap the wood silly

[@marcusbellbass1375]

Great cover, maybe get the original style pickups in for the authentic tone 👍🏼

[@StuartClayton]

Cheers Marcus, I think it's close enough...!

[@marcusbellbass1375]

@@StuartClayton cool, as long as your happy with it that’s what’s important 👍🏼

[@OliverHall1]

@@marcusbellbass1375 Are they *not* the original pickups then? Stuart's look identical to my brother's JayDee Supernatural Mark King Signature bass which had never been modified. How were you able to tell?

[@marcusbellbass1375]

@@OliverHall1 the tone, these are humbucking pickups (SN2000) from Jaydee 👍🏼

[@marcusbellbass1375]

@@OliverHall1 listen here, a Jaydee with the original split coil pickups kzbin.info/www/bejne/jaK6g3uslN-or7c

[@richmondpp]

I read that as mark kings easy bass line by nick kershaw, then played the video, should have known better🙄

[@StuartClayton]

Yeah, it's certainly not easy!

[@Henrik_Mikkelsen]

This man looks like he could play bass and i dont know... do taxes or something simulatious GGG

[@StuartClayton]

Errrr…. Thanks?

[@Henrik_Mikkelsen]

@@StuartClayton no its all good.... you just look as if there's absolutely nothing to it while you play this cool stuff!! :)

[@StuartClayton]

@@Henrik_Mikkelsen haha, thanks! I think it’s a look of concentration!