Japan / Mick Karn Bass Lesson - Swing

[@chwompez]

my right ear really enjoyed this

[@mindhead2005]

If you flip your headphones around, you can treat your left ear too! 😄

[@Molluscful]

😅

[@milesmason1343]

Fantastic. This was one of my favourite Karn baselines.

[@mindhead2005]

Thanks Miles. What would that song be without it? Very melodic

[@theartist124]

Me too!

[@MrSilver261]

another great video thanks for sharing !

[@mindhead2005]

Cheers John

[@MrSilver261]

@@mindhead2005 it reminds me of my youth when it was fashionable to get. Seriously depressed to Japan LOL

[@jonasranson7677]

This is awesome... thankyou. Really nicely broken down in to understandable sections...

[@mindhead2005]

Ah brilliant. Thank you for letting me know it was of use. Greatly appreciated Hope you can understand the accent 😀

[@jonasranson7677]

@@mindhead2005 just about 😉... no of course I can. It’s great. It’s nice to have someone here who has so much reverence for Mick Karn. You’re obviously a very accomplished player, but you make it very approachable and easy to understand, what are let’s face it really complex bass lines. I’m a drummer myself but have had a fretless for some years now, and dabbled. I’ve been a fan of Japan’s music from my early teens, Visions of China 12” being the first record I purchased of their’s on release 1981(?) .. I never really thought it would be possible to attempt these songs on fretless, but you’ve made it possible. So thankyou

[@jonasranson7677]

@@mindhead2005 I’ve always wanted to learn ‘In Vogue’ from the Quiet Life LP. Not sure if you’ve covered that already. Also some of his playing on Gary Numan’s ‘Dance’ LP, ‘Subway Called You’ and ‘She’s Got Claws’ for instance.

[@mindhead2005]

@@jonasranson7677 That's so great to hear, because it's exactly what I was trying to achieve. I wanted to make it less intimidating, more accessible and to show how truly original and inventive a player he was. Even if players feel they can't get through an entire song, simply having a couple of recognisable riffs from the master will give them confidence and spur them on in their playing and enjoyment of fretless bass, I hope. "In Vogue" was on my to-do list, and I'll certainly break it down for you. The Gary Numan stuff I will get to eventually. "She's Got Claws" is really up there with the best of his playing, especially rhythmically, lots of ghost notes etc. Thank you for your kind comments about my own playing, it's greatly appreciated.

[@stevenlucas1880]

Might of missed some of your other videos but can you just play it all the way through then do the tutorial? Just love this song so much. Rip Mick Karn

[@mindhead2005]

There’s a play through there somewhere, I think

[@mindhead2005]

Here you go Swing - Japan (Mick Karn) cover by Mindhead kzbin.info/www/bejne/garGZWiri7GsebM

[@stevenlucas1880]

@@mindhead2005 cheers cocker!

[@mindhead2005]

@@stevenlucas1880 welcome!

[@leebrown6702]

Another great upload. Personal favourite Japan song. Considering a used Cort BFL5.. What do you reckon? Fender jazz better? Inspired by your fretless renditions of Mick's playing

[@mindhead2005]

Hi Lee I like Cort stuff and I like active basses more than passive. This particular jazz is pretty good but I prefer smaller basses live Try the cort and if it speaks to you, that’s your bass Thanks for the encouragement, it’s great to know somebody’s getting something from the videos :)

[@marcodegiusti5553]

Thank you!

[@mindhead2005]

You're welcome!

[@IronBhoy]

What effects were being used by Mick Karn ?

[@mindhead2005]

I assume compression and I can hear a subtle flanger effect to emphasise the Fretless sound I think chorus on some as well

[@greatwhite61967]

There's no doubt (as i am a huge fan of all of Mick Karn's work) that Mick was a one in a billion who had his own approach to playing the fretless bass guitar which i think (in my honest opinion) comes from his Greek upbringing... Yes he moved to England as a child but that music would still be playing all around him by his parent's & he took part of his musical heritage & fused it with western progressive music & sounds... Its great that your doing this for fellow Japan & Mick Karn fan's as we must keep all sorts of genres of music alive since the music industry is all but a very very pale imitation of itself... Though i'll admit part of me agrees with what your doing but part of me doesn't as i didn't need someone to show me how to decipher his or any other bass players bass lines... Its one thing keeping someone's style/sound & legacy alive but if bassists (in particular) are spoon fed how to do these bass lines from uploads on KZbin then they'll never figure things out for themselves & the very point of sitting by yourself/playing the song & figuring it out for oneself is the best way to self teach oneself about other musician's playing style & sound... As I've stated its good to keep Mick's bass lines & all his solo & collaborative work alive but a part of me doesnt feel its right to show them all of it, as wants the point of practicing , because if you dont sit & figure these things out for yourself you'll just hold yourself back... The internet can be very helpful with such things but it can also lead to laziness & not putting your own time in to figure bass lines out for yourselves... As soon as i woke up & before going to work i'd have this particular song or another of Japan's song's playing in my head as i'd listened to it constantly time after time for hour's until it was engraved in my head & when i got home from work or on my days off i spent from morning to last thing at night learning those & many other bassists bass lines, like Mark King/Pino Palladino/Nik Begg et al Figuring it out by myself & its not about me & going on about having an ego as i had to spend from daylight until nightfall time after time constantly listening to band's & solo act's that i liked & their bassists bass line on songs like Sade's " Smooth Operator " or Jimmy Nail & his hit song " Ain't No Doubt Which has a sweet bass line by fellow co-writer & bassist with Jimmy & he also played for Pink Floyd & many other's & that is Guy Pratt... My point respectfully is by all means help other musician's out there but dont put everything on a plate for them as how are they ever going to truly learn/evolve & develop by themselves... I feel the electric bass guitar is just like any other instrument in that you should feel it deep down within you & what your doing should be about emotional content or it will just sounds wooden & to achieve this you have to put the time in by yourselves... Again a Big Thank You for showing other's how to play this bass line but you should add at the end that they should search out the bass lines they want to learn " by themselves " & occassionally if stuck then go onto KZbin or other media sites & look at how others are doing a particular bass lines as to me its like learning to drive a car by your best friend but in doing so you copy all of their wrong mistakes & then you wonder why you failed on the day of your Driving Test!.. Try & learn any bass line or any other instruments parts by yourself as you'll take yourself on a musical journey & a process that you wont get from coping other's... In light of this still ongoing coronavirus outbreak stay safe and healthy wherever you are in this world... .....

[@mindhead2005]

Thanks for your comment. It's important to remember that watching these videos is not mandatory, and that any bassist is free to take whatever they like out of them - maybe a phrase they couldn't hear properly, or a position that I gleaned from watching the same song on every video I could find. Some may not need it explained ( I prefer that to "spoon-fed ;) )but some people really appreciate the help. Everyone has different levels of ability, and it's always nice to see that explaining it has given someone the push they need to continue. Knowing what to play still means people have to practice it to play along Emotional content is delivered if you have an emotional reaction to the song, and maybe some people will feel freer to play along with that emotion if they're more sure the parts are as correct as possible. I know I do. It's there if people want it, it can be scrolled by if they do not. :) What doing this stuff has shown me this time is that Mick Karn's genius was not in his technical ability, though that was present, but in his ability to create fluid and complex SOUNDING lines very simply. Having access to these lines can show people that, who might otherwise have thought it was too difficult. These people have left their comments on some of the videos. While I like your car test analogy, I don't think I'd ever have passed mine if I had been left to just try and figure out how to drive correctly myself. If my friend had put more work in than me - and he had! - he could've shown me where I was going wrong. And he did. :) What made me return to doing this is the fact that so much of what is available is NOT explained, and is accurate to wildly varying degrees One of my own other passions is The Beatles, and there are channels which break down some of the guitar parts incredibly accurately, and because I'm not a guitarist really, I really appreciate those peoples' work on it. Lastly, my channel is tiny, I don't have many subs, and I really do this for myself and a VERY small group of people. But I intend to get to as many of Mick's lines as I possibly can. He was a true genius and a one-off. Understanding the "how" has only emphasised this for me, not diminshed it. Interesting discussion, thanks for watching, and I hope you stay safe and keep rocking that bass.

[@iangibson871]

you need to turn your volume up a bit - even on max here I can hardly hear you

[@mindhead2005]

Thanks for the feedback. Do you mean the overall volume of the video or my speaking voice, Ian?

[@iangibson871]

@@mindhead2005 The overall volume of the video

[@iangibson871]

@@mindhead2005 After cranking everything to the max to hear you I clicked on another video extolling the wonders of a 54 Jaguar straight 6 and nearly blew my cones!

[@mindhead2005]

@@iangibson871 lol! Well a jag straight 6 SHOULD be loud 😀 Thanks for that Ill have to look into how to do that. The interface is showing peaking going in, so theres probably a way to set the input level in the computer itself.

[@mindhead2005]

It appears I can adjust overall volume in iMovie afterwards, but not after uploading here. The trick I suppose is knowing how much required