'Never Gonna Give You Up' Has A Crazy Bass Line!! (tabs & tutorial)

[@talkingbasslessons]

Lesson material: www.talkingbass.net/the-crazy-rick-roll-bass-line

[@quackinton]

good to know this lesson will never give me up, let me down, run around, or desert me!

[@talkingbasslessons]

It’ll also never make you cry, say goodbye or hurt you. Lots of upsides.

[@KellyEUTAH]

Honestly, I was never able to make out the bass line in this song, and thanks to this video, I know why. I'm gonna try and listen harder. Now that I know it's in there somewhere. Lol!

[@rickbaraniuk2447]

Your lessons are awesome!

[@Brett.Williams365]

Thank you, Mark. I really appreciate the breakdown.

[@kyleetie5608]

Great lesson, & love your pacing!!

[@nylesfrench3568]

😮 Whoa, I wasn't aware of this tune. Great Funky Bassline, just another one on the list. Still working on "Come on, Come Over". 😊

[@PorchBass]

Band "let's throw a ricvk roll in the set! It's only 4 chords' Bassist '.......,.,.,'

[@davidbalan6571]

Never Gonna Give You Up" is a song by English singer Rick ' Astley, released on 27 July 1987 .

[@waynekerr5645]

. . . and is, in my opinion, indicative of what was wrong with ‘pop’ music in the eighties. Stock Aitken & Waterman churned out drivel like this week in week out. Interesting as an exercise no doubt, cheers Mark, but utter shite all the same.

[@Laionel76]

Your videos are awesome, nothing to criticize here. I can help but think that a lot of pieces in 4/4 (and 2/4) are easier to count as 8/8 (and 4/8), counting that way gives me a better sense about where I am in the bar. My brain process thing much easily when sticking to «and», counting to eight is easy, the quarter notes start on uneven number (1 3 5 7) one get used to it pretty fast. The thing is that you treat it like a 4/4 (or 2/4) just do not count it as such. This also push back the apparition of «e» and «a» to 32th notes.

[@dankokozar]

The bassline of this song is so “mechanic”, because this was time when HOUSE music just got commercial, and this song felt a lot like house (which was a part of its success in the charts). I remember this song being distinct from other songs because of this very different bassline, which was not quite playing along with the chords, but playing “something else” instead (“stubborn” in a way, ignoring the rest of the song, but somehow still managing to blend in). The premise of house music back then was sampling a bunch of different things and blending them together, that’s why the bassline feels so “off”. I’d suggest you to take a look at yet another Stock Aitken Waterman song: “Nothing’s gonna stop me now”, by Samantha Fox. This bassline is very special, ritch in terms where it goes, although it’s all octaves. Because of this, it’s quite hard to remember how to sing the song (the pitch of the mellody), and you’ll find some unsuccessfull karaoke attempts here on KZbin. It’s a synth bass, plus slaps on the real bass.

[@5pr1nk57]

Very true but the bassline wasn't sampled, it was played on a Yamaha DX-7

[@terrybillington2482]

You are good mate. My new bass hero

[@paulwhittle6728]

Mark, yet another fantastic video, a polite suggestion from me however! will one of you 'You Tube', bass gurus PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE cover some of 'Robert (Kool) Bells' , Kool & the Gang, bass work while this Disco/Funk genius is still with us, may I again politely suggest you start with 'Fresh' because this is THE song that got me into Bass playing.... Ta Muchly !! For the sake of argument it's always a 'Barm cake" !

[@DavidTurchickVEGAN]

Thanks. I'll just say I was expecting to hear you play the bass part along with the song at some point, to better understand how they blend together...

[@mariosabga5485]

I slapped this on a gig, played slightly different to you but I'm sure you are more correct than I was.

[@CrimsonCom]

Surprised you omitted to say that this bassline was purloined from Trapped by Colonel Abrams! The Colonel could do with some respect for his years of service.

[@jayeds4377]

Poor bugger died penniless years back

[@talkingbasslessons]

I didn’t actually realise until now. It’s not a sample, but it’s definitely a copy of the line. This is why it’s so odd in the Stock, Aitken and Waterman version. The harmony is different, making for that odd clash. Thanks for the heads up.

[@CrimsonCom]

@talkingbasslessons Great analysis and breakdown of the line. Inspired me to buy an octaver pedal soon I think. Really enjoy your clear, expressive style on the channel 🤟

[@rodoherty1]

There's a brilliant video on YT of some kid playing this line with a pick. Sounds awesome! I still don't know what a rickroll is; was it just the way he danced?

[@talkingbasslessons]

If I said “Check out this link to [insert thing you really want to see]” and the link takes you to the Never Gonna Give You Up video, that’s a Rick roll. Google it and you’ll see how it developed form 4chan back in the mid 2000s.

[@YNVNEone]

Being rickrolled was annoying AF!! *sigh* The good old days.

[@SlashyJ]

@@YNVNEone I used to hate it but I enjoy it now.

[@b1uerogue]

I love the way this guy teaches ..but when he's looking at the camera it's like he's expecting me to understand it like it's simple lol ...

[@dilemmacubing]

Look up never gonna give you up isolated bass. Many people have gotten close without it but put that on 0.75 speed and get it perfect. Also curious how you got that tone. Is it gated fuzz?

[@dilemmacubing]

Also checking out some of your other videos.

[@garryyoung8945]

Nice

[@bootsycoll]

Yamaha DX7 Bass01 patch slightly tweaked..pretty much the go to bass sound for all Stock Aiken Waterman tracks…interestingly, The Bananarama “Venus” bass sound is the the DX7 bass 01 patch layered with Bass02….which is the same patch used for the bass on Berlin’s “Take my breath away”

[@DarkShaman667]

Yeah. I had to transcribe that one and then try to play it at a gig. It was a nightmare.

[@joshdennis1]

Learning this line is like a Rick roll in itself! Very unintuitive

[@1234drums]

This one will turn out very useful 😂😂😂😂

[@kubehan]

Why not play the bass AND the song at the same time

[@talkingbasslessons]

You know the rules. And so do I.

[@kubehan]

@@talkingbasslessons 🤣🤣🤣👍🏻👍🏻

[@joanstone6740]

fjb