Wilton Felder was both a sax and bass player (hence the reason you see the photo above of him with a saxophone,) and one of the “holy grail” songs of all time when it comes to bass lines is when he put his talent to work on the Jackson 5 track I Want You Back.
This is the original studio release:
This is the isolated bass track Felder played:
As you’ll hear, Wilton’s bass is very “thumpy” and just outright beautiful-sounding. Yes, technically the low E string is warbling a bit, but it still sounds amazing.
Not only can you brush up and use this as a guide to learn one of the best bass lines ever, but now you know that Wilton’s sound on this track, while not sonically perfect, still sounded right. And that’s all that matters.
wasn’t there an electric gtr doubling the line exactly? i’m going on memory…those neat ol’ flatwounds…
Check out Louie Shelton’s YouTube video on the making of I Want You Back. He says there were 3 guitar players one of whom doubled the bases part. Killer bass and guitar playing on that one. The Wrecking Crew was amazing.
One of the greatest bass lines ever! Thanks!
Just the way I remembered it. Good to know who actually played it. I don’t remember any guitar doubling the bass, just pure Motown thumpy bass work. Great syncopated flourishes. I grew up in Detroit during the era. Love it!
I really appreciate the video of Wilton’s bass line. I play this bass line almost daily, missing a few notes of course. So I truly appreciate the clear template you’ve provided. Please keep ’em coming.
Wow didn’t know great work
Rememberh e is comming through a an Acoustic360, if you’re aged enough to remember what that means…thanks,no dis young people… You’ll bes saying this about Bugerai n 20 years..Love&Peace to all.
I always thought this was a James Jamerson track.
Anybody know why JJ didn’t lay this track down?
Pretty sure he was still the number one guy for Motown at this time.
Must remember that , thinking it was Jamerson up until I was corrected a short while ago , did Wilton use a pick on this track by any chance ?
Heaven! Heaven coming out of a bass guitar. Go, Wilton Felder. Those 4 bars will last forever in Rock n’ Roll history!
I always assumed it was James. In hindsight you can see that the style is not James, even though the fluidity is there, especially on the E min-B min-C maj-G major triads on the break. If you can pull that off every time you can call yourself a Bass player.
Exactly the line I transcribed for myself when I fell in love with this bass line many years ago… Besides great “bass melody” and overall feel, I especially like the building arpeggiated lines during the vocal break before the finale. …Thanks to the isolated track however, it now sounds to me like bass played with a pick, and you can even hear some cross-picking (across strings) become apparent. Thanks!
That bass is tight! Thank you for posting!!! I can’t play bass or anything, but what a bass line.
Thanks for the vid of the Jackson 5. Can’t lie. It looks better on radio.