{"id":11988,"date":"2018-02-05T11:10:58","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T16:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/?p=11988"},"modified":"2018-02-05T11:10:58","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T16:10:58","slug":"is-this-the-prettiest-bass-line-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/article\/is-this-the-prettiest-bass-line-in-the-world.html","title":{"rendered":"Is this the prettiest bass line in the world?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you look up any list of &#8220;greatest bass players of all time&#8221;, James Jamerson will show up, and he&#8217;s usually in the top 5.<\/p>\n<p>Why is James so highly regarded? It&#8217;s not because of being flashy nor the most technically adept. It&#8217;s because he knew how to contribute the best possible bass that made the song better. And that is ultimately why he is considered by many to be the ultimate session player. <\/p>\n<p>One song in particular is said by some to have the &#8220;prettiest bass line ever&#8221;, <em>Darling Dear<\/em> by The Jackson 5, in which James did the bass line for.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><iframe height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ND-iW51idC0?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The reason why some believe <em>Darling Dear<\/em> is the prettiest bass line is emotion, as in an emotive play style. James plays under both major and minor 7th chords where every note seems to fit just right, complementing the other instruments heard.<\/p>\n<h3>For those chasing after James Jamerson tone&#8230;<\/h3>\n<p>In earlier Motown recording sessions, James used a double bass, but then switched to the Fender Precision Bass. The strings he used were flatwound. Specifically, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/labella-1954\">the &#8220;1954&#8221; set by La Bella<\/a> that is still made today. <\/p>\n<p>However, be warned: If you have never used that string, they are thick, very tight at pitch and feel like bridge cables. For a double bass player, this was a feel they were accustomed to. But for a modern bassist, you may want something that has the great flatwound sound without the super-tight tension. You get that with <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/labella-lowtension\">Low Tension Flats<\/a>, also made by La Bella.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you <em>need<\/em> a P-Bass to get Jamerson tone?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No, but you do need an electric bass that is a top-loader since flats will get wrecked at the saddle when installing them on a thru-body.<\/p>\n<h3>Does <em>Darling Dear<\/em> have the prettiest bass line?<\/h3>\n<p>It&#8217;s definitely one of the best. Smooth tones, impeccable note choices, very clear sound in the mix, and genuine emotion in the play style. It doesn&#8217;t get much better than that. This is the kind of sound that many bassists chase after because it&#8217;s just that good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you look up any list of &#8220;greatest bass players of all time&#8221;, James Jamerson will show up, and he&#8217;s usually in the top 5. Why is James so highly regarded? It&#8217;s not because of being flashy nor the most technically adept. It&#8217;s because he knew how to contribute the best possible bass that made &#8230; <a title=\"Is this the prettiest bass line in the world?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/article\/is-this-the-prettiest-bass-line-in-the-world.html\" aria-label=\"More on Is this the prettiest bass line in the world?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":11987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11988"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bestbassgear.com\/ebass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}