Chords for How to play like Mark Sandman of Morphine - Bass Habits - Ep 63

Welcome to Bass Habits episode number 63.
Today we're gonna talk about one of the most original and underrated [Fm] bass players in rock [B] music,
Mark Sandman of Morphine.
Morphine was an American alternative rock group formed in [E] Massachusetts in 1989.
[F] Combining blues and jazz elements with more traditional rock arrangements,
the band enjoyed positive critical appraisal, but was met with mixed commercial results,
and though they managed to release five studio albums and to tour extensively during their 10-year tenure,
they never really made it big.
[Gb] The band was composed by saxophone player Danny Coley,
drummers Jerome Dupree first and Billy Conway later,
and lead [Gm] singer and bass player [B] Mark [A] Sandman.
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[Em] Without considering songwriting choices, from a mere sonic [Bm] standpoint,
Morphine's unique and unusual sound was mainly due to two elements.
First, the absence of the guitar, the traditional cornerstone of rock music,
and second, the eccentric sound of Sandman's bass guitar.
So what makes Mark Sandman such a standout player?
First of all, the [G] bass.
Mark was a one-of-a-kind musician and so were his instruments,
extensively altered and sometimes built [Am] by hand.
His trademark [G] instrument was a premier bass with only two strings,
D and G, mounted in the center of the neck to keep the tension [E] balanced.
Sandman also used a unitar, named after the one-string instrument in American blues tradition,
and a tritur, a custom bass that mounted one bass string and two guitar strings,
but for the most part, it's a two-strings premier.
By sticking to the two lighter strings,
the resulting sound was [G] something in between a bass and a guitar,
with a lot more definition compared to a regular bass.
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_ [Eb] _ [G] _ _ Number two, the [A] tuning.
Mark didn't stick to a regular tuning.
[G] The two strings on his main bass were mostly tuned to D and A instead [Bm] of D and G.
[Em] Sometimes it was C and G, but the point here is that the two strings were tuned a fifth apart.
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_ _ [B] The fifth is one of the easiest intervals for humans to learn to sing,
meaning it's a strong and easily learned musical interval
that most people can learn to hear relatively quickly.
The fifth [E] is a very powerful [B] interval.
It's actually so powerful that the [G] famous Italian parapsychologist Gustavo Roll once wrote in his diary
I discovered a terrible law linking the color green, the musical fifth and heat.
I lost my will to live, power frightened me.
I will write no more. _
_ _ _ [D] So as you see, the perfect fifth is quite an interval.
Third and final element that makes Mark Sandman's bass stand out so much
is the use of a slide, pretty much on every song.
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_ _ _ [Fm] _ [B] This is episode number 63 and it's the first time I hear a bass guitar play with a slide,
let alone on every song.
The only down part is that the pitch was far from perfect, but whether we like it or not,
the non-perfect [G] pitch is another key element.
Now, if you hit the two open strings at the same time, you practically get a power [A] chord. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ This tuning is actually the only way to play power chords with a slide
and it makes it very easy to play them all over the neck in a very fluid way,
adding the final touch to the morphine sound. _ _
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[D] And that is the foundation of morphine.
Such a simple concept, yet Mark managed to get five albums out of it.
In later records he could tune down and occasionally he would use a four strings,
but the bulk of the sound of morphine is the combination between this weird bass setup,
Mark's voice and Dana's saxophone.
As far as songwriting, there's a few things that need to be pointed out.
First of all, the intervals.
Morphine's bass lines are mostly based on three intervals.
[F] First and most important is of course the fifth.
[D] Considering the tuning used and the use of the slide,
Mark had easy access to fifth intervals anywhere on the neck
and to him it probably felt like the most natural thing to do.
Many of his bass lines are based on [Dm] fifth intervals.
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_ _ _ [Gm] _ [Am] The _ [Bb] _
_ [C] _ _ second interval is the octave.
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[D] And finally, when it comes to chord progressions,
Mark's favorite interval was definitely the minor third.
_ [C] _ [D] _ _ Most of morphine songs revolve around the combination between root and minor third.
Given the tuning, most of the time is D minor and F,
to take advantage of the open strings. _
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_ _ _ [G] _ [Gbm] _ _ _ [D] _
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_ [Dm] _ _ Using this unique tuning doesn't really leave many options open,
but that's the beauty of the music of morphine.
Hypnotic and repetitive bass lines that often revolve only around one note.
If I had to pick a bass line to sum it up, I'd go for I Had My Chance.
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_ [C] But not one of morphine's most known pieces,
this [D] for me is the quintessential Mark Sandman,
as it uses fifth, octave and minor third interval.
[G] Number 5 is chromatic intervals.
[Am] Though the harmony mainly revolves around the three intervals we mentioned,
Mark also used little chromatic intervals that add a little spooky touch to the music of morphine.
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_ [Dm] _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
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[F] Number 6, ghost notes.
Especially when playing live, Mark made a large use of ghost notes to support his [Dm] vocals,
mainly during verses.
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_ [A] _ _ Mark Sandman is way overlooked when talking bass,
and he is often considered a rudimental [G] bass player.
[Dm] His approach to the instrument was definitely different and some people might [D] call it weird.
Still, his unique and instantly recognizable [Dm] sound was the key ingredient
that made morphine stand out from any band of the era,
[Fm] and that make them still sound interesting and somehow fresh [D] today.
Number 5 is the bass line.
Thank you [C] so much for watching this video,
[Dm] please don't forget to leave a comment, subscribe to the channel and follow me on Instagram for more.
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