Chords for The Bass Line That Started Disco ‘Fever’

_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ Any discussion of bass playing in popular music over the last 50 years has got to include
Morris Gibb of the Bee Gees.
The Bee Gees saw mega success after reinventing their sound in the mid-70s, a sound clearly
coming from black American, _ dance music, and disco.
It was truly the music of the day.
Said Morris,
We weren't on the charts, we were the charts.
This was well-crafted, grooving music, and Morris Gibb played bass on most of those iconic hit songs.
He not only had a deep [Gb] sound, he had a highly creative approach, and I'm going to show you
how he took one chord over a disco beat and made it magic.
From [Bb] 1976, _ You Should Be Dancing.
Dancing, [G]
yeah!
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ You [E] probably recognize this song [N] from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, but actually
it was the lead single off of the album Children of the World, recorded in January of 1976,
almost two years before the movie.
Disco at the height of disco.
This groove sits at around _ _ 121 beats per minute, and it revolves around a four-on-the-floor
beat from the drums. _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ Most of the song [G] is over one chord, G minor, but Mo Gibb shows us five more ways to play
over that same chord and that same drum beat.
He's making the song move forward with the bass line.
Check out how the bass starts to move a little during the verse. _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ [D] In [Gb]
1975, Morris Gibb started playing a Fender Precision bass after using a Rickenbacker for years.
That bass, along with him using a pick on flat wound strings, _ is one of the hallmarks
of the Bee Gees sound.
Listen to how he changes the bass line again during the chorus, and it becomes [C] one of the song's hooks.
_ _ [Bm] _ _ [Bb] _ _
[B] _ _ [C] _ _ [Bm] _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ _ [G] If _ [Gm] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ you listen hard, you can hear how creative he is on the track, in adding [C] extra notes
and using slides to just bring the line to life. _
And if you listen hard enough, you'll hear Stephen Stills, who happened to be recording
down the hall in the same studio, playing percussion on this song.
Also worth noting, Morris came up with those horn lines, and because he couldn't write
them out, he sung them to the horn section. _
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_ [F] _ _ [G] _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _
_ [F] _ _ [G] _ _ [F] _ _ [G]
After the breakdown, he hits us with four more different variations to the bass line,
including this little gem, _ _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _
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[F] and a new take on that bass line from the chorus, [Gm] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ [Gm] _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ and this
cool little hemiola as the song is fading out.
[Gm] _ _
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There is a reason this [G] music is so popular, and Morris Gibb is a huge [D] part of that.
The next time you hear one of these [G] mega hits by the Bee Gees, listen hard.
You're going to hear a huge, [D] pillowy bass [Cm] sound that's mixed right up [Eb] front and [B] locked
[Cm] on the groove.
It's been 20 years since Morris Gibb has [Gm] passed away, but thankfully, his music is going to
be around for a long time.
So check it out. _
_ [Cm] _ _ [B] _ _ [Eb] _ _ [B] _
_ [Cm] _ _ [B] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ [Gm] _ _ _ [N] _ _ _ _