Chords for The Bass Tone Secrets of Gail Ann Dorsey

How did the hookup with David Bowie come about?
He called me on the phone out of nowhere.
Yeah, as he would do.
Yeah, right.
Right, Dave.
_ _ _ _ _ I'm guessing it'd help if I took the lens cap off.
Dudes, dudes, dudes.
I have got somebody incredible in this lesson for you.
This is Gail Ann Dorsey. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ Yes, I have the legendary Gail Ann Dorsey in the house.
Obviously, she was David Bowie's bass player for so long, but right now she's actually
playing for Lenny Kravitz.
[C#] It's _ _ [Am] love, [A] it's love, it's love.
And this is going [D] to be a choice.
It's love, it's love.
[A] _ _ [C] In this video, we're going to be talking about bass tone and specifically the changes that
have happened from back in the 80s and 90s through to what's going on now with bass tone
and essentially how [D] Gail dials it in.
So without further ado, let's go to New York.
A lot of things in the 80s I played with a pick.
I don't have one with me or a [B] plectrum.
So [E] it would be that real sort of, you know. _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bm] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ But now, _ _ _ instantly when I pick up any bass, treble completely off.
_ Maybe a little bit of mid, maybe just if I needed to bite a little bit, and full on [N] bass.
_ And I actually, you know, we were talking about Anthony Jackson earlier and I met him
once at some bass fair in New York City many years ago.
And we were talking in the hallway and I think we were talking about Nathan actually and
some other bass players.
And I said something about, _ _ I think we were talking about the touch or something on the
bass and I play really like, I don't play very hard.
I work with Lenny Kravitz now and I play much harder because his thing is very, you know,
it's that really, _ [D] _
_ [E] _ _ _ [D] _ it's like you got to really like dig and it's very, you know.
[F] It's full of attitude.
Yeah, it's not the right bass for this but I play a jazz bass with him.
Oh do you?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's much more suitable to what he's doing.
He's got the, he wants that older retro kind of vibe, you know.
[N] Some songs I can do Stingray on it but for the most part it's jazz or P bass.
Was he, did he ask you to play jazz?
Was he like, this is what I want?
Absolutely.
_ Finding the right bass for the gig is a real thing.
It's really good if you can have a great knowledge of different basses, P basses, Stingrays, jazz
basses because when you get in a session or gigging situation, you're going to intuitively
understand what the artist is looking for and that is who you're there for.
And also bear in mind that it might not line up exactly with what you want to play as an instrument.
But remember, if you're a freelancer, [E] if you're a session player, that is the game [N] that you're in.
Does he, does he, because he like obviously he plays bass on his records sometimes.
He plays bass, drums, yeah.
He's like, he does some of the engineering and all that.
Has he got like a really good intuitive vibe for exactly what the sound he wants?
He knows exactly what he wants.
He's one of the few, yeah, he's one of the few artists that, you know, and I was talking
to Nick earlier, it's like, I don't mind if people want something, I want to try and give
it to them, you know.
And all the, like when I'm learning something, how someone else played something or what
tone they get, that's a challenge for me to find that and give it to them.
And to me that's just a learning experience.
Doesn't mean that's the way I would play it or I want to play it.
But if it works with the song, I'm happy.
I always say, serve the song.
Get your shit out of the way and just serve the song.
Do the job, yeah.
Yeah, you know, and that to me is like, [G] I'm, [C] you know, I'm happy if I've achieved that
at [G] the end of the day.
But I play really light, you know, and Anthony Jackson was saying to me, he said, you shouldn't
be worried about that.
There's a lot of bass players that have a really light touch, but they still have a
big, can have a big sound.
[D] So in general, I will have full on bass, maybe a little bit of mid, maybe the mid is centered
_ and boosted a little bit if I need to.
So right now I've got no treble on this.
The middle is kind of just, just boosted over the middle, like the mid notch.
[A] And to me, that's the [G] tone.
And I play [B] softly.
_ _ [E] _ Yeah, yeah.
_ [F#m] _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ [F#m] Or, you know, [B] just keep it [G] round.
I don't really, I used to play more with nails even in the 80s.
Everything was so bright then.
When did your tone start to change?
Was it over a period of time?
It wasn't sort of like you were like, I want a different sound.
It was over a period of time.
[N] And the material that I was asked to play was changing.
The sound of records was changing.
From the 80s to the 90s, there's a very different tone that was happening with basses and guitars.
And then grunge came.
And then I got more pedals involved.
And I started having, and with Bowie, I had so many different variations of different
pedal boards and lots of different basses to cover his gamut of sounds.
Over the years of what the basses that have played, from like Let's Dance era, which was
again, that very bright, brighter sounding bass, which I used to use my MTDs for.
_ And then, you know, then there's the old stuff, Hang On To Yourself, Ziggy, all that.
I would use some Marilyn for that pretty much.
Yeah, because there's so many different sounds.
Yeah, I have a 59 P bass.
And I got that while I was out on tour with David in the late 90s.
And I did use it on some songs, but I didn't play many Fender basses.
It's a different feel to these, isn't it?
Like a P bass is just a different feel. Yeah, absolutely.
Thanks for watching, guys.
Huge shout out, [E] obviously, to Gail for being the total boss.
Also, if you want to check out the entire episode where I sit down with Gail for like,
probably like an hour long or something like that, make [G] sure you go over scottsbasslessons.com
and grab a free membership there.
Or if you're already a member, you can, you know, log in and watch it today.
Now, make sure you subscribe to the channel.
You can do that below [D#] and switch your notifications [N] on so next time I release one of these bad boys,
you get notified about it.
As always, guys, take it easy.
I'll see you in the shed.
In fact, this is my shed.
Seriously, this is my shed.
Check this out.
_ Don't know if I take you over here, you'll be able to see what's going on.
I don't know, like, _ that's my kids on the trampoliner side.
_ In fact, _ just come with me.
_ _ We'll give them a shout.
You'll actually see that it is a shed. _ _
_ _ Hey, guys, say hello. _ _