Chords for Walk On The Wild Side – How To Play Both Bass Lines AT THE SAME TIME!

Hi again, Mark here from TalkingBass.
This week, we'll take a quick look at the
bassline or lines from the song, Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed.
It's a really famous bass riff played by the legendary Herbie Flowers,
but any of you that have tried playing this song will have realized it's not as
simple as it sounds.
So the main problem with this riff is the fact that it's
actually two basslines played at the same time.
The more prominent lower line is
actually played on double bass and sounds like this.
_ [F] _ [C] But then over the top of that,
you also have an electric [E] bassline that sounds like this.
[A] _ _ [E] Okay?
So we've got one line going up and one line going down,
and it's this contrary motion in the two lines that can cause the problems.
So first of all, let's just look at those two lines in isolation.
So we've got this [C] lower line here starting on a C.
The tune is in C major.
So we start on this C there, eighth fret of the E string, play that,
and then we [F] slide down, down to the F at the first fret of the E string.
And then we [C] just play it again and rise up.
Okay?
So one, two, [F] three, four,
one, two, three, four, one.
[C] Okay?
So three beats on the C,
slide down to the F for a single beat, and then slide up again.
Okay?
So that's the lower [E] line.
For the upper line, we start on this E there at the
ninth fret of the G string, [A] then we slide up to the A at the 14th [C] fret
of the G string, then we catch the C at the 17th fret, and [E] then slide back down
to that E at the ninth fret.
So one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one.
Okay?
So we're [C] just playing notes on one and four.
So how can we play this tune as a single bass player with one bass?
Well, you could just take that bottom line of C to F [F] and just play that.
You know, it sounds okay.
You know, we've got the basic notes in there,
and we're holding down the low end.
But there are also a couple of different ways
that we can play the riff where we integrate both lines on one bass.
First of all, we can just slightly alter the line so that on this lower line,
instead of just dropping down to the F, we actually rise up to this F here at the
13th fret of the E string.
So one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.
[E] Then if we add in our upper line, [C] we can play it as two double stops there
or chords.
So we start here with the C and the E there.
So eighth fret E string,
ninth fret G string.
Play both of those notes together.
I'm just using the thumb and the first finger there.
[F] And then we slide it all up
there to the F and the A.
So 13th fret on [E] the E string and the 14th fret on the G
string.
[C] _ [F] Okay?
Then we want to come down.
We keep that first finger held there
[Fm] on the F, and we just grab that C there at the 17th fret with the fourth finger
or the little finger, pinky.
Okay?
[C] So we play that and then we just slide
back down, okay?
Two, three, [F] four, two, three, [C] four, one.
Okay?
[E] So that works pretty well and we get the general [C] effect of the, you know,
the 10th interval in there.
But we [E] can actually play both lines correctly at the
same time by bringing hammer-ons and tapping into play, okay?
So that's going to sound [C] like this. _
_ _ _ [F] _ [C] Okay?
So to do this, we simply play the lower
line by hammering with the left hand.
Two, three, four, one, two, three.
Then we tap [E] with the right hand for the upper line.
One, two, three, [Ab] two, three,
[A] two, three, two, three.
[E] So when we put the two together, we start [C] with the double
stop again, but hammered and tapped [G] there.
And I'm using the second finger of both
hands here just because I feel like I get a little bit [C] more beef in there.
So play those two notes there and then we simply play them again and slide.
So [F] just slide down with that finger down to the F.
So you don't have to concentrate
on that one too much because, you know, you're going to feel that as you get down
to the bottom [C] of the neck.
Concentrate more on the upper notes sliding up to this A.
So [F] I tend to watch for the A because I can feel the F down here.
Okay?
[C] Then we simply tap the C there, 17th fret of [F] the G string, hit that F again down
here, [C] then slide them both down.
So, [F] _ _ [C] okay?
So practice that slowly,
gradually build up speed, and then you can try playing along with a drum track.
So I've sequenced up a drum track over at talkingbass.net.
So just follow the link in the info below, which sounds like this. _
One, two, three, four.
_ [Dm] _ _ _ [F] _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ Okay.
So that's just a few cool ways of playing Walk on the Wild Side.
The lesson material is all there over at Talking Bass.
Just click on the link in the info below or in the card, and then check out the
lesson map for hundreds more free bass lessons on every topic imaginable,
all systemized and organized for ease of navigation.
Okay.
I'll see you next week.
[G] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _