Very true that's why no matter if you play it right or wrong as long as Everybody Plays the same thing it sounds good to those listening out in the audience.
Sorry to disagree with most of the folk on here! But I think "Wrong" in the title is putting it strong, unless you're determined to play it exactly as Pickett's original - but frankly, most people - bassists, other players and most importantly the audience - will be far more familiar with the Commitments version. IMHO it's one of those rare cases where the cover surpassed the original - cleaner, somehow funkier. So, sorry, I'll be sticking to C-F#-G-Bb-C the way I've always played it Thanks for the tips re. isolation software, will no doubt come in handy in the future. Cheers John
I probably never got the notes right, but nearly every time I’ve played that song it was the Buddy Guy version, which just murders the beautiful syncopation of the WP version. Drove me to the brink of despair some nights!
At 53 years old I’ve never heard this song one time on the radio. I had a music store for 4 years and never sold a copy. I’m intrigued by the fascination with bands playing this song in clubs. I honestly don’t get it. Played in bands in my youth, and this song was never requested. Yet every time I go see a live band, the song is always played. Glad there’s a tutorial to get it right.
Dave: You're not quite old enough. At the age of 70.5, I can tell you it burned up the AM airwaves during my early teens. I'd say this and Midnight Hour were the two most played songs by Wicked Pickett that I can recall. How it got to be a club favorite I'm not quite sure, but if I had a dollar for every time I've played it beginning at age 14...Certainly it was due in large part to the renaissance the song enjoyed in the early 90's with the movie, and soundtrack to "The Commitments." It's an infectious, greasy groove when it's not over-executed by a drunken bar band. And nobody on this planet sings it like Wilson did!
Greg I'm 70 and agree 100 % with your post. In the mid to late 60's I lived in Michigan 60 miles from Detroit and Mustang Sally and Midnight Hour got CONSTANT airplay on every station. I've played many times.
A great breakdown! Nice that people study and appreciate the skills these "old-school" musicians had. They didn't "overthink" things, had some knowledge of theory but mostly used instinct from tradition. Music is Rhythm and Pulse in the foundation, with the vocals providing Melody while telling a Story. Learning how to interact and mind-meld within the Pulse is the key to being a good player, and not just an ego-tripper Thank you!
Partly true but most of the 60s session players had a jazz background. Learning to play walking lines and solo had a huge influence on the lines they played.
This song has the Muscle Shoals legendary rhythm section “The Swampers” on its track. These guys just knew how to groove. They don’t have much background in jazz either to my knowledge but they were amazing players
@@talkingbasslessons Cogbill played jazz guitar before becoming a studio player. The jazz background seems a parallel with Jamerson and how they both use a lot of chromatics. Really sounds like any 'out' choices he made were entirely deliberate (such as the major/dominant against minor in Chain of Fools).
The real reason bassists get this wrong is because we can't be bothered to actually learn it. You know you get the song list and this one always gets pushed to the "it's just a 1-4-5 with a groove" pile. Well now I know it, so thanks! I might still play it wrong on purpose though. I like to do like a funky shout chorus under it.
Damn I have been playing this song wrong all these years. I even played with Eamonn Flynn, the road keyboard player for the Commitments for a few years. When I see him next and show him this riff, I am curious to his reaction.
Now I do a lot of bass gigs and I always do it right! But as you say nobody cares. Actually that isolated part is a little different than what I thought it was 😮
Thank you for posting that. Wow, Mustang Sally. Yea, I been playing bass since 1974 and I remember that song being brought up so, so many times. I did it, well we did it and no matter how off to the left or the right we did the tune, it mostly went over due to the condition of the listeners at that point. Well, one day when I was home practicing new tunes that our band was doing, I remember we discussed that It would be a good idea to actually get the dam song Mustang Sally down right, as best we can. Let me tell ya, Im talking the year 2001 when technology was just not what it was today. So, I had to do this the hard way. I sat back and just listened to the dam song over and over until I had to pick up the bass and try. I am a very good " pick up by ear " bassist but Dam, I could not get the lick perfect. I had to try different headphones, studio monitors and equalize until I thought I had it right. When I finally got it ( that same thing you just showed us on your video ) I sat there trying to sink in the riff and I thought to myself, No No, this aint the dam lick! So I started playing along with the record like I did at the start. Holy Crap! It took me 4 hours to get the Mustang Sally lick! I felt stupid and satisfied at the same time. Thank you for sharing that. Helps me even more to believe I got that dam song down right. Now, it's actually more fun to play!
Great video sir!!! I began 45 years ago finger plucking because, frankly, almost none of my bass heroes used a pick. I began experimenting after 3 years or so and really fell hard for the plectrum. I use the big Fender triangle heavy gauge. I found that by varying my hold location, I can get more or less flexibility and there's plenty of surface area to work with. Plus, when sweat becomes a factor, you can spin the pick to catch the closest point if it slips. Just my take on the subject. I realize it isn't for everyone.
I imagine a lot of people, like me, learned this a lot of years ago off a 4th or 5th hand cassette copy where any hope of hearing all the original bassline was long gone so we either played 1)what fit the bog standard major or minor chords the guitarist played (see the theory bit) 2) what our mate, mentor or bassist you admired in the local pub played 3) used the version "The Commitments" played or 4) played something different every night just to keep it interesting. I never dreamt back then we'd have access to the sort of technology that allows us to isolate these barely audible parts. Now all you (still) gigging bassists have to do is make the rest of your bands play the correct parts too 😂😂😂 thank you for a really interesting post. Now subscribed.
Kudos to you for isolating the authentic bass line. The only question I would have is, is that the best bass line for the song? The slide up from B to C on the first beat suits me fine, as does the slide from F# to G on the way back up. However the choice of the 6th (A) note instead of going to Bb, irks my ear a bit. I tend to think that the song works in spite of that choice, and because under all the instruments, the bass riff is murky anyway. In a perfect world I would lose that 6th and use the 7th.
Mark ! ! ! Thank you so very much for this break down of Mustang Sally.... Like you have said trying to pick it out of an old 45 rpm record is tough. I have had countless arguments and a few "your fired" over this tune in the 50+ years I have been playing it. I discovered some cities different are adamant about how they perform certain oldies among the local musical populations. Your presentation style is terrific. I have been a long time lurker on Talking Bass. Thanks again. Maybe a Word on "Peter Gun" next time. :) 🤣
Great analysis - your playing makes Mustang Sally almost palatable. I possibly have to play this at a jam night tomorrow and a private party on Sunday. Your insight has been invaluable. Let's hope I can keep with the proper bass line... lol
Thanks for this Mark. After playing this for 30 years in The Solicitors (incorrectly, I might add), we finished last December, so I’m glad I don’t have to adapt this now lol. Keep giving fella…
This may sound musically blasphemous to some, but I think the original bass line sounds a bit herky jerky with no real groove to it. So I made up my own bass line using almost the exact same notes and it really puts some funk into the song (no, it's not slap & pop). I just play the line in a different way.
I like that you used math to solve Master of Puppets and used AI to solve Mustang Sally. Kids these days will never know what it's like transcribing from a cassette tape that someone else recorded off the radio.
DUDE!! Thanks! I never quite felt completely comfortable playing this song. I incorporated pretty much every version you played at the beginning. But now I can at least fake it better!! LOL!!
I bought the R&B Bass Bible HAL LEONARD, Bass recorded version. On page 100 has Mustang 🐎 Sally words and music by Bonny Rice. I don't think there is a wrong way of playing it really, the public don't give a 💩 how it's played, especially if they are hammered mate!! Are they going stop 🛑🖐️ you? Say hey!! You are playing it wrong 🤣, NO. Tommy Cogbill and Donald Duck Dunn, John Paul Jones are my top three bassists. They influence me on becoming a bassist.
Been doing covers for over 50 yrs., still pulling some of these old gems out cuz some clown yells out, "Mustang Sally" and you just automatically latch on to who ever kicks it off and try to adjust to the tempo/feel/key of what's going on. Not exactly easy when you might know the correct bass line and it doesn't mesh with the aforementioned variables. The crowd does not give a rat's Ash what you're doing. They want to dance to something that sounds like Mustang Sally and sing in the chorus. Just play, and shut the hell up and drink the free beer the guy bought you for playing his friggin' request. Ain't nobody cares who's fucking bass line you are trying to create. Give yourself a big gold star because you learned the correct MUSTANG SALLY BASSLINE! NOW, sit in your basement and relearn PROUD MARY and most everything else you've ever played wrong and try to teach your band to do the same. See where that gets you!
@@mytoosents8998 Someone here has some anger issues!! You didn't get hugged enough? There will always be some drunks idiots, yell shit at the band and throw shit at the band stand. The band play the tunes and play at the tempo, if you have adjust it oh well. The crowd has deal with it, you are going to get payed anyway for the gig. I had a drunk at a blues club jam session tell how much I sucked, and the argument got heated. Security and some friends broke it by before our fight got out of hand.
I disagree. Taking the bass line in context with the sax riff, the note on the down beat is definitely the C, preceded by a B natural on the last eighth note of the preceding bar, played by both sax and bass. The next notes are G, B flat, B natural, all played on the eight notes. The sequance moves up a fourth and then back down. When this came out in 1965 I was the organist and arranger for a Motown(and Stax and Atlantic) covers band and I spent a lot of time working this out
This was a great vid &, like almost everyone, I've not played it correctly most of the time. For the record, though, the original was the songwriter, R&B/soul artist Sir Mack Rice's, version released in 1965. Wilson covered it a year later & had the big hit.
Nice work but I can't let you get away with saying the original version is by Wilson Pickett when in fact the tune's writer Sir Mack Rice recorded it a year earlier!
That B natural works, as do most chromatic runs, because it's a tritone substitute. In this case it's a tritone substitute for the F which is the fourth in a C7.
It’s not a tritone sub. It’s just a basic chromatic approach into the C7. It’s the accented beat that makes it odd. Tritone substitutions are a very different thing.
Well, it turns out that because I didn't know how to play it, I played it right! 😄 A muted open string before leading up to the root note from the flat is my main bass technique when I don't know what to play! 😁
Thank you so much. I love blues, Rhythm and blues, Country and western, of course 50s 60s 70s rock and roll. I play Rhythm Guitar it is time to play bass. How about getting both on one body. 😁😁
It’s nearly 50 degrees at the moment in my unit because of the stainless steel (industrial unit with no air con). Hence the sweat. It’s literally killing me.
Really interesting! Funny how dodgy one can play this song in a covers band and still get away with it. This is one of those be told the changes and be shown the rough feel of the riff and your ready to go type songs.
Hi Mark. No offense but I think you're wrong. I don't know which version of the song have been submitted to the track-splitting app but it's not what I'm hearing on my side. The timing on your chart is bad too, first beat on the C, not F#G. The part is easier: C__F#G_BC__F#G_BC__F#GCF#_F__... I made a complete tab transcript that I think is more accurate if you are interested. I put some time on that song because someone said to me that graduating students in bass from several reknown music schools were not even able to play it right.
my band played the Young Rascals version of this song a year before Pickett's cover was released.....we did play it quite a bit faster than the Rascals as it was a better dance song at a faster speed....
Hate to be pedantic but there are millions of ways to play something wrong. If you’re given a piece of music to read and you play a pitch or rhythm different from what is written…it’s wrong.
@@talkingbasslessons Well there's two theory about that...either the music is created before hand when it is written or it is created afterward at the perfoming stage...Musicians who are slaves to what's written bore me as hell...but musicians always improvising and changing things bore me too...The great ones navigate between the two...
@@normt6226 If I’m playing in a theatre show or an orchestra or even backing a cabaret artist and I’m reading a written part, it’s my job to play exactly what’s written. If you start messing around with a part for an arranged piece it’s not going to work. Those specific notes are placed in those specific places for a reason. Hence, there is definitely a wrong way to play something.
Sometimes it's hard to pick out the fundamental notes from a recording, so we're stuck with using some music theory to fill in the gaps. Which is why I always played C (1) F# (b5) G (5) Bb (b7). I guess I was wrong.
This is a great video, but you never sing the words so I have no idea where the first note comes in. I can't find the beat....are the first two notes (the B leading to the C) a lead in, or are they played on the one beat?
On the isolated track, it sounds to me like F natural, not F#. Maybe it's the motion that's more important than the actual chord tone, with the super muddy P-bass sound... Thanks for the breakdown!
Honestly, I believe most experienced gigging bass players hope they never have to play this song again, along with wagon wheel, brown eyed girl, and margaritaville.
Well done! 💪 Just a question... Sorry if it was already asked... What kind of dr strings do you use? I have a squier p bass cv 70 with lindy fralyn pickup and i'm actually using thomastik.
That does not help when in all of the bands I know the guitar players play the chords C G Bb C G Bb C . If I played the Bass correctly as in the recorded song I would be messing up the whole groove. No matter who you are and what song you are playing you have to fit in with what the rest of the band is playing "Right or wrong" according to the recorded version.
Is the lighting super weird in this shot? I'm getting a black/blue or gold/white dress vibe from your pickguard. My brain keeps telling my that's just a white pickguard in dim lighting, but the lighting doesn't seem to be dim, so I'm thinking it's a flat-gold?
"Mustang Sally" just freaking blues which you can jam on with just about anybody...nobody cares whether it's like the record or it's right or wrong, there are probably hundreds if not thousands of versions out there...I'm sure every guitar great or bass great has played it....and nobody would judge it right or wrong.
Fair enough, but counterpoint: all my musician friends hate playing this (and other "standards" like Brown Eyed Girl, etc.) and the reason is because they never took the time to actually dig what was played on the record and have a little pride in capturing what worked about it in the first place. They just write it off as a blues jam. The "blues jam" mentality is what takes a song like this and kills it frigging dead, to the point where everybody scoffs openly when it gets called. Play it like the record, and guess what... the audience doesn't know why, even the other musicians don't know why, but everyone is like, "gee why did I enjoy that?" To which I say, have me back next week and find out. Cheers.
@@ramonmoreno8014 I've been playing bass since 1968...I've played "Mustang Sally" many different ways....I used to play it as a Rascals medley into "Come on up", played it like the Wilson Picket version. What's your problem....when you play in a band you adapt to whatever style the band does it.... its usually a song which everybody should be able to wing it if you're at a party or an open blues jam at a bar. Don't make an ass of yourself my original post didn't call for your snarky dumbass comment...
Very nice work there however that one thing that they're telling you that where they say it's a B natural instead of a B flat against the C7 it doesn't work it can't work I took my I have bass speakers headphones with a enhancer and put it on the record and it is a B flat he's playing not a B natural. However I will say it's easy to confuse them because listening with my naked ear it was hard to tell until I put my space speakers on my head my I have base headphones but it was very plain that it was a B flat not a B natural. Anyhow love your stuff definitely a subscriber and we'll continue to watch it you're very good. Thank you have a good day
Lesson material here: www.talkingbass.net/mustang-sally-why-every-bassist-plays-it-wrong-tabs-and-tutorial/
Really hope you've planned a whole series of these "pub standards"! Great stuff as always Mark, cheers
When I wake up..
This is such a funky bassline for a simple blues progression. The rhythmic placement of everything is *chefs kiss* 👌
Legend doesn’t even begin to describe session players like Tommy Cogbill.
Tommy Cogbill is unarguably the most underrated bassist of all time. Period.
As a bassist I have found that even if you play the part right, it wont sound "right" if everyone else doesn't play their part correctly. Lol
Amen!!!! And “Thank you!”
Very true that's why no matter if you play it right or wrong as long as Everybody Plays the same thing it sounds good to those listening out in the audience.
Exactly.
Comment on appelle un mec qui accompagne des musiciens ? Un bassiste 😅 ou on l’appelle pas humour
Sorry to disagree with most of the folk on here! But I think "Wrong" in the title is putting it strong, unless you're determined to play it exactly as Pickett's original - but frankly, most people - bassists, other players and most importantly the audience - will be far more familiar with the Commitments version. IMHO it's one of those rare cases where the cover surpassed the original - cleaner, somehow funkier.
So, sorry, I'll be sticking to C-F#-G-Bb-C the way I've always played it
Thanks for the tips re. isolation software, will no doubt come in handy in the future. Cheers John
I probably never got the notes right, but nearly every time I’ve played that song it was the Buddy Guy version, which just murders the beautiful syncopation of the WP version. Drove me to the brink of despair some nights!
At 53 years old I’ve never heard this song one time on the radio. I had a music store for 4 years and never sold a copy. I’m intrigued by the fascination with bands playing this song in clubs. I honestly don’t get it. Played in bands in my youth, and this song was never requested. Yet every time I go see a live band, the song is always played. Glad there’s a tutorial to get it right.
This is why: ua-cam.com/video/jJDOf5mEWs0/v-deo.html
Dave: You're not quite old enough. At the age of 70.5, I can tell you it burned up the AM airwaves during my early teens. I'd say this and Midnight Hour were the two most played songs by Wicked Pickett that I can recall. How it got to be a club favorite I'm not quite sure, but if I had a dollar for every time I've played it beginning at age 14...Certainly it was due in large part to the renaissance the song enjoyed in the early 90's with the movie, and soundtrack to "The Commitments." It's an infectious, greasy groove when it's not over-executed by a drunken bar band. And nobody on this planet sings it like Wilson did!
Greg I'm 70 and agree 100 % with your post. In the mid to late 60's I lived in Michigan 60 miles from Detroit and Mustang Sally and Midnight Hour got CONSTANT airplay on every station. I've played many times.
It was a meme before memes. The Stairway to Heaven for bar bands. Lord spare me
@@geraldfriend256 you are spared my son, go in peace and serve the groove.
Every time I play it I have to follow the guitar player as usual!
Guitar players love to play their version of the bass parts.
A great breakdown! Nice that people study and appreciate the skills these "old-school" musicians had. They didn't "overthink" things, had some knowledge of theory but mostly used instinct from tradition. Music is Rhythm and Pulse in the foundation, with the vocals providing Melody while telling a Story. Learning how to interact and mind-meld within the Pulse is the key to being a good player, and not just an ego-tripper
Thank you!
Partly true but most of the 60s session players had a jazz background. Learning to play walking lines and solo had a huge influence on the lines they played.
This song has the Muscle Shoals legendary rhythm section “The Swampers” on its track. These guys just knew how to groove. They don’t have much background in jazz either to my knowledge but they were amazing players
@@talkingbasslessons Cogbill played jazz guitar before becoming a studio player. The jazz background seems a parallel with Jamerson and how they both use a lot of chromatics. Really sounds like any 'out' choices he made were entirely deliberate (such as the major/dominant against minor in Chain of Fools).
The real reason bassists get this wrong is because we can't be bothered to actually learn it. You know you get the song list and this one always gets pushed to the "it's just a 1-4-5 with a groove" pile.
Well now I know it, so thanks!
I might still play it wrong on purpose though. I like to do like a funky shout chorus under it.
There is no right or wrong way....it's a jam, interpet it anyway you'd like.....is there only one way to play "Feelin' Alright"?
Doug is all up and down this page trumpeting his hackdom
To be fair, the bass subtleties are extremely difficult to pick up. The software Mark used cleared things up a bit.
I always played BC F# G.. Never heard the A or Bb ever. Learn something new everyday.
Damn I have been playing this song wrong all these years. I even played with Eamonn Flynn, the road keyboard player for the Commitments for a few years. When I see him next and show him this riff, I am curious to his reaction.
The commitments is one of the greatest films ever!! 🇮🇪
This is not only instructional but very funny, Mark. I tend to do the Commitments version, but this is very interesting too!
Commitments version here, too.
Man, he just did not care whether those are dominant chords or what. You gotta love that.
I played guitar with Wilson Pickett for five years. The bass player never played the original bass line 😳
Now I do a lot of bass gigs and I always do it right! But as you say nobody cares.
Actually that isolated part is a little different than what I thought it was 😮
I completely believe that. All of the older Blues artists I've played with have told me their bands never "Played it like the damn record !"
You play it your way and I’ll play it MY way. 😎
After playing this any old way, a new challenge! Great job. I might actually learn to unhate this for awhile.
Cool, I love how he laid that in there. sounds a bit not right at first but makes perfect sense and sounds great.
Thank you for posting that. Wow, Mustang Sally. Yea, I been playing bass since 1974 and I remember that song being brought up so, so many times. I did it, well we did it and no matter how off to the left or the right we did the tune, it mostly went over due to the condition of the listeners at that point.
Well, one day when I was home practicing new tunes that our band was doing, I remember we discussed that It would be a good idea to actually get the dam song Mustang Sally down right, as best we can.
Let me tell ya, Im talking the year 2001 when technology was just not what it was today. So, I had to do this the hard way.
I sat back and just listened to the dam song over and over until I had to pick up the bass and try. I am a very good " pick up by ear " bassist but Dam, I could not get the lick perfect. I had to try different headphones, studio monitors and equalize until I thought I had it right.
When I finally got it ( that same thing you just showed us on your video ) I sat there trying to sink in the riff and I thought to myself, No No, this aint the dam lick! So I started playing along with the record like I did at the start. Holy Crap! It took me 4 hours to get the Mustang Sally lick!
I felt stupid and satisfied at the same time.
Thank you for sharing that. Helps me even more to believe I got that dam song down right.
Now, it's actually more fun to play!
Dam more fun to play.
Great video sir!!! I began 45 years ago finger plucking because, frankly, almost none of my bass heroes used a pick. I began experimenting after 3 years or so and really fell hard for the plectrum. I use the big Fender triangle heavy gauge. I found that by varying my hold location, I can get more or less flexibility and there's plenty of surface area to work with. Plus, when sweat becomes a factor, you can spin the pick to catch the closest point if it slips. Just my take on the subject. I realize it isn't for everyone.
I imagine a lot of people, like me, learned this a lot of years ago off a 4th or 5th hand cassette copy where any hope of hearing all the original bassline was long gone so we either played 1)what fit the bog standard major or minor chords the guitarist played (see the theory bit) 2) what our mate, mentor or bassist you admired in the local pub played 3) used the version "The Commitments" played or 4) played something different every night just to keep it interesting. I never dreamt back then we'd have access to the sort of technology that allows us to isolate these barely audible parts. Now all you (still) gigging bassists have to do is make the rest of your bands play the correct parts too 😂😂😂 thank you for a really interesting post. Now subscribed.
Kudos to you for isolating the authentic bass line. The only question I would have is, is that the best bass line for the song? The slide up from B to C on the first beat suits me fine, as does the slide from F# to G on the way back up. However the choice of the 6th (A) note instead of going to Bb, irks my ear a bit. I tend to think that the song works in spite of that choice, and because under all the instruments, the bass riff is murky anyway. In a perfect world I would lose that 6th and use the 7th.
I just used your video while teaching a bass lesson. Thank you very much for this.
Mark ! ! ! Thank you so very much for this break down of Mustang Sally.... Like you have said trying to pick it out of an old 45 rpm record is tough. I have had countless arguments and a few "your fired" over this tune in the 50+ years I have been playing it. I discovered some cities different are adamant about how they perform certain oldies among the local musical populations. Your presentation style is terrific. I have been a long time lurker on Talking Bass. Thanks again. Maybe a Word on "Peter Gun" next time. :) 🤣
Great analysis - your playing makes Mustang Sally almost palatable. I possibly have to play this at a jam night tomorrow and a private party on Sunday. Your insight has been invaluable. Let's hope I can keep with the proper bass line... lol
Thanks for this Mark. After playing this for 30 years in The Solicitors (incorrectly, I might add), we finished last December, so I’m glad I don’t have to adapt this now lol. Keep giving fella…
This may sound musically blasphemous to some, but I think the original bass line sounds a bit herky jerky with no real groove to it. So I made up my own bass line using almost the exact same notes and it really puts some funk into the song (no, it's not slap & pop). I just play the line in a different way.
I like that you used math to solve Master of Puppets and used AI to solve Mustang Sally.
Kids these days will never know what it's like transcribing from a cassette tape that someone else recorded off the radio.
DUDE!! Thanks! I never quite felt completely comfortable playing this song. I incorporated pretty much every version you played at the beginning. But now I can at least fake it better!! LOL!!
I bought the R&B Bass Bible HAL LEONARD, Bass recorded version. On page 100 has Mustang 🐎 Sally words and music by Bonny Rice. I don't think there is a wrong way of playing it really, the public don't give a 💩 how it's played, especially if they are hammered mate!! Are they going stop 🛑🖐️ you? Say hey!! You are playing it wrong 🤣, NO.
Tommy Cogbill and Donald Duck Dunn, John Paul Jones are my top three bassists.
They influence me on becoming a bassist.
AMEN, Brother!!
Been doing covers for over 50 yrs., still pulling some of these old gems out cuz some clown yells out, "Mustang Sally" and you just automatically latch on to who ever kicks it off and try to adjust to the tempo/feel/key of what's going on. Not exactly easy when you might know the correct bass line and it doesn't mesh with the aforementioned variables. The crowd does not give a rat's Ash what you're doing. They want to dance to something that sounds like Mustang Sally and sing in the chorus. Just play, and shut the hell up and drink the free beer the guy bought you for playing his friggin' request. Ain't nobody cares who's fucking bass line you are trying to create. Give yourself a big gold star because you learned the correct MUSTANG SALLY BASSLINE!
NOW, sit in your basement and relearn PROUD MARY and most everything else you've ever played wrong and try to teach your band to do the same. See where that gets you!
@@mytoosents8998 Someone here has some anger issues!! You didn't get hugged enough? There will always be some drunks idiots, yell shit at the band and throw shit at the band stand. The band play the tunes and play at the tempo, if you have adjust it oh well. The crowd has deal with it, you are going to get payed anyway for the gig. I had a drunk at a blues club jam session tell how much I sucked, and the argument got heated. Security and some friends broke it by before our fight got out of hand.
Mustang Sally are written and was first recorded by Mack Rice.
Excellent lesson!
From where I am sitting, the original is not as aurally pleasing as some of the modern interpretations.
I've been playing totally different and it sounded good...but liked this version better..thank you
Been half-steppin' this tune for many, many Years.
OK what a shock, I played it always wrong the last 40 years....thanks! and all the bass-t from kayo
I disagree. Taking the bass line in context with the sax riff, the note on the down beat is definitely the C, preceded by a B natural on the last eighth note of the preceding bar, played by both sax and bass. The next notes are G, B flat, B natural, all played on the eight notes. The sequance moves up a fourth and then back down.
When this came out in 1965 I was the organist and arranger for a Motown(and Stax and Atlantic) covers band and I spent a lot of time working this out
Correction: Pickett's version was not a hit in the UK until 1967, so it would have been later in that year when I analysed it for the band
Pretty darn cool discovery, mister…hats off to you
loved this. really informative and brilliantly presented. Thank you!
Excellent. Just listened to the original recording. Wow that’s really cool.
However, Mark: You are a Dangerous Genius Bassist at LARGE! - Thanks for Another Great Video.💯
I really liked the Commitments sound, just because it’s not like the original doesn’t mean it’s bad
Very cool subject and lesson, thanks.
You rock Mark! Thanks again!
Nice.
This was a great vid &, like almost everyone, I've not played it correctly most of the time. For the record, though, the original was the songwriter, R&B/soul artist Sir Mack Rice's, version released in 1965. Wilson covered it a year later & had the big hit.
Nice work but I can't let you get away with saying the original version is by Wilson Pickett when in fact the tune's writer Sir Mack Rice recorded it a year earlier!
Amazing how hard easy things can be!
Thnx for this ! What a motherCogbill was !! Could swear when you first play the extracted sample it starts ON A ! oh well TY
What a treat - thank you!!!
So start on the major 7 on a dominant chord? Makes sense.
Charlie Parker used to do that a lot. To mess with people's heads, I believe. 😉
Thanks for breaking this down!
Thank you , Mark.
That B natural works, as do most chromatic runs, because it's a tritone substitute. In this case it's a tritone substitute for the F which is the fourth in a C7.
It’s not a tritone sub. It’s just a basic chromatic approach into the C7. It’s the accented beat that makes it odd. Tritone substitutions are a very different thing.
Whoa! Definitely guilty of playing this wrong many, many times lol. It's like this bassline is pulled from an alternate timeline. 🙃
Well, it turns out that because I didn't know how to play it, I played it right! 😄
A muted open string before leading up to the root note from the flat is my main bass technique when I don't know what to play! 😁
My motto will be from now on: "It wasn't wrong note, it was my chromatic approach!" 😂
Thank you for great info 😊! And stay cool - literally😥!
Man the Wicked Wilson Pickett version is Thee Version 👌 🙌 🔥
Does really matter how you play it. Particularly in pubs. Most people are too hammered or too preoccupied with themselves to appreciate it.
Well, that is actually what I said 1:37
A great tutorial Mark👍👍👍
Ha!! Love it. The bassist in my band did it right! 😝
Never mind I was wrong 😫
Bass Thanks
Just hitting the B on the one is all the difference in how this tune feels.
Thank you so much. I love blues, Rhythm and blues, Country and western, of course 50s 60s 70s rock and roll. I play Rhythm Guitar it is time to play bass. How about getting both on one body. 😁😁
Very informative - thank you!
Also - you literally worked up a sweat with that groove! :-)
It’s nearly 50 degrees at the moment in my unit because of the stainless steel (industrial unit with no air con). Hence the sweat. It’s literally killing me.
good stuff
Good stuff!
Ha brilliant,... I am guilty as charged. Nice one Mark.
Really interesting! Funny how dodgy one can play this song in a covers band and still get away with it. This is one of those be told the changes and be shown the rough feel of the riff and your ready to go type songs.
I've been using the program called RipX to extract, isolate, and analyze songs. It runs about $100 so it isn't necessarily cheap.
EXCELLENT
Sometimes small nuances make a big difference.
i play it better than the original
now I have to go listen. with my half deaf ears. lol
That’s true. I played this for the first the other night and it was appalling!
We've had people pay us to NOT play Mustang Sally.
The Bb is often B natural on a lot of charts too.
You are a riot.
Hi Mark. No offense but I think you're wrong. I don't know which version of the song have been submitted to the track-splitting app but it's not what I'm hearing on my side. The timing on your chart is bad too, first beat on the C, not F#G. The part is easier: C__F#G_BC__F#G_BC__F#GCF#_F__... I made a complete tab transcript that I think is more accurate if you are interested. I put some time on that song because someone said to me that graduating students in bass from several reknown music schools were not even able to play it right.
I play it the way I want to play it. Did Van Halen play "You Really Got Me" wrong? I think not.
Let's see it
my band played the Young Rascals version of this song a year before Pickett's cover was released.....we did play it quite a bit faster than the Rascals as it was a better dance song at a faster speed....
There is no such thing as playing something WRONG...Different ? Yes...Not the Same ? Yes...Wrong ? No...
Hate to be pedantic but there are millions of ways to play something wrong. If you’re given a piece of music to read and you play a pitch or rhythm different from what is written…it’s wrong.
@@talkingbasslessons Well there's two theory about that...either the music is created before hand when it is written or it is created afterward at the perfoming stage...Musicians who are slaves to what's written bore me as hell...but musicians always improvising and changing things bore me too...The great ones navigate between the two...
@@normt6226 If I’m playing in a theatre show or an orchestra or even backing a cabaret artist and I’m reading a written part, it’s my job to play exactly what’s written. If you start messing around with a part for an arranged piece it’s not going to work. Those specific notes are placed in those specific places for a reason. Hence, there is definitely a wrong way to play something.
Sometimes it's hard to pick out the fundamental notes from a recording, so we're stuck with using some music theory to fill in the gaps. Which is why I always played C (1) F# (b5) G (5) Bb (b7). I guess I was wrong.
This is a great video, but you never sing the words so I have no idea where the first note comes in. I can't find the beat....are the first two notes (the B leading to the C) a lead in, or are they played on the one beat?
On the isolated track, it sounds to me like F natural, not F#. Maybe it's the motion that's more important than the actual chord tone, with the super muddy P-bass sound...
Thanks for the breakdown!
Honestly, I believe most experienced gigging bass players hope they never have to play this song again, along with wagon wheel, brown eyed girl, and margaritaville.
Proud Mary
Well done! 💪
Just a question... Sorry if it was already asked... What kind of dr strings do you use? I have a squier p bass cv 70 with lindy fralyn pickup and i'm actually using thomastik.
Can you do it in a full tab layout from start to finish?
Lets hear you mix it up with Memphis Underground by Herbie Mann, segueing Mustang Sally to Memphis Underground.Please...
That does not help when in all of the bands I know the guitar players play the chords C G Bb C G Bb C . If I played the Bass correctly as in the recorded song I would be messing up the whole groove. No matter who you are and what song you are playing you have to fit in with what the rest of the band is playing "Right or wrong" according to the recorded version.
Which movie is that (?) Not the Commitments (!) (?)
Is the lighting super weird in this shot? I'm getting a black/blue or gold/white dress vibe from your pickguard. My brain keeps telling my that's just a white pickguard in dim lighting, but the lighting doesn't seem to be dim, so I'm thinking it's a flat-gold?
It’s gold anodized aluminum
@@cary3428 That makes sense. Thanks.
What's the birthyear of that wonderful P-bass?
''Nobody Cares, Kid!'' - Sonny, A Bronx Tale
"Mustang Sally" just freaking blues which you can jam on with just about anybody...nobody cares whether it's like the record or it's right or wrong, there are probably hundreds if not thousands of versions out there...I'm sure every guitar great or bass great has played it....and nobody would judge it right or wrong.
That’s pretty much what I point out in the vid. Nobody cares. BUT there’s an interesting lesson to be had in looking at the original recording.
Fair enough, but counterpoint: all my musician friends hate playing this (and other "standards" like Brown Eyed Girl, etc.) and the reason is because they never took the time to actually dig what was played on the record and have a little pride in capturing what worked about it in the first place. They just write it off as a blues jam. The "blues jam" mentality is what takes a song like this and kills it frigging dead, to the point where everybody scoffs openly when it gets called. Play it like the record, and guess what... the audience doesn't know why, even the other musicians don't know why, but everyone is like, "gee why did I enjoy that?" To which I say, have me back next week and find out. Cheers.
You really make me want to see your band. Do you even like music, or just the idea of being seen?
@@ramonmoreno8014 I've been playing bass since 1968...I've played "Mustang Sally" many different ways....I used to play it as a Rascals medley into "Come on up", played it like the Wilson Picket version. What's your problem....when you play in a band you adapt to whatever style the band does it.... its usually a song which everybody should be able to wing it if you're at a party or an open blues jam at a bar. Don't make an ass of yourself my original post didn't call for your snarky dumbass comment...
If you listen to smoke on the water... By Deep Purple their baseline sounds da same
Very nice work there however that one thing that they're telling you that where they say it's a B natural instead of a B flat against the C7 it doesn't work it can't work I took my I have bass speakers headphones with a enhancer and put it on the record and it is a B flat he's playing not a B natural. However I will say it's easy to confuse them because listening with my naked ear it was hard to tell until I put my space speakers on my head my I have base headphones but it was very plain that it was a B flat not a B natural. Anyhow love your stuff definitely a subscriber and we'll continue to watch it you're very good. Thank you have a good day
Nope. It’s a B natural.
Buddy Guy has a good version
Do most musicians actually hate this song or find the chorus annoying, or do people just say they do because it's said online?
If you don't hate it, you haven't played it enough..