How to Play Chicken Grease like Pino Palladino ( Tune the Whole bass Down a Tone ! )

Damian Rodd looks at possibly one of the Greasiest tunes ever written.We run runs the first eight bars of this dripping bass line.

[@tendandtaint]

Respectfully pointing out that the transcription shown is just plain wrong. Unless I have a completely different version of Voodoo, the first two notes of Pino's bass line are A#, B. Since the basic chord vamp is a sort of A/B or B9sus4 -ish chord, that would make the parent key signature more like E major - which is 4 sharps. The A# is a chromatic pick-up note not belonging to the key however. If you run the track through a transcription app like Transcribe and push it up an octave you'll hear the pitches clearly.

[@damianrodd7821]

Your right .. the bass is dropped a tone in tuning .. the transcription is on. The tuning ain't ! Thanks for the shout !

[@tendandtaint]

No problem. I'd still try the 'speed up an octave' trick to hear clearly how Pino's line is deceptive in its simplicity. His feel is unique and so hard to replicate.

[@jtroybass]

lol.so wrong... lol....

[@Obscurity202]

@@damianrodd7821 Regardless of how the bass is tuned the transcription is still wrong. A "B" is still a "B" and is notated in the same place regardless of where it now falls on your instrument.

[@emrehanli]

I like that you got the behind the beat feel down quite nicely. A whole lotta attempts at Pino's D'angelo stuff don't even come close...

[@hhoefs83]

Thanks man, great lesson!!

[@fiscaldisco5234]

lmao the song is not called chicken grease because of bass players putting chicken grease in their fingers. According to Questlove who played on the song, it comes from Prince. Prince used to tell his band to give him "some chicken grease" when he wanted them to stay on a chord (I believe it's a dom 7 #9). The Soultronics started this groove on a chicken grease chord during a recording session for Common, and D'Angleo dubbed it "Chicken Grease."

[@arbobs]

You must have no friends

[@fiscaldisco5234]

@@arbobs I used to have a lot of friends until I started putting chicken grease in my fingers and now no one wants to hang out with me

[@yogicbeats]

@@fiscaldisco5234 🤣you sound 10x more interesting than that guy ahhaha be my friend

[@fiscaldisco5234]

@@yogicbeats thank you friend. Since you are my friend now, I'll actually correct what I said when I said I think it's a dom7#9 chord. After getting back into a guitar a bit, I'm pretty sure the chicken grease chord is just a minor 9 chord.

[@SinKriege]

@@fiscaldisco5234 lol i also wanted to mention that

[@wellfedstarvingartist]

Why did you call it 'Chicken Stew'? Did you not catch that during the edit?

[@PaulHaywood]

Funk Nuggets! We love the nuggets bro! Time to collaborate on a double funk nugg!? ;)

[@sushi_the_beats]

I don’t know the definition but I know this is the funk

[@ty.7210]

great mute technique.