Paul is a "dirty" player, often tuning sharp to grab the listener's attention. When you hear the full mix, your brain auto-adjusts the bass to "in tune" and you think, Oh how great that it stands out. But when you hear his isolated bass, you can hear how out of tune he gets. Note: This is a compliment. He's great.
He has such an ear for melody and harmony and it’s absolutely astonishing. I also remember hearing him say that getting basses that were right handed and stringing them the opposite way made it harder to keep them in tune. I’m sure he really adapted a lot of his playing to accommodate this, and used his ear to do so. Either way, playing sharp on the low end is especially good with the bright sound the Beatles often used, and I’d say that “bright” sort of tone is pretty characteristic of McCartney music in general. It’s super interesting. On the earlier solo work, a lot of criticism for Linda’s singing was that she was out of tune, most of the time she’s pretty sharp, but never really too flat. I think this helps the folk-ish sound that they were developing on albums like Ram and Wild Life. I think it’s delightful and adds a lot of character. One last note is that “equal temperament” tuning (like a piano) is a compromise of tuning. Intonation is a social construct, and while many listeners of the Beatles have their ears tuned to a Western sound, being “in tune” can mean different things. Hilary Hahn (famous violinist) has explained that playing some notes deliberately “out of tune” adds more character or drama to the music. I think that’s really something Paul McCartney knows and hears (subconsciously or not). When I was studying music in college I had a professor say that it was much more egregious to play flat than sharp because playing flat has a dragging effect, and playing sharp can actually at times push forward and lift. Cool when you think about it in the context of bass and rock bands. It really shows the high level of musicianship found in the Beatles
I wasn't that good, but I thought the rising arpeggio gave it away. For me that bass riff is one of the defining elements of the song. Actually the bass is maybe the main thing I appreciate on that track. I love the druggy descending bits in the verse.
I must admit that I think a lot of difficulty in this quiz is due to the varying sound quality of each sample, and especially due to the fact that the samples pick up at odd places in the songs. I think if the bass parts were recreated (like Charlie did with the drum quiz) rather than just isolated from the original recordings it would have painted a clearer picture rather than the compressed, underwater sound that these isolated bass bits give. With those things considered, I think you did a good job guessing!
There are so many of Paul's bass lines in pristine isolated form on UA-cam. I didn't understand why whoever made the quiz didn't just use those. It's not because they're all too obvious either. I mean, you can listen to the entire White Album's isolated bass.
I honestly think the exact opposite, i thought this one was so much easier cause it was isolated bass from the actual songs, so all the small clues like tone and a tiny bit of bleed really helps to get into the right sort of era of the beatles
@@K0kEEE Yeah it would be so much more difficult to guess from re-created bass tracks, unless the re-created track could somehow re-create all the nuance that is in the original.
I found that "original tone" made the test easier. I found the drum test was made harder by the re-creations being overly clean, not the original tone. Everyone's different.
@@rome8180 Yeah, the technology with isolating things from audio is always getting better so I'm not surprised there are better options out there. It certainly is a wonder why better audio samples weren't used.
I thought this would be easy. But it is amazing how subtle and in the background some of the bass parts are. I'm so used to Paul's parts shining and being front and center. But whoever chose the songs really did dig deep and find some that were classics but that the bassline was just a supporting role.
Love the videos. I got 18/18 here. Also got 18/18 on the drum one. I would be overly proud of myself but I have been a drummer and occasional bassist for a Beatles cover band so i guess I should know them.
Same, bassist for a beatle band here. Would be ashamed if I didn't get them all lol. I'm Looking Through You nearly fooled me but I recognized it out just before the clip ended.
Even as a pro bass player and massive Beatles fan this is difficult. Because like so many others we tend to overlook or under appreciate the bass lines. I am getting better though as I become aware of not only how critical Paul's bass lines were to the music, but how good he was/is as a bass player. Being how amazing he can write and sing it is easy to overlook the creativeness and skill of his bass playing.
What is interesting is the lack of tone from the Bass on early recordings, even though yes, the Hofner had a distinctive tone, frequency response for bass was really lacking.
On Polish TV around the year 2000 we had a show in which contestants had to guess pop songs, and in one competition it was one instrument at first (played by a live band), then another joined, and so on. Really unlucky contestants had to face solo drums first, but with the solo bass nobody fared much better. Usually only after the vocal joined people were able to finally realize what the song was.
Paul McCartney: father of rock bass playing. One of the greats. And the only person ever to get a good sound out of a Hofner bass with tapewound strings.
Paul learned most everything he did after his "walking bassline" period from Jamerson, who's really the first player to figure out what to do with an electric bass. If you listen to lots of Motown, this is obvious, but if not, Paul has acknowledged this a million times. They only stylistically split towards the end, with Jamerson being more fully a rhythm bassist with tricks that Paul doesn't use until the mid-70s, and Paul is more lead. They both have a fantastic sense of when the bass should firmly be in the background, and when the bassline has to carry the song.
It's hard to believe that the band existed for only 10 years. Given how many songs they wrote and published (well over two hundred) and how utterly influential they were, it feels a lot longer than that. They were really prolific.
This is an absolutely genius way of teaching music theory and songwriting as a side benefit... The fact that you can't tell what the song is just goes to show how writing a good bassline doesn't need to be crazy harmonically complicated in relation to the main melody. 😂 Oh.. and another thing. Song 16 sounds EXACTLY like "The Coral" song "Dreaming of You"
I'm gonna be brutally honest, I didn't get a single one right. It was pretty rough to guess incorrectly on some of my favourite songs, but it just goes to show how distinct the bass parts really are
I only got 2/18, but I have the excuse of not being particularly a Beatles fan, so there are many songs I just don't know. I did manage to guess "Drive My Car" and "Let It Be" correctly, though. I'm proud of that 😂
Paul really wrote a lot of basslines that served the song more than trying to stand out. Obviously, there are some iconic hooks in the bass, but it's interesting how difficult this was for me.
😂😂 Same here. I am a guitarist and a Beatle fan since Sullivan. I did the drum beat quiz and although I don't remember my score, scored much higher. Oh well. It is all in good fun. He is correct the bass is much more prominent in some and it just rests in the background in others.
As a bassist, I’m ashamed to have gotten 16/18 😩 I missed Long and Winding Road and Yellow Submarine, both of which I know how to play! Shows how much character the song can give to the bassline and vice versa, Paul really served each song exactly as was necessary
Depending on the recordings you’re using, you’ll only hear some instruments if only one speaker/headphone is working! Some bands in the early days of stereo, including the Beatles, put some things only on one side! There’s a recording of the song Yellow Submarine where this is quite evident.
I do so embarrassingly bad on these, but it's so impressive to see how well you and others do. I am really good at guessing by lyrics or even a very short snippet of song but I guess the isolated parts just don't lodge in my brain very well.
Managed to get all 18 songs, because so many of these are so iconic but this just shows how The Beatles' bass parts has evolved over the years and why Paul McCartney is still considered one of the absolute greatest and most influential bassists of all time. Great video and I'd love to see this with George and John's guitar parts
Wow you must’ve started watching as soon as the video released, given this comment is 7 minutes old and the video released 20 minutes ago and is 15 minutes long. Congrats!
Impressive. I only got 7 right. Some of the iconic one like Something and Got To Get You Into My Life is instantly recognizable, but i need more time on the other 5, completely missed on the bunch of it, and can't recognize it at all on couple of those...
The first band I ever heavily got into were The Beatles back when I was 10 (which was the same age I started playing guitar) and they’re still one of my favourite bands 14 years later, I also picked up bass in high school so McCartney is also a huge influence on me so I also credit that for why I did so well lol
I got a 4/18. Paul's the reason I picked up bass and a huge influence, buts it been way too long since I've sat down and really dug into his bass parts. This inspired me to do so!
“I Will” would have been a fun one since Paul sings the bass instead of playing it. (That may be mentioned elsewhere in the comments but life is short and I didn’t scroll that far.) This was very fun, David. Your channel is solid!
I actually got a perfect score on this even though I made a mistake or two on your "guess the drums" video. To be honest though the bass part wasn't isolated that well and so that helped my ears a lot by picking other elements of each song. My ears are very well trained at recognising beatles official recordings. If a bassist played the exact same melodies with no other context being played then I would probably miss 4 or 5.
That was good fun! A creditable 10/18. Really difficult though, as on the early tracks the bass sound is pretty low in the mix so that you don't really notice it, while from the mid 60s onwards, many of Paul's basslines are quite independent of the song. Only a few really drive the song (e.g. Come Together).
I am impressed that someone at your age got so many of them right... but as you also being someone musical and really into the Beatles and with an ear for critiquing music I am not that surprised you did so well. A congrats is in order regardless. Drum beats are one thing, bass lines are another. Bass lines are percussive as well as melodic but few pick up on that unless really superb pro musicians.
Fun challenge! I got 13/18, so I'm pretty proud of myself. As a drummer I never learned how to play any of them on the real bass, but I actually know a lot of these from The Beatles: Rock Band, where I played them on the plastic bass! Some of them I also could identify easier because other instruments where leaking through on the isolated bass track, such as the guitar part on #14. That's why I opted to re-record Ringo's drum parts myself for my Beatles drum quiz that David did before, so the instrument is completely isolated. [SPOILERS] My full results with the answers: - 01: ✓ - Fixing A Hole 02: ✓ - Here Comes The Sun 03: X - The Long And Winding Road 04: X - Don't Let Me Down 05: X - Something (Feel bad for missing that one) 06: ✓ - Gotta Get You Into My Life 07: ✓ - A Hard Day's Night 08: ✓ - Yellow Submarine 09: ✓ - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 10: ✓ - Drive My Car 11: X - Strawberry Fields Forever 12: X - I'm Looking Through You 13: ✓ - When I'm Sixty-Four 14: ✓ - I'm Only Sleeping (Only because I could hear the guitar part) 15: ✓ - Hey Bulldog (Heard the drums and piano on this one too) 16: ✓ - Help 17: ✓ - Let It Be 18: ✓ - The Ballad of John And Yoko I'm surprised one of my favorite Paul McCartney bass lines, Lady Madonna, wasn't featured in the quiz. That one is a classic!
Thank you! This has made my day - having struggled badly in the keyboard quiz, I got all of these. This is because I play bass and have played all of these so many times they are imprinted on my brain.
I also got 14/18! I’ve actually played all of these songs on bass so that really helped! 😄 I think what made it difficult was the washed out tone from isolating the bass. But this video definitely makes you realize how Sir Paul can elevate a bass guitar part!
I got about half right. Like you mentioned, some of his bass lines are iconic and up front, and others are just supportive. I got the upfront ones, and didn't do so well with the supporting type lines. For me, the word that comes to mind about the way he plays bass is "jaunty". His bass lines are generally so bouncy. Sometimes they're driving, for sure, but I think jaunty describes it. Almost like tuba parts.
I'm a bass player and Beatles fan... I've got 17/18 only because I missed the last one! I suppose that bass players have an advantage because, no matter what, we tend to focus on the bass pretty much every time we listen to a song.
You did _much_ better than I did… 1] Although you (mis-)guessed “You Won’t See Me” early on, I’m kinda surprised this wasn’t included. It has a _very_ distinctive bass part. A lot of very busy spelling-out of the chords. 2] It’s notable how essentially all of the songs are from the middle and, particularly, the late period. So much of the bass playing on the first couple of albums consists almost exclusively of -to use your term- “1-5 plodding”.
Ringo's drumming has more of a signature than the bass. I only got two of these bass lines. I recognized five times as many listening to the drum tracks. Cool project you are doing here!
@3:43 IMO _Something_ is the best, most beautiful Beatles song ever. And as time goes by my opinion of George Harrison is he was undervalued, underappreciated, and overlooked. Paul and John's songs seem dated, but George's are timeless. It was Frank Sinatra's favorite Beatles song as well, he even sang it himself, but he always gave the writing credits to Lennon and McCartney. Oh well.
After getting 19/20 on the drum test, I think I got 6 out of 18 on this one. And most of the ones I got were thanks to the rhythmic motifs (like Here Comes the Sun).
It's amazing how much Paul's bass playing improved during those 7-8 years. Just listen to Love Me do, then listen to I Want You (She's So Heavy). You did a great job! I knew some, but man...that's tough...
I wonder how McCartney himself would have done? You'd have to assume he'd get them all, but it would be interesting to find out. They made a lot of records and it was a long time ago...
17/18. The only one I couldn't get was "I'm Looking Through You." I thought "Lovely Rita." As someone who plays a lot of Beatles Bass Lines, I'm pretty proud of that score. Since some of those lines I've never played. Like "Long and Winding Road" and "I'm Looking through You"
I'm a huge Beatles fan, I know virtually all of their songs well, but I'm entirely useless at this. Five songs in and not had a clue on any of them yet.
I pretty much taught myself bass by playing along to Beatles records, and I still didn't get quite as many right as you, so I'd say you did pretty well. (I did get "I'm Only Sleeping", though, so I'm feeling good about that.)
I'm a bassist, I consider Paul ones of my biggest influences, and I still only got five right. To be fair, I don't sit around learning Paul's bass lines. The ones I have learned, like "Something" I was able to get right away. But this quiz did a good job avoiding some of the more obvious ones like "Dear Prudence," "Come Together," and "Taxman." Anyway, it amazes me how well David does on these. I haven't even come close to his score on any of these quizzes.
7 out of 18. That's much much harder than i thought. Some of the iconic bass line like Something, and Got To Get You Into My Life is instantly recognizable to me. I had to think a bit more on the other 5, and the rest is either missed or i can't recognize it at all~
@@DavidBennettPiano "backing vocal" parts could be interesting if chosen well though as in "wordless harmonies" just the parts where they go "aaaaaaahaaa"
I got I'm only sleeping right away because it's one of my favourite bass part in the whole Beatles discography. I was obsessed with it the moment I heard it
I was able to get the era from the bass tones, as Paul had 3 very unique bass tones depending on the era ( the early Hofner/Vox tone, the middle Rickenbacker tone, and the late era Hofner/Bassman tone from Abbey Road/Let It Be)
Nice selection of songs! 17/18 for me - I missed #3 unfortunately (although I should have guessed from the style that it's one of John's bass lines, not Paul's - just like Let It Be). It was an exciting game, thanks, David! 🙂
wow, i play bass and was having trouble with most of these. Songs like Don't Let Me Down are obvious, but like he said, i didn't realize the bass part in Here Comes the Sun was as busy as what it is
That was WAY harder than I anticipated. The only ones I got were Drive my car and Let it be, despite many many other songs I love being in there. The bass tone was so recognisable in drive my car I got it instantly.
Damn, I got three!! "Drive my Car", "Hey Bulldog" (I actually listen to that track just for the bass) and "Let it be". I feel like a complete Beatles imposter fan 😔
Next week, it will be "Can you guess the Beatles song from the anvil part?". I'm expecting lots of 1/1 scores for that one 😁
well the tone would really give it away.
Bang bang
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer"?
A song on everyone's Mal Evans playlist.
From the alarm chock part
Paul is a "dirty" player, often tuning sharp to grab the listener's attention. When you hear the full mix, your brain auto-adjusts the bass to "in tune" and you think, Oh how great that it stands out. But when you hear his isolated bass, you can hear how out of tune he gets. Note: This is a compliment. He's great.
Genius at work
He has such an ear for melody and harmony and it’s absolutely astonishing.
I also remember hearing him say that getting basses that were right handed and stringing them the opposite way made it harder to keep them in tune. I’m sure he really adapted a lot of his playing to accommodate this, and used his ear to do so.
Either way, playing sharp on the low end is especially good with the bright sound the Beatles often used, and I’d say that “bright” sort of tone is pretty characteristic of McCartney music in general. It’s super interesting.
On the earlier solo work, a lot of criticism for Linda’s singing was that she was out of tune, most of the time she’s pretty sharp, but never really too flat. I think this helps the folk-ish sound that they were developing on albums like Ram and Wild Life. I think it’s delightful and adds a lot of character.
One last note is that “equal temperament” tuning (like a piano) is a compromise of tuning. Intonation is a social construct, and while many listeners of the Beatles have their ears tuned to a Western sound, being “in tune” can mean different things. Hilary Hahn (famous violinist) has explained that playing some notes deliberately “out of tune” adds more character or drama to the music. I think that’s really something Paul McCartney knows and hears (subconsciously or not). When I was studying music in college I had a professor say that it was much more egregious to play flat than sharp because playing flat has a dragging effect, and playing sharp can actually at times push forward and lift. Cool when you think about it in the context of bass and rock bands. It really shows the high level of musicianship found in the Beatles
@@hydrogen3266 Great comment.
It’s very noticeable on Band On The Run too.
I’m enormously proud to say that I got fixing a hole after the first bar alone. The tone really gives it away
I wasn't that good, but I thought the rising arpeggio gave it away. For me that bass riff is one of the defining elements of the song.
Actually the bass is maybe the main thing I appreciate on that track. I love the druggy descending bits in the verse.
Yeah i have some relative pitch and instantly got it after it “felt like F major”
quite a unique vive, even among sgt pepper's songs
It’s literally the only one I got lol
that was one of the only ones i actually got, but i got it immediately lol
Please never stop bringing the great Beatles content David!
I can't wait for guess the Beatles song from the tambourine part.
😂 I really need that
We’ll all get Birthday.
@@musicappreciate Drive My Car and Nowhere Man, too. After that we're doomed.
Yes, that would be cool. Or maybe Paul's foot tapping part. There's only a couple.
@@gonesnake2337 don't forget you've got to hide your love away
Average Paul McCartney fan:
I was about to comment the same thing!
I don't get the pun
Wut
@@jabohonu its because he was good at guessing the bass lines, and obviously paul mccartney was the bassist
@@jabohonuBasically any average Paul McCartney fan will have nothing to say because of how hard it was.
I must admit that I think a lot of difficulty in this quiz is due to the varying sound quality of each sample, and especially due to the fact that the samples pick up at odd places in the songs. I think if the bass parts were recreated (like Charlie did with the drum quiz) rather than just isolated from the original recordings it would have painted a clearer picture rather than the compressed, underwater sound that these isolated bass bits give. With those things considered, I think you did a good job guessing!
There are so many of Paul's bass lines in pristine isolated form on UA-cam. I didn't understand why whoever made the quiz didn't just use those. It's not because they're all too obvious either. I mean, you can listen to the entire White Album's isolated bass.
I honestly think the exact opposite, i thought this one was so much easier cause it was isolated bass from the actual songs, so all the small clues like tone and a tiny bit of bleed really helps to get into the right sort of era of the beatles
@@K0kEEE Yeah it would be so much more difficult to guess from re-created bass tracks, unless the re-created track could somehow re-create all the nuance that is in the original.
I found that "original tone" made the test easier. I found the drum test was made harder by the re-creations being overly clean, not the original tone. Everyone's different.
@@rome8180 Yeah, the technology with isolating things from audio is always getting better so I'm not surprised there are better options out there. It certainly is a wonder why better audio samples weren't used.
Have been listening to Beatles tunes for 50 years and I completely bombed in this quiz. Loved it!
I thought this would be easy. But it is amazing how subtle and in the background some of the bass parts are. I'm so used to Paul's parts shining and being front and center. But whoever chose the songs really did dig deep and find some that were classics but that the bassline was just a supporting role.
Love the videos. I got 18/18 here. Also got 18/18 on the drum one. I would be overly proud of myself but I have been a drummer and occasional bassist for a Beatles cover band so i guess I should know them.
Same, bassist for a beatle band here. Would be ashamed if I didn't get them all lol. I'm Looking Through You nearly fooled me but I recognized it out just before the clip ended.
But did you correctly get them all last time he did a bass one, when he included Blackbird and Eleanor Rigby? :p (Unless that was another channel ...)
I believe you
Thousands wouldn't.
@@bungobaggins01 i recognized it instantly, i spent hours remixing that track, so the bassline is ingrained to my mind lmao,
yeah right
Even as a pro bass player and massive Beatles fan this is difficult. Because like so many others we tend to overlook or under appreciate the bass lines. I am getting better though as I become aware of not only how critical Paul's bass lines were to the music, but how good he was/is as a bass player. Being how amazing he can write and sing it is easy to overlook the creativeness and skill of his bass playing.
Same here, but it didn't matter, I was still awful! 😄
..getting better, hehe.
What is interesting is the lack of tone from the Bass on early recordings, even though yes, the Hofner had a distinctive tone, frequency response for bass was really lacking.
John played infamously bad bass part on “long and winding road” pretty iconic still
On Polish TV around the year 2000 we had a show in which contestants had to guess pop songs, and in one competition it was one instrument at first (played by a live band), then another joined, and so on. Really unlucky contestants had to face solo drums first, but with the solo bass nobody fared much better. Usually only after the vocal joined people were able to finally realize what the song was.
Paul McCartney: father of rock bass playing. One of the greats. And the only person ever to get a good sound out of a Hofner bass with tapewound strings.
Is tape wound the same as flat wound?
A lot of what we heard was out of tune.
Paul learned most everything he did after his "walking bassline" period from Jamerson, who's really the first player to figure out what to do with an electric bass. If you listen to lots of Motown, this is obvious, but if not, Paul has acknowledged this a million times.
They only stylistically split towards the end, with Jamerson being more fully a rhythm bassist with tricks that Paul doesn't use until the mid-70s, and Paul is more lead. They both have a fantastic sense of when the bass should firmly be in the background, and when the bassline has to carry the song.
@@-______-______-no, tapewound strings are wound in a rubber that is really smooth on the fingers (feels like they're wrapped in electrical tape).
@@tonyennis1787 A lot of what we heard wasn't Paul.
It's hard to believe that the band existed for only 10 years. Given how many songs they wrote and published (well over two hundred) and how utterly influential they were, it feels a lot longer than that. They were really prolific.
Not is a copy paste
Plagio
I got the Ballad of John and Yoko instantly, but... not much else, sadly. And I'm even a bassist.
I thought Obladi Oblada
I got I'm Only Sleeping tho
He must listen to that song basically never, the bass part is extremely recognisable.
Ditto!
You probably dont listen to the beatles very much then man
This is an absolutely genius way of teaching music theory and songwriting as a side benefit...
The fact that you can't tell what the song is just goes to show how writing a good bassline doesn't need to be crazy harmonically complicated in relation to the main melody.
😂 Oh.. and another thing.
Song 16 sounds EXACTLY like "The Coral" song "Dreaming of You"
All Scouse bands love the Beatles 😂.. including mine
I'm gonna be brutally honest, I didn't get a single one right. It was pretty rough to guess incorrectly on some of my favourite songs, but it just goes to show how distinct the bass parts really are
Thank you!😂 I was feeling quite bad for getting none
I guarantee you half the people in these comments are lying about their scores anyway.
I only got 2/18, but I have the excuse of not being particularly a Beatles fan, so there are many songs I just don't know. I did manage to guess "Drive My Car" and "Let It Be" correctly, though. I'm proud of that 😂
I got something. I mean, I got "Something".
I got none at all either. I am a Beatles fan & I play bass too, so I was a little disappointed with that. 😆
Paul really wrote a lot of basslines that served the song more than trying to stand out. Obviously, there are some iconic hooks in the bass, but it's interesting how difficult this was for me.
Incredibly, I managed to better my "amazing" score of 4/20 on the drum quiz with a masterful 6/18 on this one!😆
😂😂 Same here. I am a guitarist and a Beatle fan since Sullivan. I did the drum beat quiz and although I don't remember my score, scored much higher. Oh well. It is all in good fun. He is correct the bass is much more prominent in some and it just rests in the background in others.
I also got 6 of 18. Well done
As a bassist, I’m ashamed to have gotten 16/18 😩 I missed Long and Winding Road and Yellow Submarine, both of which I know how to play! Shows how much character the song can give to the bassline and vice versa, Paul really served each song exactly as was necessary
John played the base on the long and winding road. It's why the bass playing is of much lower quality than their other songs.
Same here, man. Those are kind of generic bass lines. Very difficult to spot.
Also a bassist and I missed those two (and two more).
The sound quality on the yellow submarine track was so awful I didn’t feel bad not getting it. It was the only one I didn’t get
@@IdreamOfDouche you’re right! Even without the other parts I could recognize it as not Paul
Me, who listens to the Beatles through only one working ear bud: my power is beyond your understanding
Ong
Best comment
Depending on the recordings you’re using, you’ll only hear some instruments if only one speaker/headphone is working! Some bands in the early days of stereo, including the Beatles, put some things only on one side! There’s a recording of the song Yellow Submarine where this is quite evident.
I do so embarrassingly bad on these, but it's so impressive to see how well you and others do. I am really good at guessing by lyrics or even a very short snippet of song but I guess the isolated parts just don't lodge in my brain very well.
Love the Beatles bass lines!
I love seeing how David got some of the songs almost instantly and just spends the rest of the time just vibing to the bass parts 😂
😂
😂
Bassist here; I got the ones I’ve played before, plus a few more.
10 out of 18. 🎸
Managed to get all 18 songs, because so many of these are so iconic but this just shows how The Beatles' bass parts has evolved over the years and why Paul McCartney is still considered one of the absolute greatest and most influential bassists of all time. Great video and I'd love to see this with George and John's guitar parts
Wow you must’ve started watching as soon as the video released, given this comment is 7 minutes old and the video released 20 minutes ago and is 15 minutes long. Congrats!
Wow congrats, fantastic result!
Impressive. I only got 7 right.
Some of the iconic one like Something and Got To Get You Into My Life is instantly recognizable, but i need more time on the other 5, completely missed on the bunch of it, and can't recognize it at all on couple of those...
The first band I ever heavily got into were The Beatles back when I was 10 (which was the same age I started playing guitar) and they’re still one of my favourite bands 14 years later, I also picked up bass in high school so McCartney is also a huge influence on me so I also credit that for why I did so well lol
Awesome job, man!
I played on a Beatles Tribute Band as Paul for 10 years. Got 18/18.
I got a 4/18. Paul's the reason I picked up bass and a huge influence, buts it been way too long since I've sat down and really dug into his bass parts. This inspired me to do so!
“I Will” would have been a fun one since Paul sings the bass instead of playing it. (That may be mentioned elsewhere in the comments but life is short and I didn’t scroll that far.) This was very fun, David. Your channel is solid!
I actually got a perfect score on this even though I made a mistake or two on your "guess the drums" video. To be honest though the bass part wasn't isolated that well and so that helped my ears a lot by picking other elements of each song. My ears are very well trained at recognising beatles official recordings. If a bassist played the exact same melodies with no other context being played then I would probably miss 4 or 5.
That was good fun! A creditable 10/18. Really difficult though, as on the early tracks the bass sound is pretty low in the mix so that you don't really notice it, while from the mid 60s onwards, many of Paul's basslines are quite independent of the song. Only a few really drive the song (e.g. Come Together).
13/18!! That's nice for me. As a bassist I loved this video. I almost got a draw with you Dave :)
I am impressed that someone at your age got so many of them right... but as you also being someone musical and really into the Beatles and with an ear for critiquing music I am not that surprised you did so well. A congrats is in order regardless. Drum beats are one thing, bass lines are another. Bass lines are percussive as well as melodic but few pick up on that unless really superb pro musicians.
Help sounds almost exactly like Dreaming Of You by The Coral. I never would have noticed it in the song though.
This was VERY hard! You are VERY good at this!
Fun challenge! I got 13/18, so I'm pretty proud of myself. As a drummer I never learned how to play any of them on the real bass, but I actually know a lot of these from The Beatles: Rock Band, where I played them on the plastic bass!
Some of them I also could identify easier because other instruments where leaking through on the isolated bass track, such as the guitar part on #14. That's why I opted to re-record Ringo's drum parts myself for my Beatles drum quiz that David did before, so the instrument is completely isolated.
[SPOILERS] My full results with the answers:
-
01: ✓ - Fixing A Hole
02: ✓ - Here Comes The Sun
03: X - The Long And Winding Road
04: X - Don't Let Me Down
05: X - Something (Feel bad for missing that one)
06: ✓ - Gotta Get You Into My Life
07: ✓ - A Hard Day's Night
08: ✓ - Yellow Submarine
09: ✓ - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
10: ✓ - Drive My Car
11: X - Strawberry Fields Forever
12: X - I'm Looking Through You
13: ✓ - When I'm Sixty-Four
14: ✓ - I'm Only Sleeping (Only because I could hear the guitar part)
15: ✓ - Hey Bulldog (Heard the drums and piano on this one too)
16: ✓ - Help
17: ✓ - Let It Be
18: ✓ - The Ballad of John And Yoko
I'm surprised one of my favorite Paul McCartney bass lines, Lady Madonna, wasn't featured in the quiz. That one is a classic!
Thank you! This has made my day - having struggled badly in the keyboard quiz, I got all of these. This is because I play bass and have played all of these so many times they are imprinted on my brain.
I also got 14/18! I’ve actually played all of these songs on bass so that really helped! 😄 I think what made it difficult was the washed out tone from isolating the bass. But this video definitely makes you realize how Sir Paul can elevate a bass guitar part!
yeah, that sounded like Hard Day's Night if they were playing it in a barrel full of molasses
I got about half right. Like you mentioned, some of his bass lines are iconic and up front, and others are just supportive. I got the upfront ones, and didn't do so well with the supporting type lines. For me, the word that comes to mind about the way he plays bass is "jaunty". His bass lines are generally so bouncy. Sometimes they're driving, for sure, but I think jaunty describes it. Almost like tuba parts.
I'm a bass player and Beatles fan... I've got 17/18 only because I missed the last one!
I suppose that bass players have an advantage because, no matter what, we tend to focus on the bass pretty much every time we listen to a song.
The last one was the only one I got!
I'm a drummer and a Beatles fan. I did pretty well because I'm also used to focusing on what the bass player's up to. ;)
Excellent, great fun, thank you , David.
This was fun. Macca was an elusive bassist.
Is*, but I know what u meant
@@joosepkaha1687 well said!
This is unbelievable David!
Interesting video! I found this quite difficult but got some of them.
My recognition of Hey Bulldog was instantaneous!
You did _much_ better than I did…
1] Although you (mis-)guessed “You Won’t See Me” early on, I’m kinda surprised this wasn’t included. It has a _very_ distinctive bass part. A lot of very busy spelling-out of the chords.
2] It’s notable how essentially all of the songs are from the middle and, particularly, the late period. So much of the bass playing on the first couple of albums consists almost exclusively of -to use your term- “1-5 plodding”.
Ringo's drumming has more of a signature than the bass. I only got two of these bass lines. I recognized five times as many listening to the drum tracks. Cool project you are doing here!
Insanely difficult. The only ones I got were Drive My Car, and When I'm Sixty-Four.
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds seems the most obvious to me, but that's one I've listened to a lot.
@@sharpvidtubeI didn’t get Lucy until the second half of the clip
Great job David. It was fun. Do more.
Please do guess radiohead song from the drum part, Phil's parts are definitely just as recognizable as Ringo's!
YES!!!!!
I’m from the era and got 10 right. Don’t play bass but loved the music so much all the parts became entities. Thanks,David!
@3:43 IMO _Something_ is the best, most beautiful Beatles song ever. And as time goes by my opinion of George Harrison is he was undervalued, underappreciated, and overlooked. Paul and John's songs seem dated, but George's are timeless.
It was Frank Sinatra's favorite Beatles song as well, he even sang it himself, but he always gave the writing credits to Lennon and McCartney.
Oh well.
I was pleased to see you drop a few, I certainly did.
After getting 19/20 on the drum test, I think I got 6 out of 18 on this one. And most of the ones I got were thanks to the rhythmic motifs (like Here Comes the Sun).
This is awesome! Keep on doing these!
I only got 3, but one was song 14 which David congratulated me for, so I still feel accomplished
Love your content its helping me a lot. Amazing video. Keep videos like that coming :))
It's amazing how much Paul's bass playing improved during those 7-8 years. Just listen to Love Me do, then listen to I Want You (She's So Heavy).
You did a great job! I knew some, but man...that's tough...
That's a thumbnail I simply couldn't resist.
I wonder how McCartney himself would have done? You'd have to assume he'd get them all, but it would be interesting to find out. They made a lot of records and it was a long time ago...
Absolute fun! Much harder than the drum one, but I did get a few (and a couple you didn't get, so I was proud :) ) - definitely do more!
5/18 and I call myself a bassist and a Beatles fan…
14/18
Felt pretty good about that honestly. Was thrown by some of the simpler lines though lol. Love how versatile Paul was as a bassist.
I get this intense feeling of satisfaction every time I get a song right, as this is hard, I got most of them!
17/18. The only one I couldn't get was "I'm Looking Through You." I thought "Lovely Rita." As someone who plays a lot of Beatles Bass Lines, I'm pretty proud of that score. Since some of those lines I've never played. Like "Long and Winding Road" and "I'm Looking through You"
I'm a huge Beatles fan, I know virtually all of their songs well, but I'm entirely useless at this. Five songs in and not had a clue on any of them yet.
I think I got about two or three. I can play a lot of Beatles songs on guitar, so why I did so poorly I cannot say!
I pretty much taught myself bass by playing along to Beatles records, and I still didn't get quite as many right as you, so I'd say you did pretty well. (I did get "I'm Only Sleeping", though, so I'm feeling good about that.)
I'm a bassist, I consider Paul ones of my biggest influences, and I still only got five right.
To be fair, I don't sit around learning Paul's bass lines. The ones I have learned, like "Something" I was able to get right away. But this quiz did a good job avoiding some of the more obvious ones like "Dear Prudence," "Come Together," and "Taxman."
Anyway, it amazes me how well David does on these. I haven't even come close to his score on any of these quizzes.
Definitely gotta do more of this, fun as hell
You are really good! I took six, and the Yellow Submarine was one of them. More of this please!👍🏼
7 out of 18. That's much much harder than i thought.
Some of the iconic bass line like Something, and Got To Get You Into My Life is instantly recognizable to me. I had to think a bit more on the other 5, and the rest is either missed or i can't recognize it at all~
I dare you to do it with isolated vocal parts
🤣
@@DavidBennettPiano "backing vocal" parts could be interesting if chosen well though
as in "wordless harmonies"
just the parts where they go "aaaaaaahaaa"
I got I'm only sleeping right away because it's one of my favourite bass part in the whole Beatles discography. I was obsessed with it the moment I heard it
Drive My Car was easy
Must have been, because even I got that one!
I got all of them except “the long and winding road”, probably because I’ve only played that on bass like twice. Love this series so far!
Do this with Radiohead as well!
Yeah, at least it wont cause the copyright strike hah
Yes please David, more quizes with guitar parts/ keyboard
Fixing a Hole. First one.
I totally thought that When I'm Sixty-Four was Maxwell's Silver Hammer! Wow...
Wow! I sucked at this
That was really fun to play along!
I was able to get the era from the bass tones, as Paul had 3 very unique bass tones depending on the era ( the early Hofner/Vox tone, the middle Rickenbacker tone, and the late era Hofner/Bassman tone from Abbey Road/Let It Be)
Nice selection of songs! 17/18 for me - I missed #3 unfortunately (although I should have guessed from the style that it's one of John's bass lines, not Paul's - just like Let It Be). It was an exciting game, thanks, David! 🙂
wow, incredible, i got an entire 2/18. thank god hey bulldog is so distinct and ballad of john and yoko is the same pattern over and over again
wow, i play bass and was having trouble with most of these. Songs like Don't Let Me Down are obvious, but like he said, i didn't realize the bass part in Here Comes the Sun was as busy as what it is
Love videos like these!
10/18, proud of my self
THANK YOU
I got 6/18. But I love this quiz because you helped me appreciate the Beatles song writing even more.
I was waiting for this video❤
At about 10:28-10:42 you nail it.
I got five… got ‘Let it Be’ almost immediately… seconds before your ‘Frog Chorus’ comment. I can’t unhear that now… thank you…
In song 7 you can clearly listen the vocals in the background
I was honestly waiting for come together the whole time
I love this series!
That was WAY harder than I anticipated. The only ones I got were Drive my car and Let it be, despite many many other songs I love being in there. The bass tone was so recognisable in drive my car I got it instantly.
Do more of this man
I started playing bass after hearing PM in The Beatles.
Don't forget this was over 50 yrs ago.
Damn, I got three!! "Drive my Car", "Hey Bulldog" (I actually listen to that track just for the bass) and "Let it be". I feel like a complete Beatles imposter fan 😔