Beatlemania 2.0
I like my life. I have a loving wife, good friends, a decent job and I’m not a complete rube. At this point in my life it’d be tough to convince me to trade places with anyone…anyone but Paul McCartney. I love Paul McCartney because not only is he one of the greatest songwriters of all time, he’s the only guy that could ever make playing the bass in Rock Band actually fun.
If you’ve never been stuck playing the bass parts on the time suck known as Rock Band or Guitar Hero, let me break it down for you. It’s not fun. Your friends, whom you will soon grow to hate, either get to shred through guitar solos, pound out drum fills, or wail out vocals while you have to play the same dumbass (get it?) bass line the entire song.
Bass is not cool, whether in real life or in video games. In fact a quick look at some of the world’s most ‘famous’ bassists reveals just how lame the bass actually is. Flea, bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Les Claypool, bassist for Primus, are usually considered the best known and most accomplished bassists in the world and I can’t take either one of them seriously. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, despite having John Frusciante as their guitarist, stink and Primus’ biggest accomplishment is having written the theme to South Park. In fact the only cool bassists in history have been the ones who aren’t especially known for their ability to play the bass. Guys like Geddy Lee of Rush, Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy and, you betcha, Sir Paul McCartney.
Last week the entire Beatles discography was re-released after having been digitally remastered. I’ve yet to hear any of the releases, but I’m sure that they’ll only put a bigger spotlight on Paul McCartney’s bass playing and show just how intricate it was to the Beatles. Obvious examples like ‘Taxman’ and ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ demonstrate how Paul’s bass can lay the foundation for an entire song, while tracks like ‘Something’, ‘Dear Prudence’ and ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ show how he has the ability to add something extra, yet absolutely necessary, to a song.
It’s these ‘something extra’ moments in each song that will have me reaching for the bass when I finally pick up a copy of the Beatles Rock Band game. That is, unless the drums and guitar are available. I mean after all, as cool as those bass lines may be, it’s still the bass.
He’s my favorite too and I know what you mean as I use to play bass in a band. I really enjoyed it, though to be honest, the reason I played bass in our first band was because nobody else wanted to. My first instrument was trumpet and I played a little piano so had a solid musical background and it was easy for me to pick up the bass and play straight ahead rock and roll.
But your right about Paul’s incredible lines and I’ve often wondered why pundits don’t talk more about his bass playing. I guess when you’re one of the greatest song writers in history that fact over shadows other accomplishments ever so slightly.
He plays bass like a solo instrument, the ones that are at the top of the score where the melody lives. But he somehow crafts beautiful bass lines “melodies” at the bottom that complement the ensemble in a way that you don’t hear anywhere else in pop music.
Yes, I’m an old Beatles fan. But I have to say that the greatest Rock & Roll song writer of all time was John Lennon, and McCartney was never better than when they were partners, even though they mostly wrote separately and worked together on the recordings, somehow the competition and the collaboration created, without serious contest, the greatest song writing duo in the history of music.