Diamonds

[JimN]

[quote="RayL"]was it also Jim who told me that this was played by Big Jim Sullivan?

No, it was not I who told you that.

I told you that one of the other guitarists on the session was Jimmy Page. It is reputed to have been his first recording session as a session guitarist - the date being 23rd November 1962, according to the Decca logs reproduced in John Tracy's sleeve notes for the 1989 CD "Diamonds And Other Gems".

JN

[bassboogie]

Hi,

I believe that John Paul Jones (of Led Zep fame) was the session bass player on Diamonds ( 4 string bass). If you are after the bass part having watched Nathan Hulse back Jet on bass, the verse bass is mainly root and fifth notes with some arpeggios (root, third and fifth) in the middle bit. If it's the "4 string or proper bass you're after, try that for starters i.e. apply those to the chords then you can add a few tweeks.

Or for bass players like me wing it by playing root notes !!!!

Regards, Luigi

[davidturner]

Theres quite a bit of information there. But I an still having difficulty in getting the sheet music for both the bass line and the lead (played on bass) The music mentioned to me from the first reply seems to be for normal 6 string guitar. I would still class myself as a beginner. Playing theBass about 10 months now and can only play 11 tunes from memory. I think my biggest battle now, is when I play at our local club, I am begining to forget the tune being played! Someone say's play 'Its a mans world' for example. I am standing there thinking what one is that! AAHHHHHH! I think its more commonly known as brain freeze or a brain fart! My uncle once said 'My head is like a bucket that is full up. If you want to learn something else, something has to come out to free up some space@ A bit like my computers hard drive!
David.

[RayL]

With respect, your uncle is just making excuses. If you want to keep your neural connections at their best, they need exercise. It's the rows of old codgers who doze in front of a blaring TV in retirement homes who empty their heads - and it's a one-way process. Your brain is like a musical instrument - it's better if it's used regularly, and giving it a new tune to work on is the equivalent of a new set of strings.

As it seems you may be out of luck when it comes to the sheet music (but you are presumably a reader since you want the sheet music) then have you thought of transcribing the notes yourself? Good brain exercise and a great way to get it into your memory!

Ray

[cockroach]

David,

the straight bass part for the tune is played pretty much as Luigi described it previously- the 'lead' melody played by Jet is another thing altogether- which are you trying to play? Lead or bass?

Are you learning tunes by using chord charts? e.g. D///G///A7///? I'm sure there is a chart and tab for Diamonds available on this site or from other kind folk here.

If you mean the bass line, then as Luigi said, for most bass lines, start with root notes first- as per above- and get the timing, beats and rhythm right first, then insert fifths (see above example-thus DADA/GDGD/AEAE...etc), then scale based runs where root notes and/or fifths need expanding to make the bass line flow with the rhythm (e.g. DFsharpA/DFsharpA/GBD/GBD/ADbE..etc).

In one a band I was in some years ago, we needed a bass player urgently- so I taught my wife - she never really got past playing root notes and fifths from chord charts, but eventually within a short period she was competently playing 4,5, 6, 7 hour gigs with the band....and as band members, we BOT got paid too!

Hope this helps.

[bassboogie]

Hi David,

As far as I am aware there is no music transcription for the Diamonds basslines, although as John said there are chords. You can get bassline transcriptions for some Shads music, Jay Hartop has some superb downloads on the old Shads site. If you want to play bass you must have the chords for starters, then apply root notes first, then root fifth for each chord. Basslines are based on scale notes, major, minor, blues etc and you build up the basslines or riffs from knowing these. There are many books which run through the bass scales, every immaginable scale, and link runs between chords, it may be worth your while getting one. Hal Leonard and Melbay are two publishers, Google them. Most musical instrument shops will stock at least some of them.

If you want to play the lead part, knowing the chords also helps but sticking to root notes does not !!! So I can't help you there.

Regards, Luigi

[nick allen]

"Basslines are based on scale notes"
With respect, I think this may be a little misleading for a beginner... basslines are based on chords, first and foremost, and for beginners and even intermediate players, they should be looking at the notes of the chord tbey are playing. Granted, these will be part of the scale related to that chord - but if they think "chord note", they'll be on the right track. Runs from one chord to the next will probably come automatically, after a while...
Just a hopefully helpful comment.
Cheers
Nick