Nathan Watts

[mike1762]

So I'm learning Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder) and having a wonderfully difficult time with the Bass & Horn breakdown.  The bassist is Nathan Watts... can't say that I've ever heard his name brought-up.  Monster player though.

[rustyg61]

Nathan is a very well travelled musician & indeed a monster player!
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Watts

[pauldo]

Nathan is incredible.
 
Mike - I have a transcription of the part if you need it, trying to learn that by ear is almost impossible.
Send me an e-mail if you are interested, be sure to put Sir Duke in the subject line.
 
.

[terryc]

I have a very accurate MIDI file which if you have Sibelius/Cakewalk/Cubase you can play along as the file plays(slow it down so you can pick out the notes).
The horn/bass part is a great interval workout!
I can e mail it to you if you want.

[jazzyvee]

I worked it out by ear using my CD player taking it one section at a time using the repeat function on the CD to loop the phrase until I could get it off. Didn't take long at all.  
Just break it down into logical chunks and you will get it. It's worth the effort and a sense of satisfaction when its under your fingers.
 
 
Jazzyvee

[terryc]

I am crap at learning stuff by ear,easy stuff like three chord blues is no problem but anything complicated and it is a chore.Give me the dots and I can learn a song in no time..must be something to do with my short time learning the cello..had to sight read.

[bigredbass]

Terry, if you can at least 'sing in the shower', listen to it (it works best for me in the car) until you can sing the line exactly as played:  Then, it 'proofreads' your fingers as you start to get it under your hands.
 
Or from your cello training, the work it takes to transcribe it correctly is, for me, about 75% of learning the bit in question.
 
PS It's much easier on a five-string, lines right up across the fingerboard around the octave (if it's in C like the recording, IIRC).
 
J o e y

[jazzyvee]

Must be Terry I'm self taught from listening to players that I like.  
I know the name of the dots but not fast enough to sight read on  guitar and bass.  Hopefully by the end of the year I'm somewhere further forward than now.  
 
Jazzyvee

[pauldo]

It really is a cool riff to play!  
When I got the music and learned it I would play the riff over and over and over just grinning, absolutely amazed at the fact that I could play such a cool bass line!  
 
My wife? She got over the coolness pretty quick. :-D

[terryc]

Yeah.. well it was a long time ago and I forgot a lot but when I got my first PC and installed Cakewalk and all these MIDI files were on the net(some were crap but a lot a pretty accurate) I downloaded the file, called up the bass part and pressed the play button, as the cursor went accross each note I read and played it. The great thing you can slow the tempo down so you can get it accurate.

[bigredbass]

NW at Bass Day '13:  This is a real hoot.  Been with SW for 40 YEARS, and readily admits he's self-taught and THINKS he plays the wrong way !
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjwsLNjOQh4
 
. . . . and I saw this next door:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fqQttwdMyE
 
JJ played a slew of huge records, my fave being that wonderful line under Aretha's cover of Stevie's 'Till You Come Back to Me'.  Fortunately a sober survivor of a troubled chemical past, we have way too few who lived to live better.  How must it feel to have had Jaco as a fan . . .
 
J o e y

[mike1762]

I'm confident I'm playing the right notes.  I split-up the part into 4 sections and slowed it down (MP3)... I just have to get it up to speed.  Just about there.   It's a really cool passage.