MADBASS

we're all busy. it's hard to make time to play music, but we want to be pushing ourselves always! this tumblr is used to document our bass projects. it started with March Madbass, a bass song-a-day cover challenge that we did in march 2016. you can find the song index and more info about that in the links. starting in june 2016, jen and shira will be doing a new collaborative bass project, Year-Round Madbass. instead of recording songs by ourselves, we'll each be recording parts of bass covers to send to each other for the other one to finish/add to! ALWAYS GOALS: - to be playing music as often as we can - to learn and think about different ways of playing bass - to explore constructions of bass lines - to play many types of songs/multiple genres of music

[marchmadbass]

March Madbass 2016 - Bass Cover Song Index

Jen’s Covers (personal faves bolded)

3/01/16: The Lemonheads - “Great Big No”

3/02/16: Nirvana - “Sappy”

3/03/16: Buzzcocks - “Love You More”

3/04/16: Roy Orbison - “Crying”

3/05/16: Stone Temple Pilots - “Plush”

3/06/16: Garbage - #1 Crush

3/07/16: The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

3/08/16: Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence

3/09/16: Fleetwood Mac - Say You Love Me

3/10/16: Shania Twain - Man! I Feel Like A Woman

3/11/16: Everclear - So Much For The Afterglow

3/12/16: Limp Bizkit - Rearranged

3/13/16: Pearl Jam - Jeremy

3/14/16: Green Day - She

3/15/16: Pinback - Loro

3/16/16: ALL - Million Bucks

3/17/16: Failure - Stuck On You

3/18/16: The Beach Boys - Wouldn’t It Be Nice

3/19/16: The Breeders - Cannonball

3/20/16: Alkaline Trio - San Francisco

3/21/16: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away

3/22/16: Smashing Pumpkins - Zero

3/23/16: Gang of Four - Damaged Goods

3/24/16: Sugar - If I Can’t Change Your Mind

3/25/16: R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

3/26/16: City of Caterpillar - A Heart Filled Reaction to Dissatisfaction

3/27/16: Fugazi - Cashout

3/28/16: The Cure - Just Like Heaven

3/29/16: One Last Wish - My Better Half

3/30/16: The Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

3/31/16: Green Day - One For The Razorbacks

Shira’s Covers

3/01/16: The Lemonheads - Alison’s Starting to Happen

3/03/16: Buzzcocks - Harmony In My Head

3/04/16: Heavens to Betsy - Calculated

3/07/16: The Lucksmiths - The Forgetting of Wisdom

3/08/16: Depeche Mode - Policy of Truth

3/09/16: Pixies - Break My Body

3/12/16: Deftones - My Own Summer (Shove It)

3/15/16: Pinback - Non Photo Blue

3/16/16: ALL - Dot

3/21/16: The Animals - It’s My Life

3/26/16: The Simpsons - Chimpan A to Chimpan Z

3/27/16: Fugazi - Margin Walker

3/29/16: ‘Til Tuesday - Voices Carry

3/31/16: Green Day - 80

Guest Star Covers

3/06/16: (Joey) The Lemonheads - Frank Mills

3/07/16: (Robyn) Talking Heads - Heaven

3/12/16: (Robyn) Everclear - Everything to Everyone

3/20/16: (Ivy) The Go-Go’s - Head Over Heels

3/21/16: (Robyn) Pixies - Gigantic

[marchmadbass]

March 31, 2016

Cover: “One For The Razorbacks” by Green Day

I can’t believe it’s the last day of madbass! Shira and I had been planning this Kerplunk-era Green Day day since the beginning, but kept putting it off because we knew we’d need a day with plenty of time to tackle the tough songs we wanted to do. For me, this backfired since the last week of my madbass has been dominated by my stupid crappy back/arm issue. Today was still bad [apparently I re-aggravated the injury by 1) refusing to stop doing a daily madbass, 2) carrying my own heavy bass down the stairs, 3) having to work all day, and 4) attempting to live my life] so I very sadly did not get to jump into my song, No One Knows. Instead, I just learned the intro of One For the Razorbacks and played it a few times at a few different speeds, and here it is for ya. 

Even just doing this little clip messed me up so bad that I can barely type this right now, and my entire right arm is numb. I’ve just had no time to heal - I already pushed other commitments back already and I hate letting people down or giving up on projects or promises, so I haven’t been able to budge mentally on still seeing this project through OR cancel the multiple band practices I still need to do over the next few days to make up for the ones I already had to cancel earlier in the week. It’s frustrating! I’m over it! Get un-inflamed, stupid muscles!! 

This has been a really, really intense month. I played bass every single day no matter what, and I posted something no matter what (and only in one case was that recording not made on that specific day). That’s 31 straight days of making and sharing a thing. I’m really proud of myself! And I’ve learned A TON, had a lot of ups and downs, played some really cool music, and some music I’d just as soon forget I ever tried. I pushed myself and I did it, even if I’m hobbling over the finish line with a tub of Icy Hot and a handful of meds. I couldn’t have done it without Derek and Shira’s support, and the participation of all the other madbassers who renewed my energy and excitement every time they posted one of their amazing tracks. This turned out to be way different than I ever expected and it seriously ruled. Y’all rule.

Also, it’s not 100% over: this post is a placeholder, my pledge that once my arm/back heals, I’m going to come back and properly record my Kerplunk song and post it as a real finale to this. So, ok! Thank you. <3

- Jen

[marchmadbass]

march 31st (kerplunk-era green day day)

cover: green day - 80

this is my favorite song by my favorite band. I have loved them forever (13 years? 12 years?) and continue to even though they don’t put out good albums anymore and are a bunch of jerks. the bass in this song always felt like it would be impossible to even attempt (the sort of folksy finger-picking-sounding main bass riff, I mean). I decided to go for it, and honestly? though I couldn’t play it at its actual speed (I played it about 25% slower than the actual song) I was still able to play it. I got into a good rhythm with playing it, playing down strokes on the A string and up strokes on the D string, back and forth. it kind of worked! oh and I consulted the hell out of tabs for this one because mike dirnt is so all over the place that it’s hard to even know what he’s doing a lot of the time. I pieced together a couple tabs and changed the parts that sounded wrong to me, and this is what I came up with.

recording-wise, I recorded one main bass track, then I punched in a few bass parts that I had played crappily. then I did one main vocal track and did three backing vocals tracks -- two for harmonies in “and I end up talking to myself” and “or I bang it up against the wall” (I added one harmony that mike dirnt doesn’t actually sing but that I always add whenever I listen to this song) as well as a separate one for “but you turn your head” and “so I lose my head” -- and then I just did a ton of level adjusting for each vocal part because I sing at such inconsistent volumes. I think it’s an acceptable LAST MARCH MADBASS COVER FOR THIS WHOLE PROJECT. I’m so wistful right now. I can’t believe it’s over.

[marchmadbass]

March 30, 2016

Cover: “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones

hahaha ok so remember how i said i wanted to do a hard song today? that didn’t happen. THANKS, BACK. i know it’s getting old to keep reading me say that but like, it’s getting old having to say it, so don’t worry. i feel like i’m getting better slowly, but my right arm is still basically useless.

Anyway, I decided to just randomly think of an easy bass song that I knew I could figure out quickly, and then just record a take of me trying to remember it and sing it also. This goofy thing is the result. Come hell or high water, i AM going to do the hard song I really want to do tomorrow.

- Jen

[marchmadbass]

March 29, 2016

Cover: “My Better Half” by One Last Wish

Still got a junky back, still taking things easy. Full disclosure, I’ve covered this song before, but it’s been a few years and I wanted to see if I could remember it, plus mess with that v cool technique for the 5 minutes I was able to play before having to stop from the stupid pain. I never realized how many similarities One Last Wish and RHCP have...

Am I kidding? I don’t even know anymore. Two days left and I’m realllllly hoping I’m better enough because I have two really cool hard songs that I want to slam outta the park!!

- Jen

[marchmadbass]

note: I refuse to use any other picture than this because this picture is so good so deal with how pixelated it is.

march 29th (no theme day)

cover: ‘til tuesday - voices carry

-the song/the band: this is one of the greatest songs in the world. I have loved it since I was a kid enjoying the cheesy acting on the part of the abusive boyfriend in the music video (seriously go to youtube and watch the video now). much later I discovered that the aimee mann from ‘til tuesday was the same aimee mann who did the music in the pt anderson movie magnolia. that music isn’t so much my thing but I respect the hell out of it and find it very effective. I’m not surprised that someone who could write one of the most heartbreaking brutal songs I’ve ever heard (’voices carry’) also wrote that intense singalong song in magnolia (also, if you haven’t seen magnolia you obviously should. though it’s not as good as boogie nights. off topic...). I decided to buy the LP a few years ago and found that it was mostly good but no song on it compared to ‘voices carry’. knowing that aimee mann played bass and sang on all of those songs impressed the hell out of me because I suck at playing complicated bass parts while singing. I decided not to attempt it but instead to record all the bass parts, even the complicated ones (seriously, the ending...dude. it’s a lot.) separately from the vocals. honestly the vocals for this song are so hard to sing. see more about that in the process section. OH ALSO did you know the gender pronouns referring to the partner in this song were originally female and the label forced aimee mann to change it because they didn’t think a story about a lesbian relationship would sell? as though this song wasn’t already cool enough!

-the process: I thought I figured the main root notes in this song a few years ago but I was absolutely playing it a half step up (which I realized today when playing along with the song). after figuring that out I decided to look up a tab for the ending part because it is so elaborate. once I figured it all out I recorded one root notes-only track in which I played through everything, then another track in which I played the staccato chorus and the elaborate ending. then I figured out the synth hook in the verses, and I tried to figure out the second synth hook but discovered that it is played in a really high octave and I couldn’t go up from the other synth line on bass. so I decided instead to just play the same synth hook from before even though it wasn’t the right notes. it still sounds cool. then I recorded vocals terribly (I’ve been coughing a lot and have trouble GOING for it right now), and then I scrapped them and tried to go for it even though it was super hard to sing loudly. my second vocal take was better, even though I was all over the place volume-wise and I hit a wrong note (on the word “darling” in the line “hush hush, darling, she might overhear” towards the end of the song). after that I decided singing more would be too hard so I didn’t do any backing vocals. I left the weird ending from the music video (”I wish he would let me talk”) that is not in the album version. all in all I am the most proud of this one that I have been of any of them, I think. I figured out a lot of fading in and fading out stuff in garageband and I feel like I have a better idea of recording techniques than ever before.

[marchmadbass]

March 28, 2016

Cover: “Just Like Heaven” by the Cure

I am literally only posting this so I can say that I did madbass every day. My back is worse today and I can barely move my strumming arm. I actually realized that this project is a big part of the reason why I’m so physically messed up right now - so many nights of sitting in my awful desk chair bending over my bass/the computer/recording equipment with bad posture and not paying attention until it was too late really added up, I guess. So take that as a lesson to sit right when you’re working on projects every night, y’all.

At any rate this is a 26 second clip of the incredibly easy bass progression of Just Like Heaven, which is about all I could manage pain-wise. 

- Jen

[marchmadbass]

March 27, 2016

Cover: “Cashout” by Fugazi

This isn’t really where I wanted it to be, mainly because I’m still in back pain hell and did it as a quick partial-song one-tracker on my phone again instead of spending much more time on it, doing the whole song, doing multiple tracks etc. But hey, I gotta be adaptable! 

Similar to what Shira said, Fugazi bass lines were really influential for me growing up in DC punk at the tail end of their run, but it’s real that this sound has been translated, reshaped and carried on through a lot of DC punk during and since then. It wasn’t very cool to like The Argument since it was “late” Fugazi or whatever, but I loved (and love) this album and the way the guitar & bass interplay on it specifically. I started this off with the guitar opening since there’s no bass there - it doesn’t sound quite right to my ear, but it’s close enough. The bass line is all about triplets, using all different strings and wildly different parts of the neck and some chords, so it’s tricky but still nowhere near as tricky as many other Lally lines.

- Jen

[marchmadbass]

march 27 (fugazi day)

cover: fugazi - margin walker

-the song/band: I grew up in the dc area and saw fugazi at their last two fort reno shows in 2001 and 2002 respectively. I feel like being from dc I’m supposed to like all ian mackaye bands, but this is really the only one I do like (except maybe embrace. sorry not sorry I don’t like minor threat). possibly it’s because this band is the perfect combination of everything that doesn’t make sense together but somehow does -- melodramatic punk with lots of weird jazzy and disco-y components, especially to the bass (and to a lesser extent the drums), and guy and ian’s such different vocals that somehow sound cool together. 13 songs is my favorite, but I actually was planning on trying to do repeater. but I had so much trouble figuring out the bass line for that song and decided to pick something else. margin walker has that really cool very hard main bass line, so I decided to try that.

-the cover: figuring it out was pretty rough (no live videos seem to show joe lally’s hands -- everyone loves taking video mostly of guy hugging the mic stand), but I eventually got it to a point where all the parts sound right to me. but actually playing it is a different story. this is physically challenging as hell. it’s way too fast to play three different strings with one high note that involves stretching my pinky. as such, I barely ever stuck that F# (the pinky note). I kept alternating between playing with and without a pick and finally settled on pickless. I played this song about 10 times through, recording every time, and picked the least bad one. this is it. ignore the fact that I hit a wrong note in the chorus, barely stuck the high note in the main bass line, and forgot how the “YOU! I wanna [taste right] to you” (no idea what that line actually is) part goes for a second. but I got through it and so yeah. whatever. not my best but I feel okay about it because IT WAS SO FREAKIN’ HARD TO PLAY.

also say hi to my baby bass. I played a different bass in my other video post.

[marchmadbass]

March 26, 2016

Cover: “A Heart Filled Reaction to Dissatisfaction” by City of Caterpillar

Here’s a cool story: I threw out my back! So, I spent last night and today in a bunch of pain sitting in a chair. I didn’t really even feel up to doing this, but I’m fighting v hard to stay committed in the last week of madbass, and hell if my stupid back is going to stop me.

So, Derek, who is the most amazing human, brought me my bass and helped me learn this song tonight without me having to move much. I played the two progressions through a few times and then recorded them on my phone with some flubs. Quick little jam on a really fun bass line with different types of chords and picking. I always loved these ‘screamo’ (lol) bass lines as a young bb punk.

Nothing like searing pain and feeling helpless to humble you and make you restless af. Hoping tomorrow brings some relief and the opportunity to make a cooler madbass.

- Jen

[marchmadbass]

march 26th (no theme day)

cover: the simpsons - chimpan a to chimpan z

check out this cheat that I cheated. basically when there was a snowstorm a month and a half ago my partner and I decided to figure out a way to arrange this song from the simpsons in a short music for short people-style ridiculous theatrical elaborate pop punk cover. so we did. and then we actually recorded it a couple weeks ago. so yeah this has drums and guitar but this was a totally goofy bass cover I did in which I figured out the key the song was in (by playing the song over and over on youtube and playing along until I found notes that sounded okay) and arranged it in a totally different genre (and changed some of the notes that are played in the song to make it fit this style better). tomorrow I will do an actual bass cover! I promise!

[marchmadbass]

March 25, 2016

Cover: “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M.

Lots of stuff going on here. The bass line was hard when i was trying to use other peoples’ tabs, but made way more sense when i stopped looking at them, haha. Other than that, translating different mandolin and filler/contrasting melody lines was probably the toughest part, which kinda goes hand in hand with layering a bunch of stuff to change the dynamics in different parts of the song.

- Jen

[marchmadbass]

March 24, 2016

Cover: “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” by Sugar

OK, so here’s the deal - i’m technically cheating here, but i’m not reallllllly, which is the only reason I feel okay about posting this song tonight. After another long-ass Goddamn Day and deciding to go see my friend’s band that I haven’t seen in ages, I got home too late to be making noise recording bass. 

Instead, what I did was quietly re-learn and practice this Sugar song, which is a cover I did a long time ago with my buds Jon and Cherise. The cover that we recorded last summer is the audio I’m posting here; I played bass on it and did some harmonies/backup vocals. It’s basically a placeholder because I do intend to come back and record my current personal bass version to be able to post it here.

I’m breaking my own arbitrary rules for myself in that I didn’t record this tonight and it involves a guitar and other people, but since I did pick up my bass and play this song a bunch tonight on my own, even though I couldn’t record, I’m feeling pretty at peace with letting this placeholder represent the work I did tonight for now. The whole point of this is to get me to play every day this month, and I have so far!

I’ll try to get tonight’s version posted this weekend along with the other madbasses. I might have time on Saturday! And now: sleeping.

- Jen 

[marchmadbass]

March 23, 2016

Cover: “Damaged Goods” by Gang of Four

Here’s a very sloppy quick one for ya today. Basically, today was A DAY and i only had about half an hour tonight to quickly try to learn this and record it. It’s mostly variations on the same bass line for the whole song so I just did 1:45 of it and cut it off at the long drum/vox break. Left a very quiet track of the song in there so you can kinda hear how the bass line matches up with the rest of it. 

Someday i’ll come back to this, because it’s really fun to play (a good ol’ fashioned all-4-stringer!) and I’m sure I can get it cleaner/more precise with a little more time!

- Jen

[marchmadbass]

March 22, 2016

Cover: “Zero” by the Smashing Pumpkins

This is another one bass line/one vocal line jawn, so it’s a little rough but it did the trick for me today. Although it wasn’t complicated, it was actually a little harder than it seemed to go between the melodic line patterns and constantly hitting the open Eb for rhythm. It’s a bass line that fills its own self out within the process of playing it, which i love. 

- Jen

[marchmadbass]

March 21, 2016

Cover: “Give It Away” by Red Hot Chili Peppers

I.... don’t even really know what to say about this, haha! Except that I straight up can’t stop laughing. 

💉🍭👉👌🔮

- Jen

[marchmadbass]

I've been truly obsessed with this song lately, so I guess it was only a matter of time before I covered it. This was actually the hardest cover to play so far, for whatever reason. Also, I sang! Why did I do that to myself? I'm still not sure. But if you were looking for (more) proof that normal humans just fucking can't sound like Frank Black, then here you go. I recorded it on Spire, on my phone, so it still sounds like garbage but WHATEVER. It's mind-blowing to me that I have a phone I can record things on and that there can be multiple tracks. THE FUTURE IS NOW. -Robyn