while my guitar - bass line video

[blmeanie]

so much content out there nowadays, stumbled upon this one, no definitive answer but question on who is playing bass on While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Comments section is interesting after watching the video.  Like anything Beatles, soooo many opinions. 

Fun to watch and read

https://youtu.be/nDCMK2VPeBA

also - know I am not a musician but find videos and such like this interesting because I don't have the personal knowledge of how songs are constructed, extracting single instruments and focusing on them is crazy interesting to me given my non technical background.

[Togger]

Probably George Martin played it.

[Moogmodule]

so much content out there nowadays, stumbled upon this one, no definitive answer but question on who is playing bass on While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Comments section is interesting after watching the video.  Like anything Beatles, soooo many opinions. 

Fun to watch and read

https://youtu.be/nDCMK2VPeBA

also - know I am not a musician but find videos and such like this interesting because I don't have the personal knowledge of how songs are constructed, extracting single instruments and focusing on them is crazy interesting to me given my non technical background.

Lewisohn says Paul overdubbed a bass part after the basic track was recorded (on which he played piano). John might also have played some bass on the six string bass they kept around on one of the takes.

[nimrod]

Paul was playing piano, its sounds very much like a Fender BassVI (not a real Bass but a Baritone guitar).
So it was either John or George, (they usually played the Bass VI when Paul was playing piano) and I always assumed it was John, it sounds like him, pretty aggressive, Giles Martin has access to all the archives at Abbey Rd and he categorically says its John.

Not that it matters  ha2ha

[Moogmodule]

Interesting that, if the bass was overdubbed, that John would do it. But if they were doing two basses as is suggested in the video then I suppose someone had to join Paul. IF it was John he did a much better job than on Long and Winding Road  ha2ha

[nimrod]

Interesting that, if the bass was overdubbed, that John would do it. But if they were doing two basses as is suggested in the video then I suppose someone had to join Paul. IF it was John he did a much better job than on Long and Winding Road  ha2ha

The way I perceived it was that John played the (very trebly) Bass VI on the recording but another Bass track was added on top of that.

As for LAWR I think John hated it 

[Normandie]

also - know I am not a musician but find videos and such like this interesting because I don't have the personal knowledge of how songs are constructed, extracting single instruments and focusing on them is crazy interesting to me given my non technical background.

I'm not a musician, either, blmeanie, and I find this fascinating as well.

I hope it's OK to segue into a closely related topic here. A coworker claimed last week that he can tell who is playing guitar depending on that person's playing style. He pulled up on his phone Cliff Richards's cover of "Devil Woman" and said he could tell it was George playing, and he asked my opinion, so I told him I doubt I'd ever be able to recognize one particular music unless it was already a well-known song with which I was already familiar (e.g., While My Guitar Gently Weeps). 

I did a search when I got home and found out that no, that's not George playing on that song.

Given that there are several musicians active on here, I thought I'd ask, can you all listen to a song and say "Oh, that's so-and-so playing [guitar, bass, percussion, etc.]? I'm curious.

[nimrod]

Sometimes yes.
I knew David Gilmore was playing on No More Lonely Nights for example. I can also always recognise Mark Knofler, some are very distinctive like Peter Green.

[blmeanie]

Sometimes yes.
I knew David Gilmore was playing on No More Lonely Nights for example.

wait...what???!??!???

whoa, I'll be back in a minute or about 5 minutes

[blmeanie]

ok, mind blown, read on wiki that Gilmour played on it and the solo.  ok.  Also saw that it was released on my 19th birthday, yay.

[nimrod]

ok, mind blown, read on wiki that Gilmour played on it and the solo.  ok.  Also saw that it was released on my 19th birthday, yay.

First time I heard it I thought... David Gilmour.
The tone, the bending, the amount of reverb, it sounded like straight off The Wall

[Moogmodule]

Dave Gilmore worked a bit with Paul. He was in the band for the concert Paul did at the cavern in 1999

[blmeanie]

all of that is pretty cool, Paul often is characterized as impossible to work with and collaborations or playing with him are cool.  I knew of Elvis Costello's collabs for Flowers and thought that was cool, hadn't been aware of Gilmour.  Who else?

[nimrod]

all of that is pretty cool, Paul often is characterized as impossible to work with and collaborations or playing with him are cool.  I knew of Elvis Costello's collabs for Flowers and thought that was cool, hadn't been aware of Gilmour.  Who else?

Eric Stewart 10cc

[nimrod]

Interesting that, if the bass was overdubbed, that John would do it. But if they were doing two basses as is suggested in the video then I suppose someone had to join Paul. IF it was John he did a much better job than on Long and Winding Road  ha2ha

Ive listened closely to the 2021 version of this on my headphones and Im now convinced it wasnt John playing Bass. I think its a better bassline that John was capable of. I dont know obviously (like the Ahhhs)  but thats my feeling. Id guess George or Paul.