Motown/Soul - Michael Mcdonald - Live Bassist Sound

Jan 24, 2013
115
219
4,641
Any ideas on the bass players sound and settings? Tips to play this style? To me i gather he is playing light, mid scooped, possibly front pickup favored? Flatwounds maybe? and some compression. Just curious! Second song with Billy Preston kinda sounded like there was an octave pedal in the intro. If you were to play in this band what would your set up be?
 
Any ideas on the bass players sound and settings? Tips to play this style? To me i gather he is playing light, mid scooped, possibly front pickup favored? Flatwounds maybe? and some compression. Just curious! Second song with Billy Preston kinda sounded like there was an octave pedal in the intro. If you were to play in this band what would your set up be?

Pretty classic Sadowsky sound there. Fat with clarity. He's a fantastic player, and thats where all of the articulation, feel, phrasing comes from. If you want to play this style, I suggest lifting as much of the original bass lines as you can. There is a great book called "Learning from Jamerson" that can help a lot with this.