Message In A Bottle, isolated bass

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In retrospect, it was probably foolish of me to assume that there would be more to this than the bass line for ā€œMessage in a Bottleā€, isolated.

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I know, itā€™s just me. But ever since Iā€™ve been old enough to sing bass, its the first line I hear in any music. Singing 2nd bass with a choir these days, so I was loving this!

Was Sting playing a fretless bass on this track? Yeah, it sounds itā€¦ but damn itā€™s precise too.

This confirms my suspicion that heā€™s the third-best instrumentalist in The Police, at least when heā€™s also singing.

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Heā€™s baldingā€¦spiritually.

I kept thinking something interesting was going to happen. I feel like Iā€™ve been fooled.

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ā€˜Listen to itā€™ is the new ā€˜just look at itā€™.

Itā€™s just not that interesting a bassline. This, on the other hand, is a work of wonder in a beautifully-crafted pop song. And thereā€™s a very boingboingesque background to look at.

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to my untrained ear it did not sound like the bass track isolated, but somebody playing along with the songā€¦

Heh, hehā€¦when I read the title, I thought: ā€œButā€™s thatā€™s one of the simplest basslines, in all of pop musicā€¦right?ā€

Rightā€¦but what is surprising about this, is how low-fi it sounds, with lots of string and finger noise, compared to the final mix.

This is probably a Live track from off a direct input monitor, meaning it was played sloppy during a loud performance, which didnā€™t matter much. Sting is a really good musician, and the album work is likely much cleaner and more precise.

Yes, itā€™s simple and repetitive, but it is punk, or at least ā€˜punkā€™, and he was singing at the same time.

And thereā€™s no arguing with the end result: a catchy popular song.

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The stock video for this song shows them in the studio, with Sting playing a fretless bass. So the choice of a still photo of him on stage with a fretted Fender bass is a bit misleading.

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This is a nice bass line: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3yio5uiTGk

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This oneā€™s pretty good, too.

John Entwhistleā€™s Isolated Bass for Wonā€™t Get Fooled Again

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My fav, Pino

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I donā€™t know the song, but that is a pretty instrument!

ā€œSeven Nation Armyā€ seems to have cribbed a little bit of that bass lineā€¦then again, itā€™s not exactly the most original descending melody.

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Sorry, but for me the best will always be Flea bringing the funk!

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