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, it’s just me. But ever since I’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 it… but damn it’s precise too.

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

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He’s balding…spiritually.

I kept thinking something interesting was going to happen. I feel like I’ve been fooled.

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ā€˜Listen to it’ is the new ā€˜just look at it’.

It’s just not that interesting a bassline. This, on the other hand, is a work of wonder in a beautifully-crafted pop song. And there’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 song…

Heh, heh…when I read the title, I thought: ā€œBut’s that’s one of the simplest basslines, in all of pop music…right?ā€

Right…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 didn’t matter much. Sting is a really good musician, and the album work is likely much cleaner and more precise.

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

And there’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 one’s pretty good, too.

John Entwhistle’s Isolated Bass for Won’t Get Fooled Again

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My fav, Pino

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I don’t know the song, but that is a pretty instrument!

ā€œSeven Nation Armyā€ seems to have cribbed a little bit of that bass line…then again, it’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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