Electric Bass - Dennis Belfield

Difficulty - Beginner

Well before I became aware of the Candi Staton/Florence And The Machine song of the same name, this was one of my favourite tunes to play in our Funk and Soul set on the Carnival Imagination. That particular cruise contract was a real education for me, both in terms of what being a professional bass player really means and being exposed to a LOT of music i’d only been peripherally aware of.

Rufus and Chaka Khan were both big parts of said education, it’s not difficult technically but consistency with the pushes (how the main groove starts on the last 16th of the bar before rather than dead on beat 1) really makes or breaks the overall feel. Also….there is something quite refreshing about grooves that have a LOT of space in them!

P with flats is the vibe here so i’ve gone for my Yamaha BB, recorded via my MXR M80 preamp.

Enjoy!

P.s…for my subscribers, there is a VERY different version of this song that i’ll be putting out a transcription of soon…

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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You Got The Love WM

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Electric Bass - Anthony Jackson

Difficulty - Intermediate/Advanced

I first transcribed this particular tune last year for my weekly group class and since i’ve gone back down the Anthony Jackson rabbit hole for my current teaching block looking at greats of the session world, I came across Teena Marie’s Robbery record again and decided to work through this for my own benefit and post the transcription for you all! This specific version is the extended 12” mix from the US Robbery reissue.

AJ needs no introduction from me at this point but this particular line is one of his finest in the pop realm. Something that always floors me with Anthony is his incredible control of sound, time and note length and just listening to him execute the main groove from this song over and over is a real education in what consistency actually sounds like. For those of you wanting some AJ magic…take a look at the fills on the last two pages, i’ll be filming some tutorials on those in the next few days because there is a lot you can pick out of them!

Since it’s AJ, my Fodera was my choice (its always a pleasure picking this bass up and playing it!), biased slightly towards the front pickup, single coil mode and the tone control almost wide open. The only other thing in the chain before the interface was my Cali76 compressor.

Enjoy!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Playboy WM

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Electric Bass - Stuart Price

Difficulty - Intermediate

Hey all,

Hope you’re all well! This week’s transcription is one of a pair of Dua Lipa tunes i’ve needed to become familiar with over the last few months (the other being Levitating) and in transcribing them properly it shows that there are still some fun bass lines out there within pop music.

While the line itself appears simple enough, some of the little details to pay attention to include slides, varied note lengths, the integration of pops into the octave patterns and the melodic lines in the final outtro.

I chose my Fodera for this take, biased slightly towards the front pickup, tone control 30% on and quite heavily compressed using my Cali76 compressor!

Enjoy!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Don't Start Now WM

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Electric Bass - Chris Squire

Difficulty - Beginner/Intermediate

This weeks transcription is another from the world of prog rock, this time the British band Yes. Owner Of A Lonely Heart was part of a playlist in one of the hotels we were staying at while on the road in Europe recently and it got me thinking about the 90125 album. It’s from an interesting period in Yes’ history, given that it originated from what was supposed to be a side project (Cinema), and hearing this track on the radio prompted me to not only go and re-listen to the record but also to transcribe Chris Squire’s bass line!

This song is something of an antidote to the idea that the Prog bands of the 70s/80s didn’t know how to write ‘songs’, the main groove and the chorus melody were in my head for a good day and a half after I heard it. Executing the song properly means working on a given idea and executing it consistently and repetitively, something i’ve been working on recently with some of my students. Alongside an incredibly catchy groove there are also fun instrumental unison lines and some lovely melodic ideas.

I don’t own a Rickenbacker and the closest I could get to Squire’s sound on this track was my Fodera in dual coil mode, biased towards the front pickup, EQ flat and my Boss CEB-3 chorus.

Hope you all enjoy!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Owner Of A Lonely Heart WM

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Electric Bass - Nathan East

Difficulty - Intermediate

Nathan East is one of those players that, when you listen to him, you often think “Yes. Perfect. Nothing else needed”. This is particularly the case in a lot of what he has recorded with the great singer Anita Baker, the record ‘Giving You The Best That I’ve Got’ being a favourite of mine.

This particular track, Just Because, not only demonstrates Nathan’s incredible sense of taste but also his absolute mastery of what I think of as ‘connective ideas’. The movement from one chord to another and one phrase to another appears completely fluid and rarely repeats the same exact idea twice. As the song moves on, Nathan’s ideas develop and he has some REALLY tasty fills towards the end, not that they are enormously complex or harmonically ambiguous but they suit the music and the mood just perfectly. All in all, it’s a perfect demonstration of why Nathan has been one of the first call bass players on the LA scene for decades.

I used my Fodera for this particular playthrough, pickups centred in single coil mode and the passive tone 60% open.

Hope you enjoy this one as much as I have!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Just Because WM

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Electric Bass - Geddy Lee

Difficulty - Advanced

Hey everyone,

This transcription comes after checking out recent videos of Rush on the 50 Something tour with Annika Nilles on the drum chair (Spoiler altert: She’s ABSOLUTELY destroying it, as I anticipated she would. I feel that Neil is watching somewhere and smiling). This led me to going back through bits of the rush discography (i’ve got a couple of bigger cuts coming for subscribers in the next month or so) and one record that I keep coming back to is Counterparts.

This record doesn’t have the cache of Moving Pictures or Permanent Waves or the grand concept of 2112 but (for me at least) it has some great songwriting and some fantastic bass work by Geddy, chief among them Leave That Thing Alone.

This track has all the hallmarks of the ‘Rush Instrumental’, bass specific hooks (Geddy’s first entry in bar 5), bass leads, unison lines….it’s all in here! The unison line in 3/4 is particularly fun to play!

It sounds to me like Geddy is using his Fender J on this record (i’m not a Rush scholar on this point) so I went for my Fodera, pickups in single coil mode and the passive tone wide open. To get that Geddy bite I put it through my MXR M80 preamp/overdrive with the saturation dialled back a fraction and the top end boosted.

Enjoy!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Leave That Thing Alone WM

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Electric Bass - Phil Lynott

Difficulty - Beginner/Intermediate

Hey everyone,

This one is a direct request from my dad and goes back to the very first band I ever played bass in! Prior to me sitting down a while back to transcribe this properly it was very much in the ‘sort of learned it but not really’ category, and having transcribed it properly (as with a lot of songs from this era), there are a range of little nuggets that jump out.

The first is the shift in inversions in the choruses, something that completely bypassed me as a teenager, but it’s a really fun little shift in the harmony! The other that comes to mind immediately is the shift to running 8th notes in the final part of the song, representing a real shift in energy that I wish I’d learned in full the first time around!

Given that I always associate Lynott with his black P bass, I grabbed my own Fender P for this recording, along with my Boss CEB-3 bass chorus plus a little additional processing in garageband.

Have fun!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Dancing In The Moonlight WM

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Electric Bass - P-Nut

Difficulty - Intermediate

Hey all,

This weeks transcription features a band (and a bass player) that people keep requesting over on one of the other bass education platforms I work for, the band being 311 and the bass player being Aaron ‘P-Nut’ Wills. The track i’ve worked through here is Paradise from their debut album and there are various things about it that stand out.

The first is that active pentatonic-based line in the verses, there is a lot of life there and it’s a good example of how you can apply your pentatonic scales within a bass groove. In the chorus, P-Nut doesn’t hit the root on the second chord (C), something that really stands out given that we as bass players often fixate upon the root. Finally there are little things like the harmonics in the 4th bar of letter E (note that those need to be played just ABOVE 3rd fret) and the octave slapped figures!

P-Nut is known for his signature Warwick Streamer so I grabbed my own Warwick for this playthrough, straight into the interface with a little compression!

Enjoy!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Paradise WM

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Electric Bass - Robert ‘Kool’ Bell

Difficulty - Beginner

This is a song that sometimes comes up at gigs and the challenge is always not to overplay! Much like Billie Jean, Thriller and Play That Funky Music, the groove is incredibly consistent throughout and players often tamper with that to the detriment of the music (i’m not saying don’t add anything, just be judicious!)

For those of you towards the start of your bass journey and looking to build some repertoire, this tune is a fun one to work in, it’s not difficult technically and once you get the geography of the song worked out, it’s all about consistency of execution!

Yamaha BB was once again on duty for this, P pickup with the tone rolled off and my trusty MXR M80.

Have fun!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Get Down On It WM

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Electric Bass - Curt Smith

Difficulty - Beginner/Intermediate

Tears For Fears are one of those bands that i’ve heard regularly but have never sat down and seriously examined, until this particular tune came on the radio as I was on my way to a gig, and as I sat there listening in the car quite a few things in the track really struc…

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Electric Bass - Nate Watts

Difficulty - Intermediate

If you were to ask a bass player "what is a great Nate Watts bass line?” they might answer with Sir Duke, Master Blaster or maybe Do I Do (all excellent answers btw!). I would however wager that almost none of them would name this particular track, Gwen McCrae’s Keep The Fire Burning.

I was first exposed to Gwen’s music (and lots more besides) via some excellent Jonathan Maron seminars, and have loved her work ever since. This particular track has the same challenge as tunes like Billie Jean; it’s relentless, the groove never stops so there is certainly a degree of stamina required! The grooves themselves in the verse and chorus are fantastic illustrations of how you can write something catchy and propulsive with relatively simple harmony ingredients, in this case F minor pentatonic and chromatic approach notes. This is interspersed with little flashes of Nate’s phenomenal ability to lay down tasty ideas (that little fill in the last chorus before the slap line kicks in is killer). In the slap section, pay close attention to which parts are thumb and those that are popped, its quite surprising how few times Nate uses the pop!

This track suggested flats to me, so I went my my Yamaha BB, recorded through my Cali76 compressor, MXR M80 preamp into my Audient interface.

Enjoy!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Keep The Fire Burning WM

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Electric Bass - Nick Fyffe

Difficulty - Intermediate/Advanced

Hey all,

Slightly later than usual this week but I’d say it’s worth it! For me, Nick Fyffe is the great underrated bass player from the trio that have played with Jamiroquai (the others being Stu Zender and Paul Turner). His work on the Live In Verona record is amazing as is his work on the Synkronized album. This track is, for me, the standout track from that particular record and it’s been both fun and challenging to get it down!

Part of this comes down to how punchy Nick’s sound is and trying my best to replicate that myself, and part of it is the switch between punchy fingerstyle playing and the octave slap groove. Something I took particular note of are the little slides and grace notes that Nick puts into the line!

I’m not 100% sure which bass that Nick used on the record, but for Jamiroquai of all eras, I tend to reach for my Warwick Streamer LX, it just has a particular punch and bite to it that just works with their music!

Have fun with this one!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Soul Education WM

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Electric Bass - Jerry Jemmott

Difficulty - Intermediate

Hey all,

Hope you’re all well (and for all of you in the UK, are keeping cool!). This weeks transcription is one that has been on the periphery of my awareness for some time now and as I’ve not yet done a Jerry Jemmott transcription, I decided it was past time I sat down and worked this tune out properly.

Aretha Franklin obviously needs no introduction from me but for those less steeped in bass history, Jerry Jemmott was one of the generation of players active right before Jaco and Stanley Clarke exploded onto the scene and transformed what was possible on the instrument and Jemmott is one of the players that Jaco repeatedly namechecked as a specific influence, specifically for the 16th note fingerstyle lines that are in evidence in this track.

Something that stuck out to me was Jemmotts use of open strings, something that i’ve also always noticed about James Jamerson. The open A string works very nicely in the section in Bb Major (A being the Major 7th) but he also integrates it in the B major section (which then gives a dominant 7 vibe without actually changing chord). Pay attention to some of the fills in the outtro, not hugely difficult but so tasty!

P with flats was the vibe I was getting from listening to the track repeatedly so I grabbed the Yamaha BB with the neck pickup soloed. I thought about using the P bass but given the temperature/humidity in my home studio right now the neck has a life of its own and it needs a setup….again :P

Enjoy!!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Think! WM

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Electric Bass - Melvin Dunlap

Difficulty - Intermediate

Hey all,

Hope this finds you all well! This weeks transcription is a tune I hadn’t heard in a VERY long time until a bass playing friend of mine sent me a playlist he’d put together, and listening to it reminded me just how much I like this particular line!

Express yourself was the signature song for Charles Wright and The Watts, and Melvin Dunlap delivers an absolute masterclass in varying the connective ideas while maintaining the integrity of the overall groove! Keep an eye out for where he startts dropping the first 16th of the bar, and work to nail down the various different connective fills/ideas!

My Yamaha with flatwounds was once again the bass of choice here, with my MXR M80 and a little compression added.

Have fun with this!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Express Yourself WM

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Electric Bass - Sting

Difficulty - Beginner/Intermediate

This weeks transcription was one of the first Police tunes (along with Walking On The Moon and Message In A Bottle) that Iearned and while it’s not that difficult technically, getting ones head around the groove placement certainly can be…it took me a long time before I started to feel where the groove is placed naturally!

Sting needs no introduction but this line has all his hallmarks as a bass writer; interesting rhythmic placement, superb control of note lengths and a wonderful sound. I reached for my P bass for this playthrough and it’s funny…you don’t play an instrument/piece of gear for a while and then you pick it up again and remember why you thought it was so great…nothing sounds quite like a good P bass :)

Also in the signal chain was my Boss CEB-3 chorus pedal with the depth set slightly lower than I usually go for.

I always enjoy playing Sting’s lines, hopefully you all enjoy this one as much as I do!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Spirits In The Material World WM

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Electric Bass - Tom Fowler

Difficulty - Intermediate

Hey everyone,

This week’s transcription comes from the extremely extensive discography of Frank Zappa, and while it might not be the most well known or the most difficult Zappa track, it’s one of my personal favourites!

Zappa needs little introduction from me, his work really speaks for itself and a number of significant musicians went on from his band to form their own groups (Steve Vai immediately comes to mind).

The key part of I’m the slime is the unison groove right up top and towards the end, which bookends the two verses. I’ve looked at playing this a couple of different ways but ultimately went with open strings.

As i’m often doing these days, I reached for the Yamaha BB, coupled with the MXR M80 preamp!

Have fun!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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I'm The Slime WM

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Electric Bass - Julio Ćesar Sanchez

Difficulty - Intermediate

Hey everyone,

This weeks transcription might be coming out of left field for the vast majority of you but stay with me, it’s a fun one! I was introduced to Ska-P by a friend at university and this particular track has stuck with me ever since! As you might have guessed they’re a Spanish Ska band, complete with a full horn section.

Planeta Eskoria is the title track of their album of the same name but this version comes from the Incontrolable live record and the whole band absolutely kills it throughout. The bass line particular has lots of fun moments throughout (if you have an envelope filter, you’ll be wanting to plug it in!) and there are various little things i hadn’t noticed before I sat down to transcribe it properly.

I wanted something quite articulate for this playthrough so I chose my Fodera, both pickups on in dual coil mode! I also added in my MXR M80 with the overdrive switched on though with less saturation than I usually blend in.

Hope you all have fun with this one!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Planeta Eskoria WM

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Electric Bass - Fred Brown

Difficulty - Beginner/Intermediate

Hey all,

This weeks transcription features an artist I was first introduced to by the great Jonathan Maron. Gwen McCrae isn’t perhaps as well known as some of the other great American singers but she certainly deserves to be and for us bass players, her music is a real pleasure to both transcribe and play!

Funky Sensation isn’t the trickiest of her tunes to play but the groove itself is a real gem! It’s one of those songs where at first glance it’s very repetitive, but when you dig into it and pay attention (particularly towards the end) there are lots of little variations in there!

The original sounds like it was recorded on a P bass with flats so I chose my Yamaha BB (especially as the TI flats have now settled really nicely!).

Hopefully you enjoy digging into this as much as I did!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Funky Sensation WM

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Electric Bass - Norman Watt-Roy

Difficulty - Advanced

Hey everyone,

This weeks transcription is one i’ve been planning for a little while now, an absolute classic within the bass repertoire and a tricky line to nail down. Norman Watt-Roy’s line on Rhythm Stick is one of those seminal tunes that you get a real sense of satisfaction from working through so have some fun digging into this!

As with tunes like Hysteria, a lot of this is about getting the plucking and fretting fingers organised, especially with the little shifts around the fingerboard between the verses and the choruses. The TAB is my own suggestion for this but other solutions are possible!

The tighter spacing on my Yamaha BB5000 definitely helped with this tune, and the only other thing in the chain was my MXR M80.

Enjoy!!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Rhythm Stick WM

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Electric Bass - Nigel Harrison

Difficulty - Beginner

Hey everyone,

This weeks transcription features another band I was introduced to by my parents (my mum rather than my dad this time!), Blondie and this track is from their classic album Parallel Lines. Nigel Harrison laid down several notable lines on this record but Heart Of Glass has always been the one that stood out for me.

Part of the reason is the disco-esque octaves you hear in the choruses, another would be the shifts to 7/4 (prog nut here!) as well as the overall feel of the line! Lots of fun to be had digging into this song!

Signal chain was P bass - Cali76 compressor - interface, nothing fancy!

Enjoy!

You can request a Transcription below. I also offer a bespoke transcription service. I charge £40 for most transcription requests; more complex transcriptions are on a case-by-case basis, and I will provide a specific quote at my own discretion. If you pay for a transcription, you will receive a copy without a watermark.

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Heart Of Glass WM

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