Artist - Eugene Record
Electric Bass - Bernard Reed
Difficulty - Intermediate
This weeks transcription came out of a happy accident. I happened to be listening in the car to a Spotify gig playlist I’d put together (I often put playlists together when i’m unfamiliar with any gig material) which, when it had finished, started going to the ‘you might also like’ tracks. I almost skipped it and restarted the playlist but something about the track made me pause and listen…
The thing that initially grabbed me about Overdose Of Joy wasn’t the bass…it was the horn/string arrangement and then the vocal line in the chorus! It was only when I went back and listened carefully with headphones that I realised how great the bass line is!
Eugene Record was a complete unknown to me but his whole solo record is well worth listening to if you’re into the Detroit/Chicago music scenes. Apparently he also contributed bass to his own record but the best information i’ve been able to find is that Bernard Reed played bass on this specific cut. The use of open strings within the verse/chorus groove really stands out to me, it’s somewhat Jamerson-esque but not quite used in the same way, and pay attention to how the groove changes and varies.
I might have gone with my P bass for this recording but its badly in need of a setup so I went for my Yamaha with the tone control wide open!
One minor note, the recording is slightly flat when your bass is tuned to 440hz, so you’ll either need to tune your bass down a little or nudge the track up a little (on the recording it’s .24 up).
Enjoy!
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