These transcriptions come from my own curiosity/pursuit of more stuff to play (what is that player doing?), student requests, and specific basslines for gigs. I am compiling them here for easy access for anyone. I've always appreciated others that have done this since it gives me a good resource to compare my own, cheat if I do not have time to do it myself, and contributes to the lexicon of popular music. Enjoy!
Some of these are handwritten and some are just pieces to figure out a particular lick or get an idea of a player's approach... I will try to update them.
At a later time, I'll post a note about some things I've noticed about transcribing (bass in particular).
Alice Merton - No Roots
238 KB
Anita Baker - Sweet Love
177 KB
Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison
228 KB
The Beatles - Something
50.7 KB
Ben E. King - Spanish Harlem
44.7 KB
Ben E. King - Stand by Me
224 KB
Billie Eilish - Bad Guy
236 KB
Bruno Mars - 24k Magic
256 KB
Bruno Mars - Locked Out of Heaven
The mix gets thick during the choruses so there's room for interpretation but I definitely hear some syncopation during the first couple choruses. Also, there are multiple bass tracks (such as the synthy whammy pedal-like slides up in the chorus).
42.5 KB
Bruno Mars - Treasure
I love the bass tone on this! It's a pretty (very) repetitive bassline.
32.4 KB
Busty and the Bass - Up Top
246 KB
Cake - Short Skirt/Long Jacket
51.9 KB
Calvin Harris - Disco Heat
90.7 KB
Calvin Harris - Feels
85.5 KB
The Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats
It's 3 different sampled bass grooves at different parts of the tune. The 3rd uses a BUNCH of effects.
91.6 KB
Donnell Pitman - Burning Up
196 KB
Earth, Wind, and Fire - Dance, Dance, Dance
From a pretty obscure 80s movie... Verdine is great as usual
145 KB
Earth, Wind, and Fire - Got to Get You Into My Life
The recording sounds close to A-flat but live videos show them playing it in G.
61.8 KB
Ed Sheeran - I Don't Care
152 KB
Elton John - Rocket Man
299 KB
Genesis - No Reply at All
I had no idea until I saw the credits, but this song features the horn section from Earth, Wind, and Fire!
244 KB
Grace Potter - Paris
42.7 KB
Hall and Oates - Baby Come Back
53.5 KB
Hall and Oates - Sarah Smile
44.6 KB
James Brown - Bass Grooves 2
"Licking Stick", "Superbad", "I've Got a Feeling", "Mother Popcorn"
35.9 KB
Jean Knight - Mr. Big Stuff
231 KB
John Scofield - Over Big Top
56.1 KB
Khalid - Talk
224 KB
Khruangbin - August 10
124 KB
Labi Siffre - I Got The...
This was made more famous by Eminem sampling the 2nd main groove in "My Name Is"
188 KB
Macklemore - Can't Hold Us
134 KB
Miley Cyrus - Flowers
Definitely worth exploring A3 vs. E8 on the verses.... the E8 adds a nice subtle slide to the line
231 KB
Patrice Rushen - Forget Me Nots
This is one of the best slap basslines ever recorded. It was made even more popular when Will Smith sampled it for "Men in Black."
398 KB
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
This one is sort of an arrangement of how Tony Levin plays it live. There's even a video out there somewhere with the camera on his bridge so it's possible to see where he's playing it. Note that this is written in standard tuning... the recording is in flats.
27.7 KB
The Police - Roxanne
120 KB
Post Malone - Circles
88.2 KB
Rage Against the Machine - Basslines
"Testify", "Calm Like a Bomb", "Bulls on Parade", "Bombtrack", "Freedom"
51.8 KB
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Love Rollercoaster (The Lick)
This blew my mind when I first heard the bass part a little after 3 minutes in (close to the end). It is a lot of fun to work up to speed.
30.6 KB
Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines
160 KB
Sam Smith - Stay With Me
93.7 KB
Sia - Titanium
232 KB
Stone Temple Pilots - Plush
242 KB
Surfaces - Sunday Best
98.5 KB
Tito Puente - Guayaba
35 KB
Tommy Tutone - 867-5309 (Jenny)
51.1 KB
Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl
This gets played to death but the original bassline has some really nice stuff
165 KB
The Weeknd - Blinding Lights
Repetitive synth line... a good tracking octave pedal with only effect signal gets close
233 KB
Oscar Pettiford - Tricotism
Some recordings list this as "Tricrotism" which is a word, but the original recording left out the "r" for whatever reason
67.6 KB