Oh No, Oh Yes! // Mariya Takeuchi // Bass Cover (featuring the Boss OC-2 Octave Pedal)

(reuploaded in the right aspect ratio this time!) I've recently become intrigued by the practice (well, art) of performing synth bass lines on bass guitar, specifically ones which are sequenced and perfectly quantized. It's inherently limiting in that you can't push or pull the beat around or play with any kind of dynamic (which angered quite a few musicians back in the day), but there is an art to making it really groove. Production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were famous for this very practice, and today we have our own production and songwriting duo tackling the issue – Mariya Takeuchi and Tatsuro Yamashita. "Oh No, Oh Yes!" is, at heart, an old school slow jam. Strip away the synths and the sequencers and you get something that The Stylistics or Blue Magic might've sang back in the 70's. But drop that songwriting in the almost exclusively synth-based pop landscape of the mid 1980's, and you get this little masterpiece. The song is much more rigid than its traditionally recorded and tracked predecessors due to its sequencing. This could very easily make the song sound robotic, but it instead manages to provide that perfect mid-1980s backdrop to Mariya's timeless, sultry vocals. Most prominent among the synths is the bassline, which weaves in and around the vocal line, just like great pop/R&B bassists like James Jamerson (Motown) and Ronnie Baker (Philadelphia International) would. It's the art of note choice that prevails here, and it's worth knowing how to play. Note duration and timing must be spot on as well due to the quantization, but the results are spectacular. I've chosen to use a Boss OC-2 backed up by a compressor to even out the signal and shore up dry signal frequencies to allow the midrange of the bass anchor the entire sound in the mix. It's not a perfect emulation of the sound, but I do believe it's a serviceable alternative, especially in live settings. Follow the project on social media! Instagram:   / thecitypopb...​   Twitter: https://twitter.com/citypopbassist?la... #bass​ #citypop​ #yachtrock​ #westcoastaor​ #bassistsofinstagram​ #bassist​ #bassguitar​ #basscover​ #citypopbass​ #vaporwave​ #futurefunk​ #basstheworld​ #bassuniverse​ #AOR