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Giants of Bass – James Jamerson

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'Motor City Grooves (Make Me Wanna Practice...)' was written to represent the unique playing style pioneered by legendary Motown bassist James Jamerson. Although technically simpler to play than some of the other pieces in the Giants of Bass series, this is nevertheless a very demanding piece to play. This is because the bassline features almost no repetition, a common feature of Jamerson's bass parts at Motown.

As well as showing you how to play the piece, this course will also teach you about many of the key elements of Jamerson’s playing - each of these will be analysed in detail.

Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above to get the PDF transcription and the audio files for this piece (available to subscribers only).

This course is 1 HOUR & 22 MINUTES long and contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:

1. ‘Motor City Grooves’

This video is a demonstration of ‘Motor City Grooves’, performed on a Fender Precision bass with a foam mute, strung with flatwound strings.

2. Course Overview

This video gives a brief overview of the course. We’ll be discussing several key elements of Jamerson’s playing in this video, all of which are used throughout this piece.

3. A Section (Part 1)

In this video we’ll be working through the first half of the A section, which will be bars 1-8 in the accompanying transcription.

4. A Section (Part 2)

This lesson covers the second half of the A section, which has the same chord progression as the first half, but with variations in the bass part. This lesson covers bars 9-16.

5. B Section

In this lesson we’ll be working through the bassline from the B section, which features a new chord progression. This lesson covers bars 17-24 in the transcription.

6. C Section (Part 1)

In this video we’ll be working through the first half of the C section. This has same chord progression as the A section, but with more variations. This lesson covers bars 25-32.

7. C Section (Part 2)

This video covers the second half of the C section, which again has more variations on the established lines. This lesson covers bars 33-40.

8. D Section

In this lesson we’ll be looking at the D section, which is based on the earlier B section. Once again, there are many variations in the bass part. This lesson covers bars 41-47.

9. E Section (Part 1)

In this video we’ll be working through the first half of the final section of the track, which is in a new key – D major. This lesson covers bars 49-56.

10. E Section (Part 2)

We’ll now be working through the remainder of the E section, which is bars 57-65 in the accompanying transcription.

11. Tone

In this final video, I’ll be discussing James Jamerson’s tone and offering some advice on how you can achieve something similar.