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James Jamerson

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'Motor City Grooves' 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 this series, this is nevertheless a demanding composition due to the fact that the bassline features almost no repetition. Throughout this course we’ll be focusing on the key elements of Jamerson’s sound and analysing the ways that they are put to use here.

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 contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:

1 – ‘Motor City Grooves’ Play-Through

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.

4 – A Section (Part 2)

This lesson covers the second half of the A section, which is bars 9-16.

5 – B Section

In this lesson we’ll be working through the bassline from the B section of this piece. This lesson covers bars 17-24.

6 – C Section (Part 1)

In this video we’ll be working through the first half of the C section. This part of the track uses the same chord progression as the A section, but with many embellishments to the bassline. This lesson covers bars 25-32.

7 – C Section (Part 2)

This video covers the second half of the C section, which is 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 alterations and embellishments to the bassline here. 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.

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.