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James Taylor – How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

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This song was recorded by James Taylor back in 1975 for his Gorilla album. A cover of the Marvin Gaye hit, Taylor’s version features a simple but highly effective bass part from session legend Leland Sklar. Sklar, who has spent much of his career holding down the low end for Taylor (and many others), performed the line on a highly modified Fender Precision bass. This song is in the key of G major and is played with a swing feel resulting in many triplet figures. Lee’s bassline is at all times supportive, but with simple and effective melodic fills poking through where appropriate. This is a simple song to perform, but the lesson itself is aimed at the intermediate level bass player: no TAB is included in the transcription, with the student encouraged to study the notation. The lesson itself focuses on the construction of the line, taking into consideration the use of chord tones, rhythms, and bassline development. Be sure to hit the Download Resources button above in order to download the PDF transcription for this piece (available to subscribers only). Please note that a backing track is NOT included with this course. The track used in the play-along can be purchased from www.karaoke-version.co.uk. This course contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:

1. ‘How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)’ Play-Through

This video is a demonstration of the song, performed on 1972 Fender Jazz bass.

2. Intro Chorus

In this video we’ll be working through the opening Chorus section of the song and examining the basic components of the bassline. This lesson covers bars 1-9.

3. 1st Verse

In this lesson we’ll be working through the first Verse section, which is built on a simple four-bar chord progression. This lesson covers bars 10-21.

4. 1st Bridge

In this video I’ll be talking through the first Bridge section. This lesson covers bars 18-25.

5. 1st Chorus

This lesson covers the first Chorus section, which is bars 26-33.

6. 2nd Verse

In this lesson we’ll be looking at the second Verse of the song. At this point, Lee begins to develop the already established bassline, adding subtle but effective embellishments. This lesson covers bars 34-41.

7. 2nd Bridge

This video covers the second Bridge section, which once again features some subtle developments in the established bass part. This lesson covers bars 42-49.

8. 2nd Chorus

In this lesson we’ll be working through the second Chorus section, which is predominantly based on material that we’ve already covered. This lesson covers bars 50-57.

9. Sax Solo

The sax solo section is played over the chord progression from the Verse, but Lee begins to develop the bass part significantly here. This busier version of the bassline contains many triplet-based lines, which draw heavily on chord tones, scale tones and chromatic passing notes.

10. 3rd Bridge

This lesson covers the third and final Bridge section in bars 66-73.

11. Final Chorus

In the final video of this course, we’ll be working through the Outro Chorus. Lee plays some fantastic melodic fills here, making this section one of the highlights of the track.