'Cream of the Crop' was written to reflect Jack Bruce’s compositions and pioneering bass work with legendary rock trio Cream. It contains many stylistic elements that were common to his playing, such as pentatonic and blues scale-based riffs and fills, the use of ‘contrary motion’ and chord inversions to create more interesting lines, the use of string bending, and an overall improvisational approach that allows the bassline to develop throughout the song.
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:
This video is a full demonstration of 'Cream of the Crop', performed on a Fender Jazz Bass.
This video gives a brief overview of the course.
In this video you'll learn how to play the A section, which is bars 1-5.
In this video you'll learn how to play the first half of the B section, which is bars 6-13.
In this video you'll learn how to play the second half of the B section, which is bars 14-21.
In this video you'll learn how to play the C section, which is bars 22-29.
In this video you'll learn how to play the D section, which is bars 30-37.
In this video you'll learn how to play the E section, which is bars 38-41.
In this video you'll learn how to play the F section, which is bars 42-57.
In this video you'll learn how to play the G section, which is bars 58-65.
This lesson covers Jack Bruce's tone and offers advice on how you can achieve something similar.