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Level 42 – ‘A Physical Presence’

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This great song is from Level 42’s 1985 album World Machine. This album was a huge success for the band, mainly thanks to the song ‘Something About You’, which was a top 10 hit in many countries including the U.S. ‘A Physical Presence’ is the second song on the album and features a slow-tempo fingerstyle groove from bassist/lead vocalist Mark King. There are also some slapped lines, unison fills and bent harmonics, meaning that there’s plenty here to get your teeth into.

When learning this piece, you might find the following courses (all included in the monthly subscription cost) useful:

A transcription (with TAB and without) is available for this course. To download it, please visit the Free Stuff page.

This course is 52 MINUTES long and contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:

1. ‘A Physical Presence’

This video is a demonstration of the song performed on a JayDee Supernatural Series III bass strung with stainless steel Rotosound strings.

2. Course Overview

This video contains an overview of the song and the challenges it presents, as well as offering some advice on choosing the right instrument and tone for a piece like this.

3. Intro Section

This video covers the groove that is established during the intro. This line is used at many points throughout the track, so it’s an important part to get down.

4. Verse Sections

This lesson covers the first verse. As the subsequent verses are very similar, some of the fills that are used later in the song are covered here as well.

5. Chorus Sections

This lesson will show you how to play the bassline from the chorus sections. This line is relatively simple but contains some tricky sliding octave figures.

6. Breakdown Section

This lesson covers the breakdown section, which features some slapped fills and harmonics that are manipulated by bending the string behind the nut.

7. Instrumental Section

This lesson covers the instrumental section towards the end of the song. This part is based on the main fingerstyle groove, but with some interesting fills to add in.

8. Outro Section

This final video will show you how to play the slap groove from the outro. This line is more difficult to play than it might seem because of the relatively slow tempo.