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Nik Kershaw – ‘Easy’

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This song is notable amongst bass players as it features Level 42 bassist Mark King. King plays a powerful slap groove throughout the majority of the track, switching to the fingerstyle technique for the tricky melody that is heard during the Intro and Re-Intro sections.

‘Easy’ is the fifth track from Nik Kershaw’s second album, The Riddle, which was released in November 1984.

Be sure to hit the Download Resources button above in order to download the PDF transcription and backing track for this piece (available to subscribers only). The transcription is available WITH TAB and WITHOUT.

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

1. ‘Easy’ Play-Through

This video is a full performance of ‘Easy’. The track was performed on a JayDee Supernatural bass, strung with light gauge Rotosound strings (.030, .050, .070, .090). The chorus effect is supplied by a Yamaha E1010 rackmount delay unit, which is what Mark King typically used during the eighties for a chorus-ed slap tone.

2. Course Overview

In this video I’ll be briefly talking about the song and describing the tone that I used. I’ll also be offering some advice on how you can achieve a similar tone.

3. Intro Section

In this video we’ll be working through the Intro section of the track, which features a melodic line played by the bass and guitar in unison. This line is played using the fingerstyle technique. This lesson covers bars 1 – 10.

4. Verse Sections

In this lesson I’ll be working through the first Verse section of the track in detail. This part of the track is underpinned by a powerful slap groove that’s a lot of fun to play. As well as covering the first Verse, this lesson also covers any variations that are played in the later Verse sections. This video covers bars 11 – 18.

5. Chorus Sections

In this lesson we’ll be working through the first Chorus of the track in detail. This part of the song also features a slap bass groove. This video also covers some of the variations heard in later instances of the Chorus. This lesson covers bars 27 – 34.

6. Middle 8 Section

In this video we’ll be working through the Middle 8 of the track, which occurs from bar 55 to 60.