'Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours’ is a classic Stevie Wonder track, one that is still played live to this day. The original version was recorded at Motown back in 1970, with session bassist Bob Babbitt holding down the low end. This live version – taken from Stevie’s live album Natural Wonder – has Nate Watts on bass and is an astonishing performance. Nate uses elements of Babbitt’s original line but embellishes it considerably with many Jamerson-influenced fills, chromatic approach tones, slides, shakes and more. If you play this track in a live band of any kind, learning this live version will give you a lot of great material to add into your own performances.
Be sure to hit the Download Resources button above to download the PDF transcription for this piece (available to subscribers only). The transcription is available WITH TAB and WITHOUT. Please note that a backing track is NOT included with this course.
This course contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:
In this video I’ll be playing through the line using a Fender Custom Shop ’67 Precision Bass.
In this video I’ll be giving a brief overview of the song and talking about finding the right tone for the piece.
This video covers the song’s famous intro riff, which reoccurs at multiple points in the track. We’ll also be working through the first eight-bar verse section, which will establish the chord progression and basic format of the line for the other verses.
This video covers the second verse. The line starts to become more complex at this point, with Nate adding in more sixteenth notes and chromatic approach/passing notes.
In this lesson we’ll be working through the first chorus of the song. Nate stays relatively close to the original part here, but adds more chromatic movement, which adds excitement to the line.
In this third verse, the bass begins to play more adventurous lines, again making extensive use of chromatic approach/passing notes. Many of the lines here are sixteenth note-based, making this a tough part to play at this tempo.
The fourth and final verse features even more great bass licks, including the fantastic slide and shake figure that opens the section.
This video covers the second chorus. This time, Nate plays a much busier part, maintaining the energy in the bass part that was building over the previous two verses.
This lesson covers the song’s final chorus and the ending, which is unique to the live version.