Over at Wikiloops, some guy named Jim took my bass from the ‘Ask Stephanie’ song, and merged it into a new and different branch of the same song – which is totally cool. Now that new one is at https://www.wikiloops.com/backingtrack-jam-134557.php – and it has some 60s vibe to it. Nice. I chatted with Jim for almost the rest of yesterday evening – he’s a half year my senior, has lots of the same interests in music, and I showed him some Youn Sun Nah and Tom Waits / Jim Jarmusch videos and stuff.
Meanwhile, on my own version of that song at https://www.wikiloops.com/backingtrack-jam-133628.php someone had commented about my ‘bouncy bass line’ – which in turn reminded me of the Muppets’ ‘Swedish Chef’ making meatballs (‘Beansy bouncy burgers’ as he called them). Have a look:
Zuleikha loves this Swedish Chef, and indeed he’s almost as good as their ‘Animal’ on drums. Nothing beats a good Muppets show. 😉
Back to that ‘Stephanie’ song. Someone else also played drums over “my” version already, and it has kind of a half time feeling, which is ok as well. But my bass line consists of two lines actually, with one just doubling something which Joe did on his guitar already – and with that ‘bouncy’ part which is the main bass part you hear. This one I played with a plectrum on my fretless Squier VM Precision, something I normally don’t do. But what I wanted to emphasize is that kind of steam locomotive feel which the song has already – its topic is moving, and ‘Stephanie’ is the company relocation manager in Joe’s company (which really moved, he just rebuilt his studio at his new home). So that original song from Joe and Shi is about a woman who is kind of overwhelmed by her duties, and about moving – that’s what I had in mind when playing along with it. And at my workplace, we of course have such a ‘Stephanie’ ourselves, without whom nothing much would work around here, so I was reminded of her as well.
So that’s about ‘my’ – or rather, Joe‘s, Shi‘s, and my – version. But the whole purpose of Wikiloops is jamming, so taking and remixing is what it’s all about. What a nice and creative way of collaborating over the internet. Try it if you play any instrument – it’s fun!
Thanks for reading and/or listening and/or watching.