The GENIUS of Bassist Mick Karn

[Music] tell me you've heard of Mick Kar he's only one of the greatest fretless bass players of all time seriously coming out of the 1970s and into the 80s and '90s he crafted an instantly recognizable sound a unique sense of Rhythm and time and some of the most creative music you'll ever hear on a Bas nobody played like mcar nobody and I'm going to show you why here in chronological order are my top five mccar [Music] baselines it all starts with the band Japan from the 1981 album Tin Drum his style is fully formed and featured right alongside the [Music] vocal those slides were one of his signatures on the instrument it's a bass driven Groove and a bass driven hook and he was 23 years old when he recorded it [Music] man this is just amazing and Sublime this intro is a stunning feature for the bass he takes this space in the music that's just him and brings it to [Music] life [Music] his intonation was perfect and his organic tone was the perfect foil to the synth pop new wave sounds of that time Gary Newman was one of his notable collaborations in the 80s he also did records with Kate Bush Joan armatrading and [Music] others from his solo record titles from 1982 this showcases his quirky and Avant guard side Mick Kar seemed to always think outside of the [Music] box on this line he's tuned down a half step and throws in his signatur note shakes along with a little thumping and plucking there almost seems to be a key Center at times but not really and his rhythms are absolutely unique and funky from the 1984 album The Waking hour from the group with the same name as the song Dolly's car is the essence of mccar [Music] style he's playing with perfect time and using open strings and Hammer ons to create constant rhythm with both hands very much like a jazz upright basist often does Mick was also an accomplished woodwind player he played a number of read instruments and you can actually hear him playing bass clarinet on this [Music] track maybe you've seen this clip of him two years Prior playing this Baseline on British TV with Angie [Music] Bowie you can see that he mostly played with one finger and a pretty high action but it was relaxed and effortless and that bass he played on didn't hurt [Music] either from his 1993 album bestio clusters this is virtuoso playing he's using the same kind of technique that he did on dol's car but on steroids [Music] harmonically speaking he's throwing it up on the wall and seeing with sticks and if you search this song on YouTube you'll find live versions of him playing this line and singing at the same time I want to know what your favorite MC Kar track is let me know in the comments when we talk about the greatest fret bass players of all time mccar needs to be mentioned right up there with Joo Pastorius a player he refused to listen to because he didn't want to be influenced by him he created one of the most unique sounds on the instrument using all of the same tools harmonics slides expressiveness Groove tone but joo's Fame eluded him because his music wasn't as popular or as accessible but it is brilliant sadly mcar died of cancer in 2011 at the age of 52 but he lives on through his music so do yourself a favor and check it out

Channel: pdbass

Views: 107,278

Keywords: wal bass, david sylvian, dance, kate bush, joan armatrading, titles, the waking hour, dalis car, bestial cluster, tin hat, synthpop, new wave

Id: jFyZMd6Axoc

Length: 7min 21sec (441 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 21 2024