Description
Notes From John
BPM = 76. The bass plays a sixteenth-note G riff low on the neck, with half-step bends marked, and the verses turn it through C and C9(sus4). The choruses move through D, B♭, C and F and drop in short bars of 5/8, 3/4 and 2/4. The first solo at 1:36 keeps the riff going over D5. At 2:29 the tempo changes to BPM = 157 with a “double time feel,” and the line goes to eighth notes on G, G9(sus4) and C. The outro slows down and ends on a held G5.
For the player
Ron Blair is the bass credit on the Mojo session. The riff carries the song, and the chart keeps changing under it: the odd-length chorus bars, the double-time solo at 2:29 and the slowdown at the end. Ride each gear change, and count the short bars instead of feeling them as 4/4. Get the half-step bends up to pitch and back. At BPM = 76 the job is the feel.
Bass Sheet Music for “I Should Have Known It” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
