He is, to state the obvious, a legend. The bass guitar player for no less than the most successful band of all time and writer of so many classic songs that he makes the output of of most modern day songwriters look meagre by comparison. This is a man who changed the course of popular music, and took bass guitar playing to a completely new level.
Although Paul McCartney is perhaps more widely adored for his songwriting skills, on this isolated bass track of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds you can really hear the greatness of his bass playing. He isn’t all in-your-face bass heroics – he’s a songwriter first and a bass player second, and that’s what we love about him. Bass playing that’s supportive and still central to the song. Speaking to MusicRadar, the bass-playing Beatle named the song as his greatest moment on bass.
And okay, you jazz purists, it may not be Donna Lee, but it’s another little hook in this man’s astonishing arsenal. You can revisit his isolated bassline on Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds below.
