Weekly Basslines #238: Shoot To Thrill - live from Donington (AC/DC)

This week I want to talk about the role of the bass guitar in different musical gengres.

AC/DC is widely known to have rather simple basslines, but is simple the same as easy?

I think there is a big misconception about "simple basslines". I will show you how complex simple basslines can be with Cliff Williams bassline to "Shoot to Thrill" in the live version from Donington.

Wikipedia says about Cliffs style:
"Williams role in AC/DC was to provide steady but basic basslines which followed the rhythm guitar of Malcolm Young, consisting mostly of eighth notes. His basslines were sometimes written by Malcom and Angus Young during composition, and at other times Williams developed them based on the other instrumental tracks. Williams said he plays "the same thing in every song, for the most part. In AC/DC's music, the song is more importantn than any individual's bit in it". He added that "complex [bass] lines wouldn't add anything to a guitar-oriented band like ours, so I try to create a bottom layer that drives what our guys are doing on top."

From my own experience I know that playing in a studio situation is mostly more restricted than playing live, but Cliff's live bassline brilliantly demonstrates how a simple bassline can be flourished and is still serving the song.

On YouTube you can find this isolated bass-track from "Live at Donington":




And here's the transcription of this bassline:

As you can see and hear Cliff Williams is a genius in playing simple but vivid and varied.

Here's the video with full band:

In summary I would say one of the most challenging tasks as a bassplayer is to find diversity in restraint, to serve the song and still play interesting basslines. In fact it is much easier to play without boundaries. So think about that, when you come up with a new bassline!

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