The Ultimate P Bass Tone? w/ Sean Hurley, David Ryan Harris and Rich Mercurio

Every bass player has their heroes, and session superstars like Pino Palladino and Nathan East will no doubt feature somewhere on your list. But if your sights are set on the studio world, having talent is only half the battle.

In today’s video I want to share an exclusive performance featuring bassist Sean Hurley in session with singer-songwriter David Ryan Harris.

Sean is the kind of bassist that makes everything look effortless, but as a studio musician it can be all too easy to play the wrong thing if you’re not really listening to the song.

The good news (yes, there’s good news) is that we’ve an in-depth course in the SBL course library, in which Sean shares his most guarded studio secrets. So if you want to become a regular session player, but you don’t know where to start, grab yourself a free trial and head straight to Sean’s course!

As always, see you in the shed…

Scott :)

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[Maffy]

Came for the bass stayed for the guitar/vocals/drums. Shit was tight

[drawntothefire]

On that topic, the guitar tone was really nice too.

[och]

That P-Bass tone + headphones = multiple eargasms.

[andynelson]

That P bass tone so good. Sounded good in 1960's, will sound good in the 2060's and beyond.

[tomdesmet]

Mr Sean pbass, what a bassplayer, perfect sound, now show, doesn’t play a thousand notes like some guys, but playing exactly what’s necessary of bass into a song, bassfeeling 100%😎

[Milbrandt]

For everyone looking for the song performed: “Yesterday Shutting Down” - but this sounds better than the album recording

[lucasgarcia]

When you reach this level of mind-bending groove, you gain the ability to sit on thin air

[cynicalwho]

The bass tone is like a nice bolognese, meaty but also the right amount of sauce...

[WatchfulWizard]

Disappointed that I can only click “like” one time. That was next level amazing. I came for the bass and was blown away by the vocals.

[leonardofelchnervii]

I would really love to see Sean’s EQ settings on his amp and Noble for this recording.

[thescatman]

This is tight! Sean with the crazy P Bass tone. David channeling Marvin Gaye, Vernon Reid and Lenny Kravitz! And Rich is in the pocket!

[dennyrichards]

Sean's bass sounds fantastic and the trio is really on musically, but his tone works here because the other musicians are playing more sparsely. What I consider more "stock" Pbass tone is going to have more mids, which would be a better choice if there were more players and/or the mix was more dense.

That having been said, I just figured out who Sean was earlier this year, and I'm a fan. Seems like a great guy, great player.

[cydrums]

I was like cool, then he starts to sing, I'm like damn this is good!

[jean-francoismercier]

This thing is infectious. Once it gets into your soul it will never get out. So good!

[deuce]

I hadn't heard of Sean Hurley until a couple of days ago. He did a vid talking about the P bass. Since then I can't get enough of his playing, temperament, style. He's one classy dude.
He's got that Jamerson tone in this video. Thanks Scott.

[bootlebeats]

Well golly gee whiz, that was just silly how GOOD they are. I'm an old dude who knows that bass tone well. I always called it mud whomp . In the old days the bass drum wasn't mic'ed for live gigs so that bass tone worked in conjunction with the bass drum to make a big sound for dancing. Hofners did the same thing. With the improvements in live sound with sub woofers, that all changed the role of bass tones.

[robertoyler]

that is the best tone of a p bass that i ever heard even taking in account being recorded in a studio.

[martian]

what's great is that Sean gets the P-bass crunchiness without any of the unwanted upper tones, even though he doesn't use a damper. With his light touch and his use of chromatic lines, it could be close to something James Jamerson did, but his tone is quite different.

[rossinisilva]

What a perfect singing voice. And Sean's tune, OMG, pure gold

[drewlewis]

P Bass + La Bella Flats, a winning combination.