James Jamerson: The Story and the Sound!

James Jamerson is not a household name despite playing on more hits than Elvis, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined. Through his melodic bass lines, he helped shape a whole era of pop music in the 1960’s and 70’s. His sound is distinctive and often debated, so in this video I’m going to tell the story of his career plus show you how you can approximate his sound with a cheap bass, some heavy flat wound strings, a brillo pad and some plug ins.

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[JohnBarnett-ql]

Thanks Greatly, John Barnett ❤❤❤ 0:56 R I P James and GOD'S SPEED ❤❤❤

[BenCDaugherty]

Jamerson’s rig was the lack of one! It was a bass and his hands and that’s it! So much respect

[originaldjchucks]

That finger was called "The Hook"

[samuelbrooks]

james jamerson ; his motown muisic will live on it, s in every body how play it

[RockerProf]

Beautiful job on What's Going On.

[Redbeard]

I have wanted to know what Robert Palmer album he was on for 25 years! Thank you and I’m definitely checking out Burnin’!

[Hexspa]

You nailed the tone. Great playing too.

[show]

Incredible, just subbed, cheers from New Zealand 😊

[stupendousmusic]

This was quite good.

I read that Jamerson's bass was ran through a Fairchild 670; however, it is just as possible that it could have been run through a Teletonix LA-2A since Hitsville had them both. It's also possible that his bass could have been sent to either one on any given session for whatever reason.

I do know that the 670 was sometimes used on vocals, and that the LA-2A was used on mix down. Motown mix engineer Lawrence Horn would split the mix left and right and compress one side with the LA-2A and the other side would be EQ'ed; whether it was ran through either of the Pultechs tor the custom built house EQs, I can't recall.

The image you have of Berry Gordy Jr. sitting the desk shows two Fairchild 660s wracked up on the top right, just above his left shoulder; there are also two Fairchild 663s two wracks down from the tape machine, so it could have been conceivable that Jamerson's could have been sent through them as well.

Motown engineer Bob Olson has said in interviews that nobody liked the sound of the Fairchilds, that they were beasts, but they imparted a certain distortion and had "a sound." He did praise the Teletronix.

[CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

Getty Lee made a legacy off the one finger hook.
"What do you call a bass player that uses a pick?"
A guitar player.
--Getty Lee

[elusive]

Brilliant video! So sorry to hear about how James ended up considering he was one of the best of ALL time. However please put in links to these plugins. I've found one but can't find them all and I'd love to have that sound.

[ThomasDaley]

great rundown on his bass rig - cool video

[michaelhenderson]

Stanley Clark will tell you this was the bass man

[BIZARBIES]

It breaks my heart to know he died penniless. I believe he had to buy a ticket to watch the Mowtown anniversary show.
What a dang shame.
I wish he knew how important of a player he actually was.

[saltwell]

Berry Gordon took the money and ran, he took the advantage of everybody the producers, musicans, singers, took the royalties, on and on, the last time spoke and told the truth about this guy they removed my comment, if you tell the truth and it's to distrubing, someone get in touch with u tube, say its to raw and it's upsetting to them u tube will apease them, i hope people will see this before u tube remove it,

[martinheath]

I'm interested that you didn't consider playing with your index finger instead of your thumb to create a closer emulation. Thumb playing will create a warmer tone even without eq

[joshuamannmusic]

James Jamerson used one finger. Where are your tools?