{"id":861326,"date":"2025-07-09T21:13:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T02:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/09\/he-played-upright-but-wanted-to-play-the-p-bass-motown-said-nah-you-aint-making-no-money-playing-that-but-he-said-if-you-want-me-im-playing-the-p-bass\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T21:13:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T02:13:56","slug":"he-played-upright-but-wanted-to-play-the-p-bass-motown-said-nah-you-aint-making-no-money-playing-that-but-he-said-if-you-want-me-im-playing-the-p-bass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/09\/he-played-upright-but-wanted-to-play-the-p-bass-motown-said-nah-you-aint-making-no-money-playing-that-but-he-said-if-you-want-me-im-playing-the-p-bass\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe played upright but wanted to play the P-Bass. Motown said, \u2018Nah, you ain’t making no money playing that.\u2019 But he said, \u2018If you want me, I’m playing the P-Bass\u2019\u201d: Bootsy Collins on the musician that totally \u201cchanged his mind\u201d about bass"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nLeft-James Jamerson; Right-Bootsy Collins<\/span>
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Bootsy Collins’ larger-than-life persona and driving funk<\/a> basslines<\/a> have graced many a record, including most of the early Funkadelic and Parliament albums, a plethora of James Brown hits \u2013 including Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine <\/em>and Super Bad \u2013 <\/em>and of course, his own Bootsy’s Rubber Band repertoire.<\/p>\n

However, as Collins himself admits, his far-reaching influence wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for James Jamerson<\/a>, the game-changing Motown bass<\/a> player who went largely uncredited at the time, despite making an immense contribution to the musical landscape the \u201960s and \u201970s.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames Jamerson was the cat that really changed my mind about bass playing,\u201d Collins tells Justin Richmond on the <\/em>Broken Record Podcast<\/em><\/a>. \u201cBecause he played with one finger \u2013 all of that stuff he was playing, he used one finger.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played upright bass. He got introduced to the Fender P-Bass<\/a>, and he wanted to play the P-Bass. Motown said, \u2018Nah, you can’t play that. You ain’t [making] no money playing that.\u2019 So they didn’t want to change. But he said, \u2018If you want me, I’m playing the P-bass.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the stuff after that, he made much more money for them. And you know, he was a perfect example to accept and embrace that change.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bootsy Collins on Funk Legacy & Songwriting with George Clinton & Bernie Worrell | Broken Record – YouTube<\/span>
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Aside from his transition from upright to electric bass, something that was highly uncommon at the time since the instrument was not yet well-established, another innovation was his off-kilter technique.<\/p>\n

His one-finger plucking style \u2013 dubbed \u201cthe Hook\u201d \u2013 carried over from his upright playing, and he managed to play very intricate parts by using his right index finger to pluck the strings, while simultaneously anchoring his third and fourth fingers on the pickup cover, and letting his thumb hang freely.<\/p>\n

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Taking a page from his jazz<\/a> background, he also used a lot of open strings, which helped facilitate shifts in flat keys \u2013 a quirk that eventually became a trademark of his sound.<\/p>\n

Perhaps fellow Motown bassist Bob Babbitt summed up Jamerson’s style best in a 2007 interview with Bass Player<\/em><\/a>: \u201cI learned three important lessons from Jamerson. First, feel is the most important thing. You can play two notes or 22 notes, but it has to feel good.<\/p>\n

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