A long story short. I played bass for 5 years or so, but put it down after joining the miltary. I haven't played in 10+ years.
My 13 YO son recently learned to play Blackbird on guitar and I thought it would be nice to surprise him by dusting off my old bass and playing along with him. I would happily sit and try to pick it out, but I'm very rusty and in a time crunch. I realize the original recording doesn't have a bass track, that's why I'm just looking for the root notes or a tab. The only thing I can find online are advanced adaptation bass arrangements that are well beyond my ability. Thanks in advance for your help.
I've never played this, but there's a simple chord chart here.
To start with, just play one note per chord. It's not a fast tempo song and this will sound fine to begin with.
As a rule, you will just play the root note, i.e. where it says G you play G (3rd fret 1st string), where it says Am7 you play A (5th fret 1st string or open 2nd string).
Exceptions: G/B means "G chord over B bass" so there you play a B (2nd fret, 2nd string) and C/E is "C chord over E bass" so there you play an E.
You may note that these slash chords occur to actually make the bassline step down by half steps F-E-D-C-Bb in thebridges for example and C-C#-D-Eb-E in the verses making it simpler to remember.
I hope this helps.
--
Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
Just do this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM0X60z-Uu0
You've got a frettless and endless ability, right?
The chart Helgi posted is a good way to go, but you have to remember that virtually all the charts you find for "Blackbird" are going to be based on the single-guitar version. So essentially what you'll be doing is playing any of the notes on the low E and A strings of the guitar tabs on the E and A strings of your bass. In other words, you'll be simply playing the bass notes of the guitar part an octave lower. Since you are, as you say, a bit rusty and "just looking for the root notes or a tab" as opposed to the "advanced adaptation bass arrangements that are well beyond your ability," this may be the best way to go.
However, you could also go simply with the root notes of the chords without the bass note of the "slash chord." For instance, if the chord is labelled "G / B" (meaning it's a G chord with a B note in the bass), you could just play G. A good reason for doing this would be to create a part different from that of the guitar, giving you both something interesting to play as a duet instead of a guitar with the bass shadowing it.
Good luck with this! It's admirable to take on creating an arrangement, no matter how simple. Now you're sharing music with your son and that's great for both of you.
Welcome to Guitar Noise, by the way. Looking forward to seeing you around here on the Forums.
Peace
