The crazy bass line from “Spirit’s in a material world’ by The Police!

Spirit’s In A Material World

Sting is a VERY underrated bass player and this line is an example of a tricky bass line made even tougher by the odd intro and timing of the drum part, played by Stewart Copeland.

So in this lesson, I’m going to breakdown the bass line and give you some tips on how to count the opening drum intro and play that great line.

Verse

The drum intro can really throw you off as it picks up on an anacrusis, but we have no count in so we have no idea on where beat one is!

The drum beat is actually just a hi hat with an accent on every up beat, while the bass drum is played on beats 2 and 4 in true Reggae style. So, pay special attention to this unusual pattern and count through it before even picking up your bass.

This line is ideally played with a pick be sure to hit that ghost note in the syncopated section on beat 4 in bar 1. You can use down strokes for the start, hit the ghost note with an upstroke ad then alternate the rest, if not then play whatever way feels natural to you.

Chorus

In the chorus, we see the drums switch around to a regular rock beat. For this line we move from the A minor up to the D minor as shown on the stave below. This is a much more straightforward riff than the tricky intro and verse, and remenber… Sting was singing lead at the same time!