“What is Hip” – Tower of Power – Bass Line Analysis /// Scott&’s Bass Lessons
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“What is Hip” has got to be one of the coolest 16th note funk grooves ever written…
It was originally played by, the one of the original godfathers of funk, Rocco Prestia of the amazing band Tower of Power.
There’s so much to be learned from mastering this riff…
– 16th note funk technique
– Plucking hand consistency and articulation
– Plucking hand stamina
– Playing octave patterns within a 16th note groove
– And heaps more…
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Originally posted by UCWTj3vCqkQIsrTGSm4kM34g at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I88QbOPEBrs
man thanks so much for this one!
Nice feel and muting Scott! I got to play What is Hip with Tower’s original What is Hip guitarist, Bruce Conte, in Danta Fe the band…Vegas Days. Bruce mentioned Rocco’s Muting….but he or no one else ever showed or explained it…. So happy to meet Rocco and see his instructional video explaining his left hand muting. On that video you’ll see his higher action too. He played my bass sitting in once and said he wished my action was higher. I said these strings has been soaked in alcohol and had lost some tension, so they were lower than usual. The next day he gave me a brand new set of Blue Steels Bass Strings. Cool guy.
Thanks❤
How Rocco did it is amazing. He couldn't read music and came up with iconic Funk lines, all the while staying so tight in the pocket with David Garinaldi. Not to mention, as he admits, that he was often drugged out of his mind. He was incredible!
I recently got into Vulfpeck and was amazed by Joe Dart.
When I saw that he listed Rocco Prestia as a big influence, I had to put on my Tower of Power records for a spin and rediscover how iconic Rocco Prestia was.
This inspired me to relearn What is Hip and this video is just the right thing at the right time.
Thank you so much for this, Scott.
I have been following you for years and your videos are always full of knowledge and inspiration.
For many more years!
Amazing Playing, Scott!!????
Check out my Version of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUMfAl3KrKY
I'm a drummer that plays a bit of bass. I'm lovin this bass lesson. The strictness of keeping consistent the index finger on all downbeats cannot be stressed enough, because the same goes for drums. You never want to get your hands turned around, and on the bass you never want to get your fingers turned around. And if you can build that muscle memory to always play your downbeats on the index finger, and play those sixteenths like playing drums, you're gonna become a monster on the bass! Props to Scott for really really great YouTube content.
ROCCO is one of the FUNKIEST Bass Players EVER…PERIOD!!!
Very helpful! And well analyzed.
Hi Scott – Just venturing into the world of funk!! Great lesson BTW… My natural tendency when I started learning this is to play the octave with my 3rd (M) finger rather than all the string skipping with my index (P) finger. This frees up the 1st fingers to keep the 16ths going. Any thoughts please?
Ive been working the drum part with Garibaldi for 50 years..Ibdid a clinic with both Dave and Rocco…it was awesome..so for a drummer, Scott, i really locked into "I-M I-M…patterns with fingers..great lesson Brother!
Rocco!!!!
I remember trying to play this song in my high school jazz band and fucking it up miserably. This song has been the bane of my bass playing existence
I gave up and just enjoy listening to the song
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My index finger was actually in acute physical pain after a few attempts at playing this song, but I was really digging in deep and hard on that accented note. The bass line makes the whole song. I also play trumpet and guitar, so this is an awesome song for me. The trumpet solo trails off and I come back on another track matching that high trumpet note on guitar and then lead into that solo. Without that bass line it's all meaningless.
I have always wanted to learn bass and you and Victor Wooten are inspiring me to actually begin learning the bass. I play tenor and baritone saxophone, trombone and euphonium. Love all things bass, never thought I could ever play bass but you guys are showing me that it is possible. Thanks.
If you can play this, then you should have no problem playing Ramble on by Led Zeppelin. When you study old Blues music you soon realize that a lot of rock people did the same thing, cause so many songs came from there. Also R&B and funk had a lot of people stealing from each other, lot of the same runs and licks all over the genre. Some bass parts for different songs are practically interchangeable.
This song hurts your hands lol.
I love it when Scott says, 'here's it really slow' and i'm like, ok, but how about really, really, really, slow then.
Do you wear a glove because you have a fetish for putting your hand in a bottle of mosquitos every morning? I bet that's why you have to do videos on youtube. Your bandmates found out about your secret and said, "That's f'ing weird."
Jaw on the floor lesson Rocco is a genius. His technique is flawless and his groove impeccable.
Play it like Rocco.
Rocco made it look sooooooooo easy… but that was his mastery.
Thank You so much for this lesson, Scott! Awesome explainings! 🙂
Small correction: In the verse, the low E-string is hit by the index finger. –> alternating 16th flow all the time: i m i m…
… as you can see in a lesson this lesson by the master himself.
https://youtu.be/TaJasC5xtb4?t=1825
but of course the most important thing is groove and not such details… 🙂
I love the way this guy plays.
SCOTT YOUR A TERRIFIC BASS PLAYER & TEACHER !
JAZZ MUSIC IS REALLY CREATIVE ..
❤????♂️????????
Been playing a little under 2 years and this video helped immensely. It's gonna take a fare amount of time to get this entire bass line under my fingers but that's half the fun.
My father, Vito San Filippo played with the band in the early 1980s and there is some video footage here of them playing what is hip in 1983.https://youtu.be/6LOh6O5L7AA
LOVE ALL OF THIS!!! Thank you ????????????????????????
Play some Jaco.
Romans 10:9
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Rocco doesn't actually pulse on his 16th groups. Listen to the track. He's using dynamics elsewhere, but on those 16th note groups, he's actually very uniform.
The pulse is implied by the drummer.
also, 19:46 …thanks, I'm deaf now and will never have to concern myself with music ever again.
I couldn't figure out this baseline until now!
Great vid. This is a great groove to exercise with! Muscle memory!
Scott, have you seen Tokyo Groove Jyoshi's version of this song. The basist is phenominal using slap base to play it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g46tXWxtsfY
have you seen tokeyo groove do that tune? wow
Thats a flamenco thing with the correct fingering, you are a super star bass geek, I would love to buy you a what-ever the phuck you drink, cheers.
thanks for sharing the insites you find
Like Deantown it is relentless.
I just discovered this gem of a cover of this tune. Thought it should be passed around. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g46tXWxtsfY
Rocco was the man!
Took me while to understand the ' use the second finger' bit until I saw it as a drag/sweep to E string. Another great lesson!