Miracles do happen....

I'm sitting here picking out the "bass line" to John Mayer's track "I Don't Trust Myself".... (before I go on further, any indie kids who are out there making rude gestures and puking noises can kiss my ass. I don't know if you can hear it, but the rhythm tracks on his new album make me mess myself. The drum sounds, bass tone, and general approach of less is more makes me smile. Thank you Willie, Pino, and Steve. P.S. My favorite tracks are the aforementioned [I like that word], Belief [the way Steve moves from the verse groove into the more straight ahead 8ths with a swing on the hat rock groove is so tasty] and Vultures.)

........So, I'm sitting here struggling and I'm listening to the "bass line" and I'm starting to hear all kinds of weird shit: octave and third parts, runs walking down at the 10th fret mixed in with some plucking that's a little outside, but you never feel the bottom drop out. I'm thinking whoever is playing this has to have 3 hands. Being an investigative som bitch I checked to see which bass player, Willie or Pino, is fucking with my head. Lo and behold:

After Transforming Fretless Pop & The Neo-Soul Feel Turns Toward John Mayer & The Who

half way down the page...

What’s the story behind you and Willie Weeks playing together on “I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)”?

The day after the tsunami concert, Willie was coming to the studio to play on John’s CD. I was still in town, so Steve Jordan said I should come by and say “hi” to Willie. I’d met him a few times before, and he always makes a point to tell me he was in [New York music store] Sam Ash on 48th Street the day I bought my fretless Music Man in 1981. Anyway, I went to hang out and we all sat around talking, and Steve said, “This is crazy—you’re both here, so we should get two basses on something.” John came in and showed us “Trust.” So I said to Willie, “Whatever way you want to do it, you can take the business end and I’ll take the dusty end, and we’ll stay out of each other’s way.” Willie went into the room first and started playing the form to get the root notes for himself. I followed, plugged in, and just started marking out the chord changes with sliding 10ths, Larry Graham-style; then I added some pops at the end of the phrases. [See Lesson, page 46.] Steve was setting up and he said, “That’s it—that’s the vibe of the song.” John dug it, too, so we cut it in a couple of passes. It was such a buzz watching Willie play; I was like, I’m playing with Willie Weeks! What’s going on here?


BLOODY HELL!!!!

Now it all makes sense! There's freaking two of the most amazing bass players of all time on this track! Miracles do happen...