Working Bass LinesMustang Sally

2 | Working Basslines| Mustang Sally | how-to-play-bass.com

WORKING BASS LINES 22 - MUSTANG SALLY by THE COMMIT-MENTS

Working Basslines 22 fol-lows the version of Mustang Sally that was featured in the Commitments film and soundtracks. And is now a big part of the West End show of the same name.

Just like the Blues Brothers film did in the 80s, the Commit-ments film reignited interest in Atlantic Soul and Stax - one of the bands I ran in the late 90s was a Blues Brothers/Commit-

ments style soul band. (I’ll try and dig out some pictures and post them somewhere!!!)

Now notice that in the Commitments style version we still have the off beat chromatic notes that we had in the Wilson Pickett version - but in the Commitments version they are not held, their duration is much shorter.

Here’s the basic pattern to the line that’s introduced in the intro:

And here’s that pattern used in the main verse pattern:

3 | Working Basslines| Mustang Sally | how-to-play-bass.com

Now you could learn this and just play this to get through the tune. ButI’ve come up with some simple variations you can use at appropriate points.

4 | Working Basslines| Mustang Sally | how-to-play-bass.com

Here’s how you could move from the C7 chord to the F7 chord:

Here’s how you could move from the F7 chord back to C7:

And here’s how you could move from the C7 chord to the G7 chord:

Simple variations like this can really liven the line and make your line feel like it is more spontaneous. If you’ve been following the blues col-umn see if you can take some of the early vocabulary and combine it with the rhythms here to create your own variations.

How To Program The Sections In Band In A Box

If you want to work on this slowly with Band In A Box and build up to performance tempo so that you can then play along with the record, here’s what I suggest:

1. Set the Key to C2. Use a performance tempo to aim for of 106.

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3. Set a real track style. I used the 60s Soul Band Real Track with a back ground tenor sax - though I turned the tenor sax down so it wasn’t over-powering. And I also selected the ‘B’ style by using the appropriate part markers. This gives a more forceful, driving band to play along with4. Mute the bass!

Mustang Sally is essentially a blues with a 16 bar format. There are four bars that set up the verse and then a traditional 12 bar verse. Here’s what it looks like when programmed: