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What’s a Radiohead song where the bass is the best part?

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Where I end and you begin

u/harrumphstan avatar

I will eat you alive…

Colin dominates that part of the song

This is it

It’s the national anthem

u/bad__username__ avatar

Best chance for beginning bass players to play along with an awesome tune. 

To repetitive as a bass riff, in my opinion

I think that’s part of what makes it good, just how relentless it is

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I mean, Thom did write it when he was 16

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u/LoyalToSDSoil avatar

By far.

u/Potatorush3 avatar

W

u/InstantPsalm avatar

100000%

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u/TFlop69 avatar

Myxomatosis

There are some good songs above in this thread but clearly Myxomatosis has by far the most captivating base in Radiohead’s oeuvre.

I’m gonna disagree with this one, purely because one of the guitar parts (Ed’s) doubles up on the bass line. So it’s hard to say the bass is the best part.

u/Sorry_Programmer_29 avatar

yessir

u/teacherpandalf avatar

I thought it was a synth

u/rob23a avatar

Ed, Colin and Jonny are basically playing the same riff. Colin and Jonny play the same individual notes and Ed plays chords.

u/teacherpandalf avatar

So there is no synth doubling the bass line?

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u/chewiehedwig avatar

Ed doesn’t play the chords his guitar is in drop A he’s playing the riff

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Decks Dark

This!

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Nude and All I Need, just somber shit

u/Daninthetrenchcoat avatar

Nude is what I thought of immediately.

For sure. My knee-jerk reaction was Nude. There might be better answers but when I read the question I swear I started hearing the opening bass line for Nude playing in my head.

u/Daninthetrenchcoat avatar

Exactly the same!

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u/Musashi_77 avatar

The national anthem

u/skeenerbug avatar

/thread

u/Nightjock avatar

Johnny created that bass line when he was in 6th grade. Insane.

Actually it was Thom who wrote it when he was 16. He’s also the one who plays the bassline on the studio recording.

So he was in 6th grade when he was 16 years old?

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u/floralcunt avatar

Close! Timing is right but it was Thom.

u/Fintann avatar

Thom traveled back in time after the Colbert Report appearance and showed Johnny the video of their performance. Johnny showed him some ideas for Burn the Witch. Thom forgot to write it down.

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I feel like you have to be trolling because

  1. Thom wrote it, not Jonny

  2. He was 16 so that wouldn’t be 6th grade

  3. British people don’t have 6th grade, they have forms

  4. That’s not how you spell Jonny

3. They’re not called forms, they’re called years: year 1, year 2 etc. idk the conversion from grades to years

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Checks out. It's pretty basic and dumb in a good way

u/Master_Lake9012 avatar

yeah it’s not the most impressive baseline ever, it’s just four notes lol, but it is simple and catchy, and a little bit weird, which is usually better than making it too complicated.

u/kevinb9n avatar

yeah it’s not the most impressive baseline ever, it’s just four notes lol,

Don't just look at the notes; look at the rhythm. It's actually not easy to play (and actually make it sound right).

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So he was in year 7?

u/Musashi_77 avatar

That's crazy. It's the first time i hear that.

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Airbag

It reminds me of Morse code in a way. It's just fantastic.

Why did I have to scroll this far?!?!

The space between the notes is just as impactful as the notes.

Correct

100% - interesting song made epic by that spacious syncopated bass line

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u/jaybird1981 avatar

Dollars and Cents, duh....

That snare crack is MVP

this one is insane how good the bass sounds

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u/jordankawar avatar

I might be wrong 💪

You're not wrong.

u/jordankawar avatar

😂😂😂 nice

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Was about to say that

u/Aromatic_Heart9626 avatar

YES!

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u/nogeologyhere avatar

How to Disappear Completely I think. I love that bass line. That or Weird Fishes.

u/Field-Gar avatar

Thom is the best part of HTDC imo

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This is what I came to post! I was in a band years ago and we did a cover and I got to play bass. After the show I was told I started the bass line at the wrong time so I was a bar off the whole song. That’s how I learned two things: music isn’t my strong suit and that bass line is so good it doesn’t matter if it’s off a bar. Still sounded great.

u/nogeologyhere avatar

It's just so wistful. It adds so much to the soul of that song. It's my favourite Colin line.

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u/Worry_Known avatar

15 step

Those fills are so great. Honestly a lot of In Rainbows could count if the other parts weren’t so great too

u/jo_ey avatar

That's exactly what came to mind when I read the title of this post.

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Commented this as well. Just learned how to play it. Played it like 10 times in a row because it’s so fun.

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u/michaelewenmadden avatar

Exit music

Ful Stop

u/Original-Candy1205 avatar

yesss!!!

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Punchup at a wedding

u/Common-Relationship9 avatar

This one I think. That bass is so slithery and sick.

u/Gramergency avatar

This is the correct response. Easily.

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u/Field-Gar avatar

Seperator

I like playing lucky on my bass

u/The_Uninformant avatar

Bloom. Lotus Flower. Feral. Airbag. There, There. Nude.

Bloom!!!!

u/BareBearGooch avatar

Lotus Flower and THERE THERE!!!

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Karma Police's bass line made me fall in love with the instrument 

u/HotPinkApocalypses avatar

Myxomatosis, Exit Music, 15-Step, Where I End and You Begin, National Anthem

u/Nickbest2525 avatar

Idk if it's better than the guitar but the bass on Jigsaw is pretty killer

u/aspannerdarkly avatar

Bones

Climbing Up The Walls

u/Howamidriving27 avatar

There's simple but really effective and catchy bass lines all over The Bends. When I first started playing bass I learned a good chunk of that album.

Yes! I love when it first comes in on Planet Telex

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All I Need.

u/Common_Upstairs_1710 avatar

The bit in Identikit where it repeats “broken hearts make it rain…” has a cool bassline

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u/doylehargrave avatar

Colin is pretty damn good on most everything. Impeccable taste and timing. But for my money, it’s 15 Step

u/BreadstickNinja avatar

Exactly, he's such a tasteful player. He never dominates the mix (except where intended like The National Anthem and Decks Dark), but his lines are always really interesting and complementary to the other parts.

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u/FB2024 avatar

I Promise

Myxomotosis for sure and National Anthem…. and Decks Dark…. and Dollars and Cents.. and Weird Fishes I might Be Wrong. Did I leave some out. I’m sure I did. I’m finding that there’s a lot of ‘best’. Can you repeat the question?

My Iron Lung slap bass

the gloaming

Yes! Maybe not musically, but hearing this live was particularly memorable because the bass was cranked up so high that it actually affected the air pressure. I remember inhaling during the intro and feeling how weird it felt to breathe with those sound pressure waves bearing down on my lungs.

I was at the smile show and yelled the gloaming and Thom goes what? and I said it again and he said I have a job to do and moved on to the next song lol