Motown Bass Book

Let's discover the best Motown bass book you can find on the market because it contains the most important songs of this genre.

It was thanks to the work of a small, but select group of African American artists, that Motown was able to be born and develop to the present as one of the most influential subgenres of music.

Therefore, it is so important that you get to know what Motown bass is about and master its essence.

What is Motown?

Detroit was the American city that saw the birth of the Motown bass sound which is one of the most important sounds of Soul, Pop, R&B, and Gospel.

This musical form has been one of the most important since the 1960s and since then, it has been a musical and cultural reference that was projected towards the whole world.

It all started thanks to the ambition of Berry Gordy who is the founder of the world's first Motown record company, Motown Record Corporation.

Since then, many other artists like James Brown, The Funk Brothers, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland, among many others, were incorporated.

Now, what is really Motown bass? Nothing less than music with an industrial, that is, commercial sound.

Yes, it has always been about that, making the musical sound industrial so that it was accessible to all kinds of race, ethnicity, or nationality.

Best Motown Bassists

The Motown bass has been privileged to have great names in music that have shaped and projected it such as:

• James Jamerson
• Bob Babbitt
• Jermaine Jackson

In addition to them, we also find other giants who, even not being bassists, contributed a lot to the development of the sound of this instrument:

• Berry Gordy.
• William "Smokey" Robinson.
• Norman Whitfield.
• Barrett Strong.

The Importance of Bass in Motown

Motown bass is not just anything because it's a musical revolution, something totally new, the next step in making musical sound universal.

Therefore, the sound of Motown bass should not be taken lightly since at its time it was vital in providing many elements that live on to this day.

Thus, the Motown bass produced the following contributions to commercial music:

• Rhythmic: it has rhythmic lines common to the people and that contribute a great musical richness. We can say that for the time, Motown is the sound of the streets, the neighborhoods, the people.
• Melodic: the complex bases of chords and their inversions are some of the characteristic aspects of Motown bass. That's why you will often find chords being played on the electric bass.
• Harmonic: although Motown bass is the commercial music of the time, it also has an impressive harmonic richness. Therefore, it would be a mistake to think that it is easy to learn because it does have a strong complexity.
• It's the people: times have changed a lot and currently, the streets are full of Bad Bunny, Anuel AA, among others who do not contribute to the development of music. However, the people's music that saw the birth of Motown is totally different, the sound quality is impressive.

Book with Motown Bass Classics

In this book, you can find fragments, Motown bass lines and complete scores of the most important Motown compositions.

Some of the bands you can enjoy are:

• Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell.
• The Temptations.
• The Supremes.
• Martha & The Vandellas.
• Stevie Wonder.

These are not small names because they are giants of music and true icons of the genre.

Therefore, we hope you enjoy this scorebook that you can download in PDF format.