Awesome Bass

Musician Tommy Lee Depp is known for his solo bass arrangements of popular songs. Listen now to his captivating and minimal performance of the Tears for Fears 1983 song Mad World, with a tip of the hat to the Gary Jules version of the track.

While nobody can play a Flea bassline quite like Flea himself, we’ve gotta hand it to Charles Berthoud for his efforts, as he performs two handfuls of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ best and most memorable bass riffs and solos. Even more impressive is how he played them on a $85 electric bass.

Vocalist and bassist Casey Abrams teamed up with pianist and arranger Scott Bradlee for a great jazz-swing cover version of Lionel Ritchie’s 1983 ballad Hello. We imagine that the blind woman in the original music video might have had a hard time sculpting Casey’s impressive beard.

Solo bass player Tommy Lee Depp takes on Simon & Garfunkel’s timeless 1964 classic The Sound of Silence, giving the track a smooth new texture that will stir your soul just as much as the original.

Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is an incredibly challenging song to play when you have the proper instruments. To prove his bass-playing chops, musician Zander Zon managed to perform a compelling rendition entirely on his bass guitar. We’re amazed that he was able to extract such range from the 4-string instrument.

Tommy Lee Depp creates bass-only arrangements of popular songs which sound phenomenal, despite only including a single 4-string instrument. Listen as he performs Heart-shaped Box, Come As You Are, Lithium, and Smells Like Teen Spirit.

From Metallica’s Fuel played at a gas station, to RHCP’s Under the Bridge performed under a bridge, musician Danilo Vicari’s compilation video provides some overly literal context to familiar bass and guitar riffs. We were hoping he would play Def Leppard’s Rocket.

We already know that musician Davie504 is quite the capable bass player. But for his latest clip he shows us just how quickly his fingers can fly across the frets, with an electric bass cover of Rimsky-Korsakov’s high speed classical piece Flight of the Bumblebee.

Guitarist Davie504 has certainly proved that he has mad bass skills. But if you can’t keep up with his fingers, he’s here to show you how all you need is some basic video editing skills to perform just about any tune you’d like.

Just because your bass guitar only has one string doesn’t mean you can’t make music with it. Guitarist Davidlap proves just that with this medley of bass riffs he cranks out without the benefit of three of his strings.

Musician Davie504 knows a thing or two about playing bass guitar. So who better than to demonstrate how to go from zero to hero on a 4-string? Listen and enjoy as Davie starts out simple, and quickly progresses to maestro level.

Musician Davie504 shows off another unusual string instrument, this time performing an impressive solo on a crazy electric bass guitar which still has just four strings, but each one is on a separate neck.

Davie504 continues to fill out his overly literal music series, this time taking on the ABBA tune Dancing Queen with his acoustic bass guitar strings tuned to ABBA. The end result is quite a wonderful arrangement of the Swedes’ 1974 disco classic.

Musician Davie504 checks out a crazy bass guitar that has 11 more strings than an ordinary 4-string, and does his best to slap his way across even its ridiculously thin and barely usable fat strings at the edges. More 15-string action here.

After regaling us with some RHCP played with red hot chili peppers, bass player Davie504 rises to the challenge of performing Lose Yourself, The Real Slim Shady, My Name Is and Stan with candies that melt in your mouth, not in your hand.

Using an array of effects pedals, musician Nathan Navarro was able to replicate not only the familiar theme music, but the in-game sounds from Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 using his bass guitar.

YouTuber Michael Boyers captured this incredible street performance by Newcastle, London musician Steve Ojay, as his fingers work some serious magic on the strings of his inexpensive Squier bass, proving that talent trumps equipment any day of the week.

Musician Davie504 presents a nifty cover version of the 1986 a-ha pop classic performed with an acoustic bass guitar taking on lead responsibilities. Now we want somebody to give The Sun Always Shines on TV some much-needed love.

Musician Davie504 rises to the challenge of a typically unreasonable YouTube commenter’s request – to play his bass guitar using only a single finger. He still uses his other hand to fret, but you try strumming a bass this well using only your pinky.

Bass player America Paz sat down with fellow musician Eduardo Sitja for a street jam in Santiago, Chile, and turned in a fantastic duel showing off their funky slap bass skills. The only thing better would have been if Flea himself showed up and joined them.

Musician Rob Scallon proves that just because a musical instrument is designed for one thing, there’s no reason it can’t be used for another. We wonder if Flea would ever consider giving up his bass for one of these. Probably not.

Musician Stephen Campbell lets his fingers fly across the frets in this mesmerizing bass guitar performance of his original composition. Grab the studio recording from Soundcloud. Be sure to check out his pal Robert White’s trance guitar performance as well.

By all accounts, a bass guitar is pretty much useless without its strings. But that didn’t stop YouTuber Davie504 from giving it the old college try. Watch as he uses the bass’ various parts – including the buzz from its audio jack – to make some music.