Anita Wards "Ring My Bell"
| January, 2006
The first genre that usually springs to mind when one thinks of bass octaves is disco. From “Car Wash” to “YMCA,” the idiom is rife with eighth-note octave-spanning jumps. That noted, a good beginning octave bass line to ponder is Anita Ward’s disco smash “Ring My Bell,” from her album Songs of Love [Unidisc]. Ward, a Memphis gospel singer, hooked up with composer/producer Frederick Knight for the album and the song, which rose to No. 1 in the summer of 1979.
Alas, Ward was destined to become one of the era’s numerous one-hit-wonders. Though uncredited, bass on the track was provided by one of two Memphis session/blues bassists: Ray Griffin (whose recording credits include Al Green, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, and Bobby Blue Bland) or Don Barrett (also on vinyl with Eddie Rabbitt, Bonnie Bramlett, and Z.Z. Hill).
Before visiting the bass line, there is much to be said of the device itself. A key to disco octaves is the duration of the root note versus the octave note. The three most common methods are: two short notes; two long notes; or a long root, with a short, often accented, octave (especially prevalent when slapping).
Ex. 1 shows the main four-bar phrase that runs through “Ring My Bell,” serving as both the verse and chorus part. Check out how the line alternates between a bar of root notes and a bar of octaves—and listen for how the kick drum favors half-notes, as opposed to the more-common four-on-the-floor disco groove. Because the part consists of octaves, it moves up the A string (thus the slight slide into the F in bar 2). Most interesting is bar 4, where back-and-forth slides between notes in the upper and lower octaves grab the ear and add to the ease of playing the part. Ex. 2 contains a variation that occurs occasionally in the track: the added ghost-note on the last 16th of bar 2’s beat three. Similarly, in Ex. 3, the descending motion of the IV chord is reversed to ascend from the low F; this happens randomly four times (at 0:48, 2:12, 2:42, and 3:12). When playing the part, focus on sitting right in the middle of the pocket and really nailing the downbeats, with the octaves answering like a metronomically perfect echo to the roots. The notes may move up and down, but you—to borrow a classic from Chuck Rainey—should rock steady!
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