Tom Hamilton "Walk This Way"

Aerosmith may be the kind of rock band that requires meat-and-potatoes bass support, but every night on the band’s biggest hit, 1975’s “Walk This Way,” Tom Hamilton proves just how tasty that menu can be. After Joey Kramer’s sample-ready drums herald Joe Perry’s trademark guitar riff, the verse kicks off with Tom’s bouncing, grindy line in Ex. 1a. The driving rhythmic action pushes the groove in the last half of each bar, but note how the rhythm of the first half each bar foreshadows that of the chorus vocal line.

Between verses, Tom shadows the guitar riff (Ex. 1b), but he’s on his own in the chorus (Ex. 1c), pumping away with steady 16th-notes that underscore the song’s signature vocal hook. Tom wraps up each two-bar phrase with a righteous pentatonic riff, and he drizzles extra sauce on the lines after each chorus with Ex. 1d’s verse variation and flavorful phrase-ending fill.

Ex. 1e shows Hamilton applying similar spice under the final chorus (2:30), and Ex. 1f shows an under-the-solo reworking of the song’s main riff. Incorporate Tom’s approach to your rock grooves and fills and “you’re sure to be a-changin’ your ways.”