Paul McCartney: 5 Ways His Influence Continues to Shape Music
Paul McCartney shows no signs of slowing down. He appears ready to head back out on the road once again, and it’s rare that too long a stretch goes by without news of some musical endeavor that he’s undertaking, whether it’s new music or some kind of reissue of older stuff. The guy is not one to stop too long to contemplate his legacy or influence. That’s for the music writers to do, and we’ll be glad to take that on.
Paul didn’t exactly innovate the idea of using the bass guitar as more than just a rhythmic tool. When Music Radar interviewed him in 2017 and cited the way he popularized the bass, he was quick to share the credit: “Yeah, it became a bit more skillful. I wouldn’t personally credit myself, but thanks for that. But I think James Jamerson, him, and me, I’d share the credit there. I was nicking a lot off him.”
Jamerson was the main bassist for The Funk Brothers, the unofficial collective that played on Motown hits. You can hear the similarity between McCartney’s bass on many early Beatles smashes and those early Motown gems with Jamerson providing the bottom end. But McCartney would expand upon that. Listen to his playing on a song like “Something,” how he finds the pocket around Ringo Starr’s drums but also creates a melodic counterpoint to George Harrison’s lead guitar and vocals. McCartney basically gave rock bassists the license to do more than just sit back and plunk away, forever changing the sound of the genre in the process.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
