So, to put it another way, Guitarist shocked by the amount of work us bassists have to do sometimes 😜

As a bassist, videos like this validate the work good bassists put into their craft.

The drummer on this is Ernest “Boom” Carter. Max plays on the remainder of the tracks on the album.

That Black Jazz is absolutely stunning

I was never a Springsteen fan. Was offered a guitar gig in a Springsteen tribute band. What a song writing, arrangement, and part playing education that was! I'm still not a big fan but my appreciation of him and his band was cemented. I do love Thunder Road.

As a guitarist my singer and I went to Nashville to record a major 3 song demo under the direction of an awesome producer..we had no idea of the other two session players we were going to be using..turns out it was Craig Kramph on drums and to my later surprise Gary W. Tallent.. my producer said to me after a break..”You still don’t know who you’re playing with do you”? No I said.. and he told me E.Street Band Gary Tallent.. I was floored to say the least.. his bass licks were incredible and on one song he had that Beatle type McCartney runs like on the song “Rain” flip side of “Paperback Writer”…To this day I will never forget my recording with Tallent and Kramph!!!

Gary is the guy in the background that doesn't get near the notoriety of the rest of E Street, but he is the glue that keeps it together. Awesome tutorial!

Kick ass bass tone

That's right, never underestimate how hard a ubiquitous or seemingly simple song actually is. I learned this lesson while teaching a kid 'Long Live' by Taylor Swift. The chords are easy enough on their own but the structure is all over the place. The kid took 3 weeks to learn it 😆

lol sometimes it sucks to learn songs where each section is played differently every time it’s repeated

Where's the show? Bogarts? Anyway, the drummer on this one is Ernest '"Boom" Carter. Before the ascending chromatic, he does a 16th triplet roll; kick,hat,snare, that Max won't touch. Gary is tough to copy on 1st 3 albums, starting on "Darkness", Bruce asked him to play more simply, which he did for the most part. He played a Danelectro Longhorn short scale bass, I would roll tone off the J-bass for a throatier sound. There are fake -able tunes, this ain't one of 'em, good call.. :>}

I didn't know Geddy Lee played for Springsteen.

Bruce’s band originally had deep R&B / jazz roots so yeah… they can play! The Wild,Innocent, and E Street Shuffle record is the best examples of this

One of the best concerts I have ever seen. Bruce & the E-Street band. So good.

Awesome. This is why the E-Street Band and Bruce Springsteen are famous. Make people think it is simple. Thanks so much for sharing!!

Thoroughly enjoyed this video and breakdown…so good!

E Street Band don’t mess around. All great players

Bruce is awesome. Great songwriter and really underrated lead guitarist.

If you listen to the isolated track again, you'll notice that he lets the octave on the E ring out while he returns to the lower E, so it's almost like a chord.

The version by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is the best version and also quite bass heavy.

Great video, Mike! And your bass tone is awesome, too! 🤩👍

”How hard can it be”. Thats what I said before I started to record bass on my own backing tracks😂 I was not as tight as I thought and I have a little more respect for bass players now 😉

1:55 "Take my breath away"

Dude! You are an inspiration!!! ❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉

A good bass line is so integrated into a song that you may not even notice how much is going on, very similar to this song. It is special how a really excellent bass player can add a lot of movement and embellishment without going too overboard. It adds interest that you didn't even know you wanted or needed! I do think there is a fine line where if you add too much, now you are just showing off and it hurts the song instead of helping.

Gary Talent earned his name

Love this! Springsteen tunes and this one in particular are just epic, such a feel good tune! I do love the sax solo in this, and that chromatic part, it's so good! it really sets it up for the next part of the song. Love the Stones shirt. I think I have 3 Stones shirts now haha. The bass looks and sounds awesome! 🤘🏻🔥 Good luck at the benefit, hope it goes well and lots of money is raised, I know for sure you'll rock the 4 tunes you're playing on. 🙂

Thank you for being dedicated to your craft. "One eye on the drummer and one eye on the paper." You'd look a bit like Steve Buscemi, you know?

Nice bass tone.

Up til about a couple years ago, used to do this track in one of my cover bands. I got the bassline about 95% spot on. Played it for several years. Always went down well. Took me probably a week to learn it. I’ve seen a couple other bassists do it in other bands locally and they never got even half of it correct

Been watching your videos for about a year now and can’t believe how time has passed by so fast

What a fun bassline! Funny, because nothing is really difficult to play in isolation, but to play it in the song, tight and with people you haven't played with... yeah I see the challenge. I love this! The worst part for me would be to play it with a pick, but that is also why I've grown my nails. Now I have two picks on my fingers, similar sound, similiar function but I can very quickly strum over 2-3 strings at once. I hope you nail it on stage!

That's what I noticed first when I discovered The Boss on album with good speakers or headphones: Especially the upbeat songs have pretty busy basslines. Born In The USA (the album) is pretty funky as a whole - sliding up is a theme on many songs. Turns out that stuff isn't a bold as you might thought and actually pretty well arranged and played.

Memory is a fickle mistress. If I had a dime for every time I thought I could hear a song or a part in my head, only to listen to the recording and discover how far off I was... well, I'd have a whole s-load of dimes. Also, sometimes you may know the part, but playing it proves to be more difficult that you figured. Or, even more likely, you'll have the part down but nailing the feel and capturing the groove is a banana of a whole different color. I remember playing Born to Run in pep band (trombone player) and how absolutely bombastic it was. Whatever you think of Bruce, the E Street Band is a mutha.

Max Weinberg didn't play drums on the studio track. It was Ernest "Boom" Carter. He replaced Vini Lopez when he was fired, but left the band with David Sancious to form their own band. He only recorded the song Born to Run. Max is on the rest of the album.

Your bass sounds good!

Give Highway Star a try. Nice little finger workout.

Garry is such a cool bass player

Man, I had no idea so much was going on in that song. I too always thought it was a simple 3 chord follow that I could play around although I did know the chromatic walk down. Now I need to go back and learn this from scratch. I'd love it if you put out a detailed instruction video for the bass for this song. Looks like a great bass line to learn, or in this case multiple bass lines for one song 😂

8:12 *Ernest "Boom" Carter, he just goes crazy in the part.

You could do one like this on the drum part just insane. Wasn’t Max, was Earnest Boom Boom Carter. Max does an approximation live and of course it works, but he can’t exactly replicate this. Lots of skills E Street!

I don't think you mentioned in, but in the intro and chorus', the bass STAYS on the E for the first bar while the rest of the band goes to A and B, and then on the repeat it switches chords. This is such a subtle detail but I think it provides just that much tension and eventual release for the intro/chorus of the song.

curious about the bass tone...can you give a little insight?

Yeah, charts and me don't get along. I listen, learn, and then play (as close as I can).

Max weinberg didn’t play on this song it was Ernest carter

Turns out the E-Street Band ain't got no slouch in 'em, not even a little. And they called that guy The Boss, anyway.

Billy Joel has many similar examples. Simple sounding pop songs that had a lot of work and thought put into the parts.

Who else tapped the table during the awesome chromatic nuclear part?

say what.. that's insane in the membrane

I have to watch out for those 5 words. (For me, those words pop up in moments of completely unjustified personal hubris.) Question- do you prefer Jazzes over the P bass?

It's too bad Gary's bass was buried on most of his albums.

do you use stem separation to remove drums etc?

I’m not a big fan of Springsteen & band but I give credit where credit is due, they are all very talented musicians…

Where can I hear you play?

As has been pointed out, Ernest “Boom” Carter was the drummer on this track…funny how although Max has played this song thousands of times it never really sounds “right”. Garry Tallent is a tasteful and creative bassist, there’s lots of goodies floating underneath the surface on these great songs. Finally, I can’t imagine denying yourself of enjoying Bruce’s outstanding music because of “his politics”. Silly.

FYI max w does not play on this track

Good news is, you can play whatever you want and only a bassist will know it’s wrong.

What you call "weirdness" I call "not boring"

It's not Max Weinberg on drums, it's Ernest Carter. What's funny is Max admits he bullshits his way through the drum break live because he hasn't figured out how to play it like the record.

People think Springsteen music is trite and simple, not always. Not in a lot of cases, his band was far more talented than they got credit for. All of them.

You are the absolute opposite of what we are doing in our band. We play our covers in our own style and absolutely do not dig into such details. We have some fluctuations in our instrument covering, so sometimes I play guitar, and when we are in full number, I play keys. E.g., the sus arpeggios in the Summer of 69 - sometimes on guitar, sometimes on a piano ... just having fun. In The Tale That Wasn't Right by Helloween, I play the verse swinging chords on harpsichord sound on keys. Sounds even more interesting. We prefer our own covering style over a precise one. Of course, there is a part of laziness involved. But who cares, definitely not our audience. Maybe some precise musicians like you are. But they are not our target group. We just pick some song we can cover, learn the basics, and if there are some significant details even a common listener would notice, we learn them. Or we just mix more songs with similar or common parts into one - e.g. we play Mama I'm coming home fluently switching into Paranoid finished again with the Mama closing picking riff. Or from Cocaine to Beat it. In the end, 99% of people are having fun, including us. But when I need some detailed analysis eventually, I know where to go.

First comment tag

But it sounds like Gary is using his fingers on the recording. Why are you using a pick with this aggressive punk tone and attack?

Not even "Born in the USA?" Granted it's a very difficult song for drummers.

I don't like Bruces' Politics, but he does write some epic songs.

Just cause it’s difficult doesn’t mean it’s good. Bruce Springsteen is overrated and his music stinks.

Can't listen to Bruce anymore with his politics.

day or so rest in between learning songs helps

mate i thought you had the song in your head coz you heard it so many times.isnt it fun getting cought out and learning

as a 40 yr old shredder i love playing bass songs with tabs on jewtube like humans play guitar hero.tool and muse is most fun but michael jacksons earth song is something.type o negative bass way underrated