Bass ONLY cover of American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
E Standard Tuning
Brightness of the Sun: Peeking through the bottom of my window
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▶Tone Settings
Neck - Full
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Tone - 1/3
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level - 3/4
blend - full
treble - 2/3
bass - 2/3
drive - none
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Ratio - 4
Release - 3/4
Attack - 3/4
Output - 2/3
Input - 2/3
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Year: 1977
Album: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Bassist: Ron Blair
Genre: Power Pop, Jangle Pop, Pop Rock, Heartland Rock, New Wave
** American Girl is a song I've wanted to do for a while. There are a lot of Petty songs that I like, and I've wanted to do. I've done a handful already, but haven't gotten back around to doing more of his catalog. This was a patron request, so it finally gave me that reason!
I definitely understand wanting someone to tab this song out. The bass is hard to hear at times and then at others it pokes out. Also, the range and tone of the bass in the recording help it blend in with the other instruments.
It also seems like Ron plays it a little bit differently each time. Live, there are a good amount of fills/ad libs that he plays, but still in the same style. As far as the line itself, he plays the same progression, but the rhythm changes a little from performance to performance (much like Bill Wyman of the rolling stones), but it at least is pretty consistent in the studio recording.
The opening of the song starts with percussion and then the bass comes in high on the D String. In the studio version, Ron plays the first musical idea a second time. That 2nd time, it starts fading out and a 2nd bass part fades in at the same time for about 2-4 bars. Live, he just does it twice and slides down at the verse to the main riff. The start of the verse lines up with the studio version as being just the main riff down low. This comes up again at the end of the song starting in bar 73.
ua-cam.com/video/hOw2CgVdDWQ/v-deo.html
Ron on the American Girl Bassline in a "Reverb" interview from 2018 or so
Pick with a Hofner violin bass strung with flatwound strings.
He's playing it a bit different here vs his live performances back in the day
2:26 - talks about and shows the harmonics he played in the studio version starting at bar 73
ua-cam.com/video/b2nbHpF7-qk/v-deo.html
1982 "Fridays" TV performance with Ron on a jazz bass with a pick
0:18 - plays opening riff on D moving down to the 12th fret and then back up
0:46 - slides down bar 19 to play "G" line low
1:32 - slides up at end of chorus 1
2:45 - comes in low after power chords (hear, not see)
3:03 - plays the extra notes/fancier riff instead of the basic riff that's in the beginning of the song
ua-cam.com/video/0hm4FbWX4FM/v-deo.html
Live 1978 - Ron, Pick, Jazz bass
shows no bass until the lead in to bar 9
0:14 - Intro
0:29 - Fretted, not open for Start of Verse | kick drum has extra note that Ron doesn't play in the main riff. He consistently plays the Dotted 8th, dotted 8th, 8th rhythm without using the dot of the 2nd dotted 8th to play with the kick drum. (the simple riff)
0:33 - slides down low for bar 19
1:04 - slide in first bar of chorus
1:08 - walk down bar 35 into 36
1:11 - walked 0-1-2 in bar 36
1:22 - 5-7 bar 42
1:43 - hear slide end of bar 52
1:48 - hear 0-2-4|5 bar 54 into 55
Thanks for watching! Enjoy :)
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