Dancing Queen's Bass Line Could've Been TERRIBLE Without This

[00:00:00]ABBA's Dancing Queen is one of the most recognizable songs ever recorded. But if you ask most bass players to write a bassline over this, they'd probably do something like this.

[00:00:09]>> [music] >> Bassist Rutger Gunnarsson didn't do that.

[00:00:17]>> [music] >> Rutger transformed straightforward disco grooves into some of the most recognizable basslines ever recorded.

[00:00:31]Let's go.

[00:00:34]>> [music] >> What's up? I'm Andrew Free from Bass Freedom. I'm a bass teacher who does very detailed breakdowns. If you've watched my channel before, you know that I don't do simple reaction videos. We go deep. I'm going to teach it, talk about it, and just tell you why it's an amazing bassline and song. By the way, it's been a little bit. My wife and I just welcomed our first baby boy, so life has been a little crazy, but I'm back. Let's jump into their biggest hit, Dancing Queen. What a bassline.

[00:01:04]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> What an intro. What a way to start the song. You need to know that song-wise, it's relatively simple. Chords, they're relatively simple. But somehow, the bassline elevates everything around it.

[00:01:58]Why? There's a couple of reasons, but the first is definitely Rucker's syncopation. A lot of bass players would play right on the beat, something like this.

[00:02:07]>> [music] >> What syncopation does is it it's rhythmic displacement. Essentially, instead of playing right on those beats, you're playing between them. And this creates a really cool sound.

[00:02:31]While he's playing a lot of the offbeats, he establishes a core blueprint.

[00:02:37]>> [music] >> Now, if I just loop those first two measures, I could technically do that over and over again and it would be good enough.

[00:02:44]But what else is happening here? We also have short notes. This is called staccato. Staccato notes are very short and sudden. If I played it held out without a staccato feel, it would sound something like this.

[00:02:57]>> [music] >> Staccato notes cut off. They're short.

[00:03:06]>> [music] >> Hey, if you're digging this breakdown, please give it a like. It's a very simple way to help me and help others see this video. And if you learn anything new, consider subscribing. That is the best free way to help me cuz it's going to encourage me to keep doing this and My son is crying. Sorry.

[00:03:28]Anyhow, I appreciate you subscribe. A bassist like Rucker Gunnarsson, this is feel, man. You can really just feel that groove. He's not trying to be staccato.

[00:03:38]It's just happening because when you're locking into the groove, you just happen to cut the life short of a note a little bit or combine it. Long notes, short notes, syncopated rhythm, and ghost notes. Ghost notes, one of my favorites.

[00:03:52]These notes have no pitch. They're used for a percussive effect. They help elevate a groove. They sound like this.

[00:04:05]>> [music] >> It's a really funky approach that, as I said, really helps take it to the next level. It also helps a bassist keep timing. Definitely learn ghost notes.

[00:04:15]But anyhow, let's check out Rucker isolated. I can isolate the bass. I'll put a little drums in there.

[00:04:21]>> [music] >> You hear those ghost notes?

[00:04:30]>> [music] [music] >> Now here's peak syncopation.

[00:04:44]>> [music] >> Ooh, that part is dirty. Another thing is slides.

[00:04:59]>> [music] >> That mean bassline, we're in A major, by the way. This whole song is in A.

[00:05:08]There's a really cool hammer-on leading into that slide.

[00:05:14]I love how he slides down from that top note.

[00:05:20]>> [music] >> That's another really mean part of the blueprint. I'll say that word a lot because you're going to notice something. You know what? Let's dive into that now. Rucker very rarely plays this the same twice. I've seen a few videos of him and he's not playing the same thing.

[00:05:45]>> [music] >> Ooh, child.

[00:05:53]>> [music] >> Very clearly a Beast player. It's not what we just saw here on my website.

[00:06:02]It's not the same exact thing, but it still sounds like Dancing Queen. How about this? Check out this live track.

[00:06:10]>> [music] >> Faster, right?

[00:06:19]>> [music] >> You get the picture. It's different, but it still sounds like Dancing Queen.

[00:06:25]What's going on, Andrew? Pretty much, he's established a blueprint. You don't have to learn this 100%. You just got to get the life of it. But we're going to dissect everything. So, that was the intro. The chorus is the special part, though. Check this out isolated.

[00:06:42]>> [music] [music] [music] >> And then we're back to the motif. I'm going to keep going through the rest of the song, but that is the big bullet points of what make this song, in my opinion. And I'm going to keep repeating it, cuz I want you to know why. When someone asks you, "Why is Dancing Queen so good?" you could say, "Well, it's a great basis, to who's got great feel, who's applying syncopation, slides, staccato notes, and ghost notes all over a great chord progression." You will see we're in A major, but then you'll see some other slash chords, and like, "What is that?" These are inversions. The bass is pedaling A. So, Rucker really staying on this A.

[00:07:35]>> [music] >> He keeps playing this A in the intro and in the verse, while the chords are going to other chords, but when we stay on A, it's called a pedal. It's a cool bass player trick. It needs to be said that Rutger is the man, but he's not the only man in ABBA. I'm here to also tell people that they need to be aware of Mike Watson. Mike Watson played on some of ABBA's biggest hits. He's a great bassist. He's still touring with his ABBA tribute band now. I met him. I interviewed him. I'll try to link it up here. Check that out, but today's about Rutger, but you still got to know about Mike Watson. All of ABBA's bassists are beasts. And this chorus has got a great chord progression where we're going from E major to the C sharp 7, which is a great chord, [music] a very common approach in rock and pop music and all music where it will pull to your chord, in this case, an F sharp minor chord, and then we got this B 7, which is a great chord, too. It's not doing anything that hasn't been done before, but it's just catchy, man. There's a reason it was such a big hit. It's not just the baseline, it's the chord progression, it's these girls, it's all ABBA. I mean, this is a great band, and let's keep going.

[00:08:51]>> [music] >> Hear that blueprint now?

[00:08:57]>> [music and singing] >> Slides.

[00:09:03]>> [music] [music] [music and singing] >> That was sick.

[00:09:23]>> [music] [singing] >> Slides.

[00:09:31]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Ooh, love that slide.

[00:10:01]>> [music] [music] [music] >> All right, so we had another verse. We went through it. There's variations of what's happened, but again, same things going on. The slides really get me, man.

[00:10:36]>> [music] >> By the way, what I'm using to watch this video and the tab, the music, the transcription, it's all on my website Bass Freedom. On Bass Freedom is the home of the Song Vault. I have hundreds of transcriptions that I did, synced completely note for note to the original track. It's the new way to practice. You can slow down sections, loop them, and of course, isolate the basslines. If you want to play your favorite songs to an interactive scrolling play-along, then check out below. Bass Freedom is also the home of the >> [music] >> step-by-step course. If you want to improve your bass playing, 11 levels, 400 plus lessons, check out I can help you out. Click below.

[00:11:19]>> [music] >> You got other chords.

[00:11:24]>> [music] >> Staying on the A.

[00:11:32]Love the line here. [music] >> [music] >> That's the best part of his bassline.

[00:11:49]You got to check this out isolated.

[00:11:51]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Oh, all right. So, there's a couple things here I just have to highlight.

[00:12:05]The first is that chord as we crawl up from the F sharp minor to the B7.

[00:12:14]>> [music] >> And then you hit that C.

[00:12:21]>> [music] >> I don't know if he meant to do this approach note, meaning the note that is connecting the chords, but that was such a tension note. He normally does this.

[00:12:34]>> [music] >> But he did this.

[00:12:39]>> [music] >> You knew this song had a great bassline, but now you're seeing why. Thanks so much for watching this breakdown. I love Abba, obviously. I've done a bunch of breakdowns. If you want to see another one I've done, click one of these here.

[00:12:54]And if you haven't already, subscribe.

[00:12:57]Let me know what else you want to see me do. I'll be back, and I appreciate you.

[00:13:01]Peace.