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Jeff Berlin’s Bass Solo on an Allan Holdsworth Composition – Water On The Brain Part II
When I was a student at the Berklee College of Music waaay back in the day (when dinosaurs still roamed the earth ) it had only been a few years since Jaco Pastorius had died and there wasn’t yet the whole new generation of amazing post-Jaco bass players that exists now. There was no YouTube where you could simply click your mouse and hear thousands of fantastic young bassists from all over the planet. Jeff Berlin had always stood in Jaco’s shadow (as did most bass players save an exceptional few) but I had heard him when I was 14 years old playing with guitarist Allan Holdsworth.
Jeff was one of the very few guys at that time who really had formidable chops on the bass guitar. Jeff was a violin prodigy as a child but sort of rebelled and became a jazz/fusion bass player. Jeff is still around and now you CAN hear him on YouTube playing all kinds of cool stuff. Well this particular bass solo on the Allan Holdsworth composition called “Water On The Brain Part II” (don’t ask if there’s a Part I because there isn’t) from Allan’s mini-EP called “Road Games” absolutely blew me away when I first heard it. In fact, it STILL blows me away today! “Road Games” is out of print but you can still find copies for sale on EBAY.
Jeff Berlin Bass Solo on Water On The Brain Part II-pg1
Jeff Berlin Bass Solo on Water On The Brain Part II-pg2
03 Holdsworth Water On The Brain Part Two – Audio File
Jeff’s solo begins at 1:03 into the song and goes until 2:12. It’s a short but incredibly technically demanding solo all played on Jeff’s mid 70’s Fender Precision Bass. Because much of this solo is played in the high-upper register of the 4-string bass, I could have notated it using Treble Clef but way back in 1989 when I actually did this transcription, I chose to notate the whole solo in Bass Clef. However to avoid the excessive use of ledger lines in Bass Clef I used the notation “8va” which means to play the notes one octave higher than where they’re written so pay close attention to where the “8va” signs are. If you have a 4-string bass, you might try learning this solo on it. It will really show you how to use the ENTIRE register of your bass, which I believe is really important no matter how many strings you have. Too many bass players are guilty of only being comfortable in one area of their instrument. I see so many young guys who play 5-string but almost never really utilize the low B string. Why not? Whatever bass you learn this solo on you’ll be a better improvisor for having done so, plus it will give your chops a serious workout. As always go slow, but your ultimate goal should always be to learn the solo so that you can play a long with the track up to speed. Have fun and good luck.
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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