BASS LINES by Jaime David Vazquez – Famous Bass Intro: The Meters – “Cissy Strut”

BASS LINES by Jaime David Vazquez – Famous Bass Intro: The Meters – “Cissy Strut”…

The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are considered, along with artists like James Brown, one of the progenitors of funk music and their work is influential on many other bands, both their contemporaries and modern musicians working in the funk idiom.

“Cissy Strut“ was released as a single from their eponymous debut album, it reached No. 4 on the R&B chart and No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Fig. 1 – This is the main riff of the song and is based on the Cm7 arpeggio. The tonality throughout the song is the C Dorian mode (C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb), except for the Fig. 3. The riffs of Figures 1 and 2 are played in unison.

Fig. 2 – The second riff of the song is more syncopated and with more rest at the end of every bar, giving more space for drum fills. The groove is very tight. 

Fig. 3 – The Solo section, eight bars played with a lot of strength and attitude. The rhythm section is full of groove variations.