Here is a video filmed with fellow BML teachers Colin Killalea and Robby Sinclair. It was conceived and wonderfully shot and edited by my brother, Travis Brooks. The music was written by Colin Killalea and performed by Pocketknife.
This song sounds easy but is more difficult to play than it seems (at least for me). The feeling of the rhythm is swung to varying degrees. Many drum machines are equipped with a feature that allows you to program in the swing percentage, varying from a straight feel to a triplet feel with different percentages in between. In this song, Danger Mouse utilizes these different feels stacked on top of each other to make up a rhythmically diverse beat. The swing feeling is most pronounced in the bass drum, and least pronounced in the drum fills (snare and toms) that sometimes occur at the middle or the end of the 4 bar phrase; these fills are played with a near straight feel.
Sing rhythms along with the song and try to feel the subtle differences between the bass drum and the guitars and the snare/tom fills. Listen how the different feels flow with the lyrics. Try playing bass lines that are swung and try playing lines that are straight. See how each feel with the lyrics and the beat.
The key to playing a nice bass part on this song (or any pop song with vocals), is to play something that supports the vocals and grooves with the other instruments as well. It's as simple as that. Listen to the singer's melody and the rhythm of the drums and try to bridge the gap between them and bring them together in a way that you see fit.
On this song, I did not play exactly what the bass player on the recording is playing (although he is great) because I wanted to make up my own part. Feel free to experiment and make up your own parts on songs too. Don't get me wrong, it is helpful to figure out other people's bass parts note for note sometimes as well, but if you want to make up your own part and supporting the melody and rhythm of a song is your number one goal, then go for it.
