Roger Miller's "King of the Road" Full Bass Tab

One of my most popular blog posts here continues to be the bass tab I made for my video of me playing along to a few lines of "King of the Road" by Roger Miller. In that video I played a little of the original bass part but I also improvised a bit. And I tabbed out the whole part that I played, which was less than a minute long.

Since this post was so popular and I've had many requests for that tab, I decided to tab out the whole darn song. No improvising. Just the original part played by the original studio bassist. To the best of my ability. Some parts are a little harder to hear and decipher. I even listened to a stereo version of the song but it can still be difficult. Took quite some time to do also. The song is only about 2:10 long but tabbing out a part can take very long. So I hope you all will appreciate the effort and use it in good fun! And if you really appreciate the work I put into it, there is still a donate button on my page. Thanks!

G  :----------------------|-----0-3-----------|---------------------|
D  :3-5-3-0---------0----0|1--------0-1-2-3---|-2-3----1-h3-3-1-----|
A  :--------1---0-1-------|-------------------|-----------------3---|
E  :----------------------|-------------------|-------------------1-|

G  :-------------------|------------------|------2-3--3-2--0-|
D  :-------------0----0|1----1----1-2-3---|-3--3-------------|
A  :----0-1----1-------|--------1---------|------------------|
E  :1-3----------------|------------------|------------------|

G  :--0-0-2-3--3-0---------|-----0-3-----------|----------0------|
D  :3--------------3------0|1--------0-1-2-3---|-------3----1--0-|
A  :-----------------1-----|-------------------|-----------------|
E  :-----------------------|-------------------|-----------------|

G  :-------------------|------------------|----0-2-3--3-2-2-0-|
D  :3---0--------0----0|1----1----1-2-3---|-3-----------------|
A  :--3---1----1-------|--------1---------|-------------------|
E  :-------------------|------------------|-------------------|

G  :---0-2-3--3-0---------|------------------|----------3-2--0-|
D  :-3------------3------0|1----1--0-1-2-3---|-----------------|
A  :----------------1-----|------------------|-----------------|
E  :----------------------|------------------|-----------------|

G  :--0-2-3----0----3--|------------------|------0----------|
D  :3------------3-----|1----1--0-1-2-3---|-3--3----3--1--0-|
A  :-------------------|------------------|-----------------|
E  :-------------------|------------------|-----------------|

G  :------------------|------------------|-----------------|
D  :---3-------------1|1----1--0-1-2-3---|----------3-1--0-|
A  :-3---1----1-1-----|------------------|-----------------|
E  :------------------|------------------|-----------------|

G  :-------------------|------------------|------2-3--3-2-2-0-|
D  :3---0--------0----0|1----1--0-1-2-3---|-3--3--------------|
A  :--3---1----1-------|------------------|-------------------|
E  :-------------------|------------------|-------------------|

G  :0---0-2-3--3-0---------|--------------------|----------------|
D  :--3------------3------1|1----1--0-1-1-2-3---|----------------|
A  :-----------------1-----|--------------------|----------------|
E  :-----------------------|--------------------|----------------|

G  :-------------------|-----1-4-----------|------3-4--4-3--1-|
D  :4-4-4--------1----1|2--------1-2-3-4---|-4--4-------------|
A  :------2----2-------|-------------------|------------------|
E  :-------------------|-------------------|------------------|

G  :--1-1-3-4----1------4|------------------|------------1-----|
D  :4--------------4-----|2----2--1-2-3-4---|----------4---4-2-|
A  :------------------2--|------------------|------------------|
E  :---------------------|------------------|------------------|

G  :------------------|------------------|----1-3-1-4--3--1-|
D  :1---4----------1--|2----2--1-2-3-4---|-4----------------|
A  :--4---2-----2-----|------------------|------------------|
E  :------------------|------------------|------------------|

G  :1---3-4--------------|-----------------|------------1--2-|
D  :--4--------4---------|-----------------|----------4------|
A  :-------------2--2----|-------2---------|-----------------|
E  :------------------4-2|0----4----0--2---|-----------------|

G  :-----------------|-----1-4-----------|----1-3-4--4-3--1-|
D  :-----------1----1|2--------1-2-3-4---|-4----------------|
A  :-1--2----2-------|-------------------|------------------|
E  :-----------------|-------------------|------------------|

G  :--1-1-3-4--------------|-----------------|-----------------|
D  :4------------1---------|-----------------|---------------4-|
A  :---------------2--2----|-------2---------|----------2--2---|
E  :--------------------4-2|0----4----0--2---|-----------------|

G  :--2-3-4----1-------4|------------------|------3-4--4-3--1-|
D  :4------------4-4----|2----2--1-2-3-4---|-4--4-------------|
A  :-----------------2--|------------------|------------------|
E  :--------------------|------------------|------------------|

G  :--1-1-3-4----1----4-1--|------------------|----------------|
D  :4--------------4-------|------------------|----------4-----|
A  :-----------------------|-------2-2--------|----------------|
E  :----------------------2|0----4-----0--2--2|----------------|

G  :-----------------|-----1-4-----------|------3-4--4-3--1-|
D  :4----------1----1|2--------1-2-3-4---|-4--4-------------|
A  :----2----2-------|-------------------|------------------|
E  :-----------------|-------------------|------------------|

G  :----------------|
D  :-4--------------|
A  :----------------|
E  :----------------|

Fixing Up Bass

Well, I thought I was done with "It's Christmas" but I'm just not satisfied with it. Two days ago I rerecorded a portion of the guitar solo to overlay on the existing solo. There were some muffled notes so I recorded a crisper sounding part. And last night I decided to take the bass track and do some bass boosting on the weaker sounding notes with the help of the Audacity program. It's such a painstaking process but if you want something to sound professionally done than you must put in the time and effort. If it comes out sounding great it will be worth it. I have yet to take this new and improved bass track and add it to the song. I will work on that tonight.

One new technique that I will be implementing in future recordings is to record the drums on 2 separate tracks. I usually record drums with only 2 mic's--I have very limited space where I record--even though I have a 4-piece drum mic set. In the past I've used that mic set along with an overhead when I recorded elsewhere, before I had a drum set. Now at home I record exclusively with only 2 mic's; one for the bass drum and one overhead. Not only do I not have the space to set up 5 or 6 mic's on the drums but I also only have 4 mic stands at this time. But I have found that I can get a really good overall drum set sound with only 2 mic's, and my proof for that is the drum track on "(Doesn't That) Blow Your Mind." The drums on that song sound excellent IMO and has been the best recorded drum sound I ever achieved up to this point. But of course there's always room for improvement. So by recording the drums onto 2 separate tracks--bass mic on one, overhead on the other--I can tweak each individually and then blend the 2 onto a single track. By isolating the bass onto one track I can boost the high's a bit in order to hear the snap better. And with the overhead I can cut the mid's and high's without affecting the bass drum. There may even be other tweaks I can do to get the overall drum set sound better. And then combine the 2 tracks onto one great sounding track!

Doing this adds more work to the project of course. And I guess the reason I've never really done this is due to fear of a loss of valuable tracks being available. But that's really not a real problem because as I have already written, I can bounce the multiple tracks onto a single one. I will start doing this with my next song which will be........not sure at this point.

I hope to be able to post the new and improved FINAL version of "It's Christmas" sometime tomorrow. I know Christmas 2013 is behind us but to me it's still Christmas and I continue to listen to holiday music and am actually in the mood to create some more original tunes for the season. Not only is Christmas music awesome but one great song alone can set you up for financial freedom. Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" earns him between $400,000 and $600,000 each year! Which means that since the song is from 1979 he's possibly as much as $15,000,000 over the years from it. I may in fact start off 2014 with a seasonal song I wrote some years ago and never recorded. I just want to set the tone for this coming year in terms of  devoting a lot more time to creating and recording new music and creating some sort of financial stability at the very least as a result of it.

And on a final note, today is the 29th and I still have not finished up "Call On Me." It's still possible for me to finish it up and release the album within the next few days. However I may be scrapping my plans to put out the album this year. It's really late in the year to release anything more than a song. But I do believe I will release it very early in 2014 and it will feature 10 tracks with perhaps a bonus track of my Christmas song.

It's Christmas!

One of the hardest things about recording under not-so-ideal conditions and with not-so-ideal gear is coming up with a mixdown of the song which sounds satisfactory.That's the trouble I'm having once again. I usually end up making several mixdowns because after mastering each one they usually all end up sounding bad on one playback source or another.

I've already made a couple of mixes/masters of my new holiday song, "It's Christmas," and have not been pleased. I will try once again tonight. Have I mentioned how difficult it is to get a good recorded drum sound? Of course I have. But it's also pretty hard getting a solid recording of an upright bass. On a whim I decided to play my upright for this song to give it a little more of an acoustic sound and feel--a kind of 60's folk/jazz vibe if you will. I'm more of an electric bass player so playing this huge acoustic bass is completely different and physically demanding. This is the first song with vocals that I played upright bass on.

The bass track came out sounding pretty nice but quite weak on some notes. Even going back to some 60's tunes such as Roger Miller's "King of the Road" and Ian & Sylvia's "Rocks & Gravel" which both begin with upright bass intros and continue throughout, I don't hear any weak notes but rather solid consistency throughout. On the other hand, I did listen to "Stay" by Astrud Gilberto which also features upright bass and noticed some less audible bass notes being played. And when I say less audible what I mean is that there are certain notes that don't have that deep, booming quality. And the bass playing on "Stay" is a lot busier than on "King of the Road" and "Rocks & Gravel," so perhaps there are a lot more weaker bass notes being played. I just don't know what it is. I'm going to try working on tweaking that track a little more and see what I come up with. Not only for that reason but also because the bass overall is a bit too booming compared to those older recordings.

There are a few more things I'm going to play around with the attempt to come up with a final version that is most sonically pleasing to my musical ear. That will be later on tonight. For the time being, I have uploaded the 2nd version to Soundcloud and YouTube and it happens to be the version that will be featured on the "Justin Sane Show Christmas Special" tonight at 7pm CT on CNEU Radio; Christmas Eve on Insane Realm Radio at 5pm CT; day after Christmas at 10am CT on Digital Mayhem Radio; Friday at 3pm CT on Digital Revolution Radio; and a few other places after that.

Here it is on Soundcloud:



And here it is on YouTube:



Hoping I will have the final, best-sounding version ready tonight.

Now Until Then

I have an upright string bass (or double bass) that I don't use much in my recordings because I haven't gotten down how to play without frets yet. It is my own fault because I rarely practice playing it. But occasionally I do use it and there are at least 2 recordings of mine that feature it. It is also a very hard instrument to record well. I hear these modern jazz recordings and the double bass just sounds so rich and deep. Of course, it could have something to do with the fact that mine is an $800 Chinese made instrument, while theirs are most likely vintage and cost thousands of dollars.

Here is a song titled, "Now Until Then," which I made in 2011. I was just fingerpicking away at my nylon string classical guitar and I came up with something I thought interesting so I recorded it and used it as the basis for this song. It features 2 classical guitar parts, a drum track and a double bass track. (I don't like referring to it as 'double bass' because drummers also have something they call a 'double bass.' So in order to avoid any confusion from here on out I will refer to the 4 string acoustic double bass as upright acoustic bass or just upright bass.)

This song has elements of jazz, folk and even classical. I wouldn't know how to categorize it. Actually most of my music is very hard to categorize. This one is no exception. Listen to it and decide for yourself:




I am leaning towards more instrumental music not only because it is more universal but also because it is very difficult for me to sing and whenever I do vocal tracks I end up doing so many takes and edits. It requires the most amount of time compared to any other instrument I record.

Well, here is another similar type recording. This one was made several years ago and pretty much fits the same arrangement as "Now Until Then." The exception being that steel string acoustic guitar tracks replace the nylon string guitar ones. Drums and upright bass are both here as well. This recording was really just an improvisation. I did not set out to make an actual song. I was just laying down some ideas, especially concerning the rhythm acoustic guitar. So the songs starts off well but really breaks down about midway through or later. I don't even really have an official title for it. But I will record an official version of it at some point.

This is one of those recordings that would not normally see the light of day, but I include it here because it has some interesting elements:




I am interested in acoustic music and would like to record a whole album just of acoustic string instruments. Would be nice to have a resonator guitar and also a banjo. But I'll make do with what I have for now.

King of the Road Bass Tab

A couple of years ago I posted a shorted video on YouTube of myself playing a portion of the intro to the 1965 classic song "King of the Road" by Roger Miller. The original song was performed with an upright bass--double bass, acoustic bass, string bass, bass violin, whatever your preference--but I used an electric bass and I played the opening and a portion of the first verse note for note. Then for the remainder I improvised ever so slightly. I kept the video really short because I was not sure anyone would want to watch me playing bass for the whole 2 minute length of the song. (Actually I try to keep all my 'cover' videos short for that reason).

Many folks have asked me for the tab of what I played in that video. I am glad to make it available right here (see the glad face :D ) and I ask that if this is beneficial to you that you would consider making a donation by clicking the PayPal button on the upper right hand side of this page. I don't want to be like Public Radio or television asking for funds every hour but I do want to make known that my donation link is now active and live.  Additionally, making this tab--and others in the near and distant future--available here saves you the trouble of having to contact me, giving me your email address and waiting till I can steal some a moment away from my survival routine before getting back to you and sending what you asked for. 

I created this tab using a special software program. I realize that by putting it out there on the world wide web anyone can claim it and say it is theirs. But please rest assured that I am the originator of this tab and it is completely my work.

Here is the video:

Here is the tab:

G  :-------------------------|-----0-3-----------|--------------------|

D  :3-5-3------------0--0---0|1--------0-1-2-3---|-3-3----1-3-3-1-----|

A  :------5-1--1-0-1------4--|-------------------|----------------3---|

E  :-------------------------|-------------------|------------------1-|

G  :-------------------|------------------|------2-3--3-2--0-|

D  :-------------0----0|1----1----1-2-3---|-3--3-------------|

A  :----0-1----1-------|--------1---------|------------------|

E  :1-3----------------|------------------|------------------|

G  :------------------|------------------|-----------------|

D  :-3-0--------3----3|1----1----1-2-3---|-------3--3-1--0-|

A  :-----1----1----1--|--------1---------|-----------------|

E  :------------------|------------------|-----------------|

G  :-----------------|-----------------|------2-3--3-2--0-|

D  :-----------0----0|1----1----1--3---|-3--3-------------|

A  :-3--1----1-------|--------1--------|------------------|

E  :-----------------|-----------------|------------------|

G  :---0-2-3--3-0---------|-------------------|------------------|

D  :-3------------3------3|1----1--0-1-2-3----|------------------|

A  :----------------1--1--|----------------3--|------------------|

E  :----------------------|------------------1|-------1--1-3-1-4-|

G  :-------------------|-----------------|----------------|

D  :-------------0----0|1----1----1--3---|-3--------------|

A  :--0---1----1-------|--------1--------|----------------|

E  :1---1--------------|-----------------|----------------|

So this tab is just what I played in the video. Nothing more, nothing less. Please keep in mind that the song starts in the key of B flat and then modulates up to B. The part that changes to the key of B is not written out here but this tab can still be used by adding 1 to each number--so 3 becomes 4, 5 becomes 6, 0 becomes 1, and so on--or just moving everything up 1 fret.

Have fun!