Mojo Hannah
Artist: Elkie Brooks
Album: Two Days Away
Date Released: 1977
Label: A&M
Bass Player: Steve York
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Below is a transcription of the exact Steve York bass line from Mojo Hannah by Elkie Brooks.
The bass line has a lovely groove almost entirely made up of notes from the major pentatonic scale.
The bass is really featured throughout the song and this is a great bass line to use to work on accuracy and speed.
It will also help you to get the major pentatonic shape ‘under the fingers’.
Steve York is the bass player on the record and he played with a very long list of UK artists such as:
Elkie Brooks, Marianne Faithfull, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Ringo Starr, Pete Townshend, Robert Palmer, Manfred Mann, East Of Eden, Joan Armatrading, Gary Moore, Sam Mitchell, Doris Troy, Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack, Graham Bond, Arthur Brown, Grace Jones, Joanne Kelly, Adrian Legg, Dana Gillespie, Dave Kelly, Chris Jagger, Pete Brown, PP Arnold, Dana Gillespie, Casablanca, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
He also played with these artists in the US:
Mac Rebbenack AKA Dr John, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Laura Branigan, Leiber & Stoller, The Drifters, The Platters, The Coasters, Rufus Thomas, Martha & the Vandellas, Earl King, Shirley Goodman, Syl Johnson, Marvelettes, Shirelles, Del Vikings, Shangri La’s, Inkspots, Climax, Sonny Geraci, Ron Thompson & the Resistors, Mark Naftalin, Charlie Musselwhite, , Big Jay McNeely, Fabian, Tracy Nelson, Cash McCall, EC Scott, Percy Strother, Larry Davis, Viola Wills, Joe King Carrasco.
If you know the major pentatonic scale it makes playing this bass line so much easier.
The song is in F Major so first of all learn the F Major Pentatonic Scale in the forward position - meaning that you play the first three notes on one string.
It helps if you start with your 1st finger on ‘F’ and then shift your hand position so you then have your 1st finger on ‘G' which is the 2nd note.
After that use either a combination of fingers 1 & 3 or 1 & 4 if you prefer.
Now look at the following major pentatonic scales which will also help to play the bass line:
Greg Playing The Verse Bass Line
I’ve slowed the bass line down to help you to hear it more clearly
Standard Notation
TAB
Further Watching
The following YouTube lesson focuses on the major pentatonic scale and the main riff from Mojo Hannah.