Although Duff McKagan was a hero of mine when I started playing bass, 1987s 'Appetite for Destruction' wasn't the first Guns N' Roses album I picked up - I was first introduced to the band via the 'Use Your Illusion' albums on cassette tape, and only stumbled upon 'Appetite for Destruction' on CD a few years later.
'Rocket Queen' was a standout track for me, as the bassline was equal parts groovy swagger and rock aggression. It featured McKagan's trademark pickstyle attack and chorus drenched tone, and also his unique choice of notes. The bassline glued the guitar parts together, and always stayed tightly in the pocket with Steven Adler's drums.
I usually EQ out the bass on original studio recordings to use as backing tracks, but McKagan's bass tone extends way up into the upper midrange, where the guitars live. As a result, I've opted to use a bass backing track that I found online via 'lalaLongTracks' on RU-vid. The drums seem programmed to a metronome, and the guitars recorded over it. The vocals from the original studio recording was also layered over, but as the tempo of the original wasn't steady throughout the song, there are strange glitches in the vocal track where it was forced to fit the tempo of the drums.
The song was learned by ear, and played more as my own interpretation of Duff McKagan's style, so don't expect it to be anything close to a note-for-note rendition of his original recording.
Equipment used:
Bass:
'Frankenbass II'
2002 Fender '75 Reissue Jazz Bass body (Swamp Ash)
1981 Squier Jazz Bass neck
1970s vintage Fender neck pickup (full on)
Nordstrand 'Warm and Wooly' J Blade bridge pickup (full on)
Dimarzio 500K potentiometers
0.07uf tone capacitor (full on)
Hipshot Kickass bridge with brass saddle inserts
Hipshot Ultralight machine heads
D'Addario XTB coated strings (0.045 to 0.105)
Gravity Picks 0.75mm Coloured Gold series plectrum
Audio:
Boss GT-1B used as audio interface
Gallien Krueger amp sim with organic cab sim (mid scoop EQ)
Chorus patch
Bass Distortion patch (configured for light drive)
Hi-Band compressor patch
Edited in Reaper (Mild low frequency compression added)
Video:
iPhone 7
Edited in Davinci Resolve 16
16 сен 2024
