These Days
Life's Rich Pageant | 1986
Listen Original Listen Final Mix

Dyslyrica

This feels wrong. Shouldn’t Begin be first?

Leading via Bass

As a bassist, it comes up time and time again through this project: Mike Mills is a musical genius. Opening with power chords on bass was always my favorite trick. How could I have not noticed before now?

As a bassist, I lead with bass. Once I discovered that a Garageband robot drummer could be programmed to follow a track, I was off to the bases (sic). So I can record a bass part, then just have a ronot drummer perfectly create a part that follows me? I’m in.

So as I listen to this with the ears of prepping my next cover track, I listen as a bassist. And I hear everything I wanted to play. Mike leads all music in this song in that part.

As a bassist, I am at once honored to learn how this song is made by the bass.

How To Arrange

At least two electric guitars. No acoustc this time.

Piano - at least to double the bass on the bridge.

Bass and Drums - bread and butta of rhythm.

Lead vocals with one main backing from Mike - mostly on the chorus echoing some lines, adding new ones elsewhere.

Don’t forget the shaker right before the second half of the bridge. Right before the tambourine part comes in strong.

I gotta get a really good tambourine for this. MIDI ain’t gonna cut it for that.