On the surface, ‘Put Your Records On’ is a radio-friendly, soul-tinged acoustic pop song, but closer analysis reveals hidden depths in both the composition and the bass playing.
The harmony of ‘Put Your Records On’ is a level above that of your average four-chord pop song; just take a look at the first four bars of the chart:
Corinne Bailey Rae – ‘Put Your Records On’ bass transcription PDF
E13? F#m6/D#? This all looks more like a jazz standard than a pop song. The main thing is that the song sounds interesting without being overly complicated, which to me is a sign of quality songwriting.
Bass duties are ably handled by Sam Dixon, an Australian producer and multi-instrumentalist living in London. Sam played bass in Adele’s live band and has written songs for a multitude of huge pop artists including Sia, Christina Aguilera, and Carly Rae Jepsen.
Looking at the overall shape of the bass part, it’s clear that Sam has considerable high-level songwriting experience; the verse and chorus are anchored by the same rhythmic pattern at the start of every single measure, but Sam adds rhythmic and melodic variation at the end of each 4-bar phrase in the chorus. This keeps the part fresh without getting in the way of the vocal, and is a great lesson in how to construct melodic fills using the pentatonic scale.