Sweet Emotion Bass tab video

About this riff

The intro is a syncopated, groove-based figure that sits in the A Mixolydian mode over an A7 feel, and it's far more about pocket and feel than raw speed. Hamilton plays it in the octave position with his fretting hand anchored around the 12th fret, rolling smoothly across strings and using the open A to bounce down to the D string, with position slides that need clean, controlled timing. The real challenge is locking with the drums, which sit on the backbeat, so consistency and dynamics matter more than technique.

Did you know?

Tom Hamilton had been sitting on this bass riff since high school, inspired by listening to Jeff Beck, and finally revived it when producer Jack Douglas asked the band for ideas during the Toys in the Attic sessions. During the intro recording, the band had no maracas, so Steven Tyler shook a packet of sugar for the shaker sound, and the vibroslap he also played broke during the take. Hamilton's electric bass was doubled by a bass marimba played by engineer Jay Messina, an instrument so large you have to climb a ladder to reach its lowest tone bars.

Sources: [1] [2] [3]

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