One of the best things about YouTube is that it allows amateur musicians to showcase their talents and skills to the world.
Although the music that’s on the radio is relatively limited in scope, YouTube allows a platform for people to truly follow their passion and play whatever they’re best at—or whatever they want to play.
On the other hand, it also lets creators and musicians target specific instruments and skill sets and showcase those as well.
And that was the case in this video that has gained a lot of traction online.
The video was loaded online in August 2019.
It was uploaded by YouTube user juliaplaysgroove, a channel title that’s pretty self-explanatory. On her channel, she shares all kinds of different funk and soul covers played on her bass guitar.
Much like the drums, the bass is an under-appreciated instrument which sometimes gets buried in the mix of everything else. Still, when the bass guitar gets isolated—and when someone talented plays it—it can be just as fascinating as anything else!
Fortunately, Julia is one of those capable players.
As the clip starts, the music for Luther Vandross’s “Never Too Much” starts playing in the background.
Without missing a beat, Julia starts plucking the bass right along with it. Though the original song is funky and danceable, it’s not totally clear how the bass plays into it right away.
When Julie covers it, the complicated bass line comes to the forefront—and it’s clear she’s got it mastered! While the original song is great all on its own, the way Julia covers it gives it a whole new life.
Needless to say, Luther Vandross would be proud!
Though the beginning of the performance is great all on its own, it gets even better as it goes along.
The main melody of the song is groovy but it isn’t all that complex. By the time Julia gets to the chorus, the bass line jumps up and becomes pluckier and faster.
Although it’s easy to miss in the recorded version, Julia’s bass cover it brings it all back to the surface again. The entire time, she stays perfectly on-beat and adds in all kinds of flourishes and stylistic touches.
Although the video has only earned around a million views so far, that number keeps going up!
Fortunately, Julia has plenty of other bass covers on her channel as well.
Although all the videos on her channel are impressive, the most viewed is a bass cover of “Dark Necessities” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
As anyone who is a fan of RHCP knows, their bass parts are often very complex and some of the most interesting in modern music. As it turns out, Julia’s cover of “Dark Necessities” proves this perfectly! Although it starts with some soft plucking, Julia then jumps into high-gear with funky plucking and finger-walking.
Since that clip was posted, it has earned nearly two million views!
Needless to say, Julia definitely has a future ahead of her as an awesome bassist!
If you liked these videos, be sure to check out the rest of her channel for more awesome bass-playing. Meanwhile, stay tuned and check for Julia in mainstream music as well—there’s no doubt we’ll be seeing more of her in the future.
Thanks to juliaplaysgroove for these awesome performances! Be sure to watch the whole video in the link below:
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