Introduction

This is a new blog about the bass player Carl Radle (1940-1980). Radle played on recordings by Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Leon Russell, Delaney & Bonnie, J. J. Cale, Buddy Guy, Joe Cocker, and so many others. I have transcribed a lot of his bass lines and plan to post them here along with some analysis or description of them. For me, it's not just important to be able to play his bass lines. It is important to understand what makes them work, so they can be learned from, rather than just reproduced. 

I am also working on a comprehensive discography of recordings Radle played on. Sometimes he was the bass player for an entire album, sometimes it was only a couple of songs. Information about this is scattered all over the internet, so I would like to compile it all into one location.

This is my first time blogging, but I am not new to bass. I began playing bass in 1994 and have played in rock, country, folk, bluegrass, and jazz bands. I went to school for music, earning my bachelor's degree from Bellarmine University, and graduate degrees from the University of Louisville and the University of Maryland. Currently I am Assistant Professor of Music Theory at Alverno College in Milwaukee, WI, where I also teach courses in Contemporary Music and the History of Rock & Roll.

As a staff writer for Bass Musician Magazine from 2011 to 2013, I wrote articles analyzing the playing styles of bassists such as Rick Danko, Paul McCartney, Duck Dunn, and Sting. The first article I wrote for the magazine was about Carl Radle. It was published in 2011 as a reader submission, before I was officially a staff writer. That article is at the link below.

https://bassmusicianmagazine.com/2011/05/a-lesson-in-carl-radles-style/