Black Magic Woman is a popular song originally written and performed by Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac in 1968. However, it gained even more widespread recognition when Santana covered it in 1970 and turned it into a massive hit. The bass part in Santana's version of Black Magic Woman is just as iconic as the guitar riff. The bassist David Brown introduced a memorable and groovy bass line that perfectly complements the Latin rock vibe of the song. The bass cover of Black Magic Woman requires a solid understanding of Latin rhythms and groove. The bassist must be able to lock into the song's rhythm and provide a strong foundation for the rest of the band to build upon.

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The bassist must be able to lock into the song's rhythm and provide a strong foundation for the rest of the band to build upon. The bass line itself consists of repeating patterns that move in sync with the song's chord progression. It incorporates elements of blues and Latin music, creating a unique and infectious groove that drives the song forward.

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6 takeaways from the return of the Emmys

From left to right: Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Ayo Edebiri, Matty Matheson, Jeremy Allen White, Tyson Bidner, Edwin Lee Gibson, Liza Colón-Zayas, Oliver Platt, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach accept the Outstanding Comedy Series award for The Bear onstage during the 2024 Emmys. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

From left to right: Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Ayo Edebiri, Matty Matheson, Jeremy Allen White, Tyson Bidner, Edwin Lee Gibson, Liza Colón-Zayas, Oliver Platt, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach accept the Outstanding Comedy Series award for The Bear onstage during the 2024 Emmys.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

The 75th Emmy Awards offered up nothing in the way of real surprise; practically every prize went to the frontrunner. Perhaps the closest the night came to a moment worth an eyebrow-raise was the In Memoriam segment that included a mournful rendition of the Friends theme song. Obviously, a very well-meaning attempt to recognize Matthew Perry, but that is not a song that translates into tears. The delay of this ceremony from September to now also meant that a lot of these frontrunners are fresh off Golden Globe and Critics' Choice awards, making their wins seem even a little more obvious.

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Still, like every Emmys night, there were some notable developments.

1. It was a big night for Succession, The Bear and Beef

Three big shows dominated the major categories given out Monday night: Succession in drama, The Bear in comedy, and Beef in limited series. All three won the big prize in their category as best series. All three won both directing and writing awards. All three won multiple acting awards — two for Beef (its two leads), three for The Bear (its three principals), and three for Succession (three members of its gazillion-person cast). Only four wins out of the 21 handed out in these three categories went to any other shows: Jennifer Coolidge for The White Lotus, Paul Walter Hauser for Black Bird, Quinta Brunson for Abbott Elementary and Niecy Nash-Betts for Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. It seemed like maybe Ted Lasso might be in the race for its (likely) final season, or The Last Of Us might make a strong showing for its adaptation of a stunning video game. But it was not to be. This was a night for the favorites to fully dominate.

2. An acclaimed show ends with no more Emmys

Coolidge's win for her supporting work in The White Lotus wasn't unexpected, given that she won last year, but along with the rest of the night, it did come as a real blow to Better Call Saul fans, myself included. Many people who hoped against hope that Rhea Seehorn would win the trophy in her last shot for the work she did as Kim Wexler. In fact, Saul — a show a lot of its admirers think is better than Breaking Bad, from which it was spun off — won no Emmys at all. It ends an acclaimed six-season run with 53 nominations and no awards. Perhaps that's only fitting for a show that's about a bottom-feeder and repeat loser like Jimmy McGill, but those who know, know. Especially about Rhea Seehorn.

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3. Anthony Anderson's mom replaced the music

In place of the orchestra playing people off to trim runaway speeches, they decided this year to have host Anthony Anderson's mother stand up in the audience and start yelling at them. The moment she did it to Jennifer Coolidge, it was more than clear that this was going to be terribly awkward. The producers didn't continue with it, fortunately. It's not clear whether they ever intended to. Perhaps they didn't, or perhaps they instantly realized it was not going to land the way they hoped. Seriously, just play the music.

Quinta Brunson accepts the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series award for Abbott Elementary. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

Quinta Brunson accepts the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series award for Abbott Elementary.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

4. Black women get rewarded for their work

It's often been the case that awards shows include a good number of Black actors as presenters, or as hosts like Anderson, but then don't actually reward their work. Not so with these Emmys. Three of the first four women to take the stage as winners — Ayo Edebiri, Quinta Brunson and Niecy Nash-Betts — are Black, and the ceremony's look back at 75 years of Emmys included beloved icons like Arsenio Hall and Marla Gibbs as well as influential shows like Good Times and Martin. Anderson called it "like MLK Day and Juneteenth rolled into one."

5. Elton John achieves EGOT status

Most coverage of the Emmys goes to a handful of major categories, but there's always plenty going on up and down the list. One story of note: With a win for his special Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium, Elton John reached a made-up status that it's hard not to admire anyway — the EGOT.

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6. A night filled with reunions and familiar faces

At the 75th Emmys, it made sense to do a lot of remembering of the TV of the past. Some of this worked really well, like getting to see old sets (or rough approximations of old sets) or reunions, like the one between Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers. Some of it was a little effortful, like Anderson doing a skit with Dylan McDermott about American Horror Story. But on a generous curve of how "and now, we salute tele

vision!" stuff usually goes, it gets a solid B-plus.

Jazz guitar ‘genius’ Mary Halvorson on cocktails, tarot and making music that combusts

N ew York-based guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson doesn’t have time to hang about. When we speak she’s about to run out the door for a Saturday evening gig at John Zorn’s venue the Stone – and when that’s done she has to be up at 5am for a flight to Chicago for another show. The improvising jazz musician wouldn’t have it any other way. “Going through that period of Covid, I’m feeling very grateful that we are able to play music again and do shows,” she says from her home in Brooklyn. “It’s so gruelling, the travel that we do. We’re in a different city every day, and it’s exhausting. But I don’t even want to complain about it; I’m just grateful to be able to do it. It beats sitting in an office.”

Since bursting on to the creative music scene in 2002, Halvorson has proved one of the most thrilling guitar players of her generation. She’s played with the likes of Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman’s bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Tom Waits’s guitarist Marc Ribot and members of Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu. She’s steeped in the jazz guitar tradition yet also versed in the disruptive nature of punk, no wave and noise music.

Her own oeuvre is equally uncontainable. Meltframe, her 2015 solo album of standards, warped the likes of Duke Ellington and Ornette Coleman into weird new shapes. Whether she’s playing in jazz ensembles, indie bands or noise improv, her tone is clean and crystalline, but liable to combust. With her latest, Cloudward, her writing reveals a newfound sense of beauty and clarity. “It signifies this period of optimism and moving forward,” she says. “But it’s also literal, like hey, we’re flying and travelling places again.” Tomeka Reid, cellist and longtime collaborator with Halvorson, says: “I feel like her personality really comes through on Cloudward … her sensitivity, generosity, care and her subtle humour.”

Halvorson started playing violin in second grade, but on hearing Jimi Hendrix for the first time she switched to guitar. She intended to study biology at Wesleyan University, but her muse kept beckoning to her. Thanks in part to two professors there, Anthony Braxton and experimental jazz guitarist Joe Morris, her focus reverted back to the guitar. “With both Joe and with Anthony, there was a lot of emphasis on exploring, taking risks, and finding your own voice,” she told one interviewer.

‘Often quirky’ … Halvorson in concert with Sylvie Courvoisier at the Berlin Jazzfest last year. Photograph: Imago/Alamy

In the early 2000s, Halvorson landed on the New York new music scene, where adaptability was necessary to survive. She would take just about any gig: avant-indie band People, chamber-jazz with violist Jessica Pavone, performances with her old professor Braxton, not to mention leading her own groups. And no matter the band, her singular style stood out. Zorn once described her as “a brilliant soloist with a unique, often quirky approach and a beautiful guitar tone that reaches back to tradition”.

Yet it’s tradition with a sharp edge to it, as her solos can turn volatile and startling in a flash. “I’m an optimistic person by nature, but I’m always drawn towards darker music,” she says. Her playing and composing reflect that dichotomy.

In 2019, Halvorson was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the “genius” grant, though soon the global pandemic brought life as a globetrotting player to a screeching halt. After her hectic touring life, Halvorson saw it as some much needed downtime and delved into all manner of new hobbies: practising yoga, studying tarot, learning how to make cocktails and watching basketball. “There was no real deadline or timeframe and that did feel different for me,” she told We Jazz Magazine about her life during the pandemic. She also began to write for her recently formed sextet, as well as a string quartet, which eventually yielded 2021’s ambitious Amaryllis and Belladonna albums. These twin albums were just as spiky and nervy as her previous works, but also offered moments of gentle beauty, like blooms in a cactus garden.

Cloudward represents yet another shift: “It’s the total opposite [of previous work] in terms of my headspace when I was writing it,” says Halvorson. “My tendency before was to overwrite. The biggest change I made consciously was to leave a lot more space and breath.” In the past, she might have augmented her group or formed a new band altogether, but she loved the sextet responsible for Amaryllis so much that she kept it intact. That continuity and stability is audible in Cloudward. The track Unscrolling moves at an unhurried pace, propelled by bowed bass and skilled cymbal work. And the elegant intertwining melodies of closer Ultramarine suggest an innate understanding of how her band works together.

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You can hear the Mary Halvorson of the past and present collide on The Tower. Named after the card in the tarot deck, “it represents a time of upheaval, but it’s not a negative card. Sometimes everything has to blow up and then you start over.” The opening minute is scratchy and frantic, before the ballad emerges and the piece lifts to a calmer place. Looking back on the past four years, Halvorson sees that the piece and album as a whole reflect the chaos of the pandemic. “Music can be almost an escape from that. You can lose yourself in music for a minute. It’s healing for people,” she says, although she’s quick to clarify: “But being optimistic musically and being optimistic about the state of the world are totally different categories!”

Playing the Black Magic Woman bass cover requires good technique and a strong sense of timing. It includes a mix of picked and fingerstyle playing, as well as some slides and hammer-ons. The bassist must also be able to navigate between different octaves on the neck of the instrument to create variation and add musical interest. Overall, the Black Magic Woman bass cover is a fun and challenging piece to learn and play. It showcases the bassist's ability to groove, lock in with the rhythm section, and add a unique flavor to a well-known song. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced player, mastering this bass cover will undoubtedly impress and entertain..

Reviews for "Mastering the groove of "Black Magic Woman" on bass"

1. John - 2/5 - I was really disappointed with this "Black magic woman bass cover". The bassist failed to capture the essence of the original song and added unnecessary embellishments that didn't fit the overall vibe. The timing was also off in several parts, which made it difficult to enjoy the performance. Overall, I prefer the original version much more and wouldn't recommend this cover to other fans of the song.

2. Emily - 3/5 - While the "Black magic woman bass cover" had its moments, I found it to be quite mediocre. The bassist lacked the passion and energy that is required to truly bring this song to life. The tone of the bass was also a bit harsh and didn't blend well with the other instruments. It's not the worst cover out there, but I wouldn't actively seek it out either.

3. Alex - 2/5 - This "Black magic woman bass cover" didn't do justice to the original song. The bass player seemed to be playing the same repetitive riff throughout the entire cover, which became boring and monotonous after a while. The lack of creativity and originality was disappointing. I expected more from this cover, but unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations.

4. Sarah - 1/5 - I was highly unimpressed with this "Black magic woman bass cover". The bassist clearly lacked the technical skills required to play the song accurately. The timing was all over the place and there were several missed notes throughout the performance. It sounded like a beginner trying to play a complex song without fully mastering the basics. Overall, it was a major letdown and I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a quality bass cover.

5. Michael - 2/5 - I found the "Black magic woman bass cover" to be quite underwhelming. The bassist didn't bring any unique interpretation to the song and instead just tried to mimic the original bassline. There was no personal touch or creativity in the performance. It felt like a generic attempt at covering a classic song, and I was left craving for something more exciting and innovative.

A beginner's guide to playing the black magic woman bass cover