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The Greatest Bass Line Ever?
Ep 5. Steely Dan

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FREE LESSON BOOK: Steely Dan—”Peg” 02

The Greatest Bass Line Ever?

Ep 5. “Peg”

There are certain bass lines that are just

seared into our collective musical memory, and
in this video Ian Allison picks another of his
favourites, tipping his hat to the great Chuck
Rainey in this 1977 classic by Steely Dan. What
iconic bass lines rock your world? Let us know
in the comments!

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FREE LESSON BOOK: Steely Dan—”Peg” 03

“Peg”
album Aja (1977)
single released November 1977

Peg is taken from Steely Dan’s 1977 album ‘Aja’ and was written
by core members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The song
was a big hit in the US, and is an excellent tune to learn for
anyone who wants to expand their knowledge of harmony.
Completing the all star lineup is Michael McDonald on backing
vocals, and LA session guitarists Jay Graydon and Steve Khan.

Not your standard 4 chord pop song, the easiest way to learn
this song is to break it up into sections, and that’s exactly what
we’ll do here. First, let’s take a look at the chords that are played
in the introduction.

continued

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FREE LESSON BOOK: Steely Dan—”Peg” 04

Intro
YouTube - 02:36

Peg begins with a descending chord progression with Chuck

Rainey and drummer Rick Marotta locking in from beat one of
the groove. The intro starts on the tonic chord of Gmaj9, before
moving to a rather unusual F#7#9 chord. Other ear-catching
moments include the trademark Rainey double-stop slides.

Essentially, what we have here is a repeating pattern of

the tonic chord followed by a series of strong sounding V-I
cadences, which is a common songwriting technique in jazz.
Peg features a number of unusual jazz chords thanks to Fagan
and Becker’s shared jazz backgrounds.

Gmaj7 F#7 F E7
œ #w
œ œ
?#
w w n˙ œ w
14 13

¤
5 12
3 2 1 0

Eb D7 C G/B C G
5
nw w
? # bw w j j
œ. ≈ œ ‰ œ ˙ œ. ≈ œ ‰ œ ˙

12 11

¤ 11 10
3 3 2 3 3
3

continued

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FREE LESSON BOOK: Steely Dan—”Peg” 05

Verse
YouTube - 03:20

The first verse starts immediately after that juicy chord

progression in the intro, with three snare hits kicking things off.
The form is fundamentally a blues progression with a couple of
twists. Chuck plays a super-tight groove with a careful balance
of long and short notes. Harmonically, the line is simpler than it
might seem, but each note is performed with the utmost care
and precision.

C G C G C G C G
?# œ ≈ œ ‰ C Gj C Gj C Gj C Gj
œ ≈ ‰ œ ≈ ‰ œ ≈ ‰ œ
? # œ. ≈ œ ‰ œj œ œj œœ œ œœ. ≈ œœ ‰ œj œ œj œœ œ œœ. ≈ œœ ‰ œj œ œj œœ œ œœ. ≈ œœ‰ œj œ jœ œœ œ
j j j j
. œ œœ . œ œœ . œ œœ . œ œœ

¤ 3 3 5 3 3 5 3 3 5 3 3 5

¤
3 5 7 3 5 7 3 5 7 3 5 7
3 3 5 3 3 5 3 3 5 3 3 5
3 5 7 3 5 7 3 5 7 3 5 7

F C F C G C G
5
5? #
. nœ.
F
≈ œ ‰ œj œ œ nFœ.. ≈ œ ‰
Cj j
œ œj
Cj
œj
j
œ œj œ
œ œ ≈ œ ‰ G j j œ Cœ ≈ œ ‰ G j j œ
? # nœ ≈ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ nœ ≈ œ ‰ œ œ œ œ
œ œ. ≈ œ ‰ œj œ œj œ œ œ. ≈ œ ‰ œj œ jœ œ œ
œ œœ œ œ œœ œ
œ
. .

¤
3 3 5 3 3 5
3 5 7 3 5 7 3 3 5 3 3 5

¤
3 3 5 3 3 5 3 5 7 3 5 7
3 5 7 3 5 7 3 3 5 3 3 5
3 5 7 3 5 7

G D F C
œ ¿ œ ¿ j
? # œ. ≈ œ D
‰ œ œ
j
œ œ œ nœ. F ≈ œ ≈ œ œ Cœ œ œ
œ
9
9? # œ
. œ J D j œ œ nF.œ. œ ‰ Cœjj œ œj œ œ
. ≈ œ ‰ œ œ œj ≈
?# œ ≈ ‰ œJ œ 
œ œ œ nœ ≈ œ ‰ œ œ œj œ œ
J 7 X 5

¤
5 5 7 3 3 5 X 5
5 7 9 3 5 7

¤
5 5 7 3 3 5
5 7 9 3 5 7
¤
5 5 7 3 3 5
5 7 9 3 5 7

11
G C G
3 j
?# œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œj œ œ œ œ œ œ
Ϫ
j ‰
œ œ

¤
5 7 5 5 5 5 7 5
7 7 5 7 7 5
3 3 3

continued

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FREE LESSON BOOK: Steely Dan—”Peg” 06

Chorus
YouTube - 09:02

The chorus begins with a diatonic IV-I-II-VI chord progression

in the key of G. It actually starts out with the same chords as
the verse, before moving to the relative minor (Em). A generous
layer of bass slapping permeates throughout.

Despite being told not to slap at the start of the session, Chuck
somehow found a way to sneak it in without anyone noticing!

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
?# œ œ¿ ¿ œ œ¿
œœ ¿¿ œ œ œ œ œ ¿ œ œ œ œœ ¿¿ œ
T P T ¿P T T ¿P T ¿ P T P T ¿P T ¿ P T ¿P T T ¿ P T
5 5 4 5 5 4

¤
7 7 X
3 3 X 0 2 X X 2 2 3 3 X 0 2 X X 2
5 5 0 X 0 3

4 bœ œ œ
?# œ œ œ œ
¿ œ œ bœ œ œ œ œ ¿ ¿ œ
œ œ œ œ ¿ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ
T ¿ P T P T ¿ P T ¿ P T P T T ¿P T ¿ P T P T T
6 6 5

¤
7 7 X 5 5
2 3 4 4 3 X X 3 0 1
5 5 0 X 0 3 3 2 2

7
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
?# œ œ œ œ Œ Ó
nœ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ #œ
T ¿ P T P T T ¿ P T P T ¿ T ¿
4 4 7 9 7

¤
7 7
2 2 5 5 5 3
0 0 3 4 5 5

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FREE LESSON BOOK: Steely Dan—”Peg” 07

Submit Your Nominations

As part of our ‘Greatest Bass Line Ever’ series, we’re asking YOU to submit your nominations
for the most memorable bass line ever.

And we’re not just talking pure technical skill here; it’s as much about who wrote the catchiest
bass riff, played the smoothest lick or made the greatest contributions to the song. A whole
range of genres, techniques and tones can come into play, and we want to hear from YOU.

So, what makes a memorable bass line? Let’s find

out! Leave your vote in the comments section below
this video on YouTube.

leave a comment

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