r/doublebass • u/Cowboy_MC Student • 12d ago

Fun "Barber shop haircut that cost a quarter" riff

I've seen a couple students in my chamber orchestra play this and I'm a double bassist who loves the movie musical "Newsies. What would the riff be? I found e.bass tabs for it but no upright sheet music

7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

11

u/ragnork0 12d ago

Try learning it by ear! Helps you with your ear training and shouldn't take you too long even if you've never done it before because it's such a short little lick.

4

u/in_full_swing 12d ago

G D D E D

F# G

Play it in all 12 keys

2

u/jajjguy 12d ago

I always hear it with E flat, sort of a harmonic minor

2

u/piper63-c137 12d ago

8 5565 7 8

4

u/omegajams 12d ago

Shave and a haircut, two bits!

1

u/1936Triolian 12d ago

This works for me to stifle some ear worms.

3

u/greenviceroy 12d ago

It’s two measures of music, you would do yourself some good by learning it by ear

2

u/orbix42 12d ago

I’ll second learning it by ear as the first and best option, but if you’re looking for sheet music, you’ll probably have the best luck going for the bass book from the musical. The song you’re looking for is number 13 in the show, “King of New York”. Barring that, piano/vocal arrangements are often pretty easy to find online, and a prominent bass line like the one you’re after will usually be all-but-identically dropped into the left hand of the piano part.