Moderator: Andrew
tj wrote:Basic Bass playing is perhaps the easiest instrument to pick up. No chords, intricate rythyms, just one note at a time for the most part...
strangegrey wrote:That impresses me 100 times over than anything that fucking nostrile-face dickwad canadian Geddy Lee could EVER do.
conversationpc wrote:strangegrey wrote:That impresses me 100 times over than anything that fucking nostrile-face dickwad canadian Geddy Lee could EVER do.
Nah...I love Lee's playing. He's my favorite on the instrument and I don't think he necessarily over-complicates things. A bassist like Ross just wouldn't work in Rush and vice-versa.
strangegrey wrote:Anyone can wank like Geddy Lee...thats the least impressive thing about bassists....Rush's music is tailored around his playing. Geddy in another context, doesn't work (unless Geddy tailors his playing to the context and not the other way around).
I lose alot of respect for a bassist that can't seem to get it through their skull that the pocket is where they do their job.....Geddy Lee is a good example of such a bassist.
http://www.weizmann.ac.il/home/comartin/rush.html
Q: What makes Rush greater than the sum of of its parts?
A: Unbelievably tight ensemble playing, for one. Many prog-rock outfits (Dream Theater being the most obvious exception) sound like everybody is soloing through each other, and many hard rock outfits like the rest of the band is just backing for the singer and the lead guitarist. None of that with Rush. Musical complementarity in every respect is matched by deep and lasting personal friendships.
ProgRocker53 wrote:Just got a bass and all the needed extras/accessories....
What are some fun and easy melodic/classic/prog rock songs to play as a beginner? Also, what are some good sites/DVDs/books I can get into that will help me with bass playing/music theory/composition?
stevew2 wrote:Bass may be easy to play,but if it goes out on a gig ,the rest of the band feels like there dick just fell out of there BVDs I ve experienced this first hand. You can go with out keys and guitar,lose the bass and drums you are "unplugged" ;Unless it is planned that way,the band looks like shit with no bass or drums.
Rick wrote:stevew2 wrote:Bass may be easy to play,but if it goes out on a gig ,the rest of the band feels like there dick just fell out of there BVDs I ve experienced this first hand. You can go with out keys and guitar,lose the bass and drums you are "unplugged" ;Unless it is planned that way,the band looks like shit with no bass or drums.
Excellent analogy.
conversationpc wrote:strangegrey wrote:Anyone can wank like Geddy Lee...thats the least impressive thing about bassists....Rush's music is tailored around his playing. Geddy in another context, doesn't work (unless Geddy tailors his playing to the context and not the other way around).
I've been a Rush fan for quite a while now and I've never gotten the impression that their music is tailored around his playing. It's really tailored around the talents of the entire band. The only argument you could possibly make in this area is that the music is tailored around Geddy AND Neil's playing. Even then, their entire catalogue is full of great stuff by Lifeson as well. The only album that I might say was tailored around Lee would be "Power Windows", which is consequently, one of their hidden gems, in my opinion.
conversationpc wrote:I lose alot of respect for a bassist that can't seem to get it through their skull that the pocket is where they do their job.....Geddy Lee is a good example of such a bassist.
Geddy Lee is a good example of a bassist that breaks the mold and does something a little different from the mold, rather than a guy like Michael Anthony, for example. Not a bad player and I really like the guy, but he could stand to be a LITTLE more adventurous. Then again, with bulbous heads like EVH's and DLR's, that probably wasn't an option.
conversationpc wrote:Anyway, I love this attitude about how certain instruments should only do certain things within a band context. Isn't rock 'n roll supposed to be all about breaking the rules?
strangegrey wrote:In fact, the only band that comes to mind, with a bass player that wanks....without the need for additional ochesttral help...Is Mr Big. Billy Sheehan is all over the place....and you don't really see Paul Gilbert covering his ass. Reason. Because even when Billy plays up on the neck, he's STILL in the pocket. He's probably the most gifted bassist in the world...he can keep a band totally in the pocket on the 14th fret of his bass. He's that good....
The analogy by stevew2 is perfectly stated in that when a bassist decides to forget about the pocket to become a self serving soloist fuckwad, he does so at the expense of the rest of the band....when a bass player leaves the pocket, the whole fucking thing, the song, the other players, even the drumer, gets completely lost. A sign of a good band, is one that is able to recover from a bassist being a fuckwad. In fact, Bon Jovi, prior to Hugh MacDonald joining them for live shows, was a good example. They kept Alec Such so low in the mix that you didn't notice it....but the rest of the band still had to deal with him...granted he lost the pocket because he technically wasnt very good....not because he tried to be a guitarist.
-F
strangegrey wrote:Absolutely, the band's music is tailored to Geddy's playing. Look at their recent covers album (ugh, fucking covers albums!!!another thread though)....They took those songs and reworked them to fit into Rush's mold. A HUGE percentage of the Rush mold is Geddy Lee's bass playing...It's unique, I will give you that...and that's the draw to it.
But too many bass players have used Rush as a template for their own music....only to forget that Geddy Lee is a very good bassist that STILL needs bass pedals in play when he gets all "I'm going to be a guitarist now" and does silly stuff up on the neck...
...I stated above that Rush makes heavy use of Bass Pedals in their live performance. That's no accident. They NEED those pedals in there to keep the pocket alive, while Geddy needs to self justify. That's not a good thing in my opinion....because it suggests that when Geddy does decide to wank....they need help because Geddy left the pocket hanging with it's dick in the wind. Same thing goes for Yes. I LOVE squire's playing....but make no mistake, when Squire does what he does, Wakeman, Kaye, Rabin, Sherwood or that Russian guy...or whomever you've seen with the band....is covering Chris's ass while Chris leaves the pocket.
Geddy Lee wrote:"You’re known for using bass pedals quite often. Do you like to play them or would you always play just bass guitar if you could?
It usually seems like the pedals are a last resort, but there are times when I could be playing bass and I opt to play pedals, just because I like the dynamic textural change. On “Show Don’t Tell” [Presto], I could easily play bass guitar during the choruses and trigger other things with my foot, but I really like the way the bottom end of the room opens up with those big pedal notes. Now, with samplers, I can play pedal sounds on the keyboard and I don’t need to use my feet."
The analogy by stevew2 is perfectly stated in that when a bassist decides to forget about the pocket to become a self serving soloist fuckwad, he does so at the expense of the rest of the band....when a bass player leaves the pocket, the whole fucking thing, the song, the other players, even the drumer, gets completely lost.
Regardless....and getting back to the OP. There's ALOT more subtlety to playing bass....and thats what makes a bassist a good bassist....a good friend of mine has been a geddy lee wanna be since I've known him. Another bassist I know, who happens to play for a big name band in MR....calls him 'Groove Killer"....tells you something...
Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 47 guests