What guitar does Tom Hamilton play in "Sweet Emotion" ?

[Aerosmithfreak]

It sounds like a music man or t bird but in an interview he says he loves his Sadowsky but the bassge always plays with Sweet Emotion is cherry red and has a curved tip on the left side.

[silky smoove]

I'm guessing the bass you've seen him playing on Sweet Emotion is his F-Bass, but I doubt he had that at the time the song was recorded.

Just thought about it again and he's been seen with a Parker Fly bass a few times and as I recall his is red like you described. He definitely wasn't playing that one at the time of the recording.

Thought about it some more, and you mentioned a Stingray or a T-Bird. Those are two very different sounding basses. What lead you to those two conclusions?

[JimmyM]

no idea what bass he used on the recording but he pretty much sounds like that no matter what bass i've seen him use on it since.

[Dethrats]

wrong forum -.- try the bass section

[Sundogue]

In the early years Tom said he played nothing but a Precision and I do believe that was his only bass until after "Toys in the Attic".

Still, does it really matter?

And does it warrant a thread in the Amp section?

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by Sundogue

In the early years Tom said he played nothing but a Precision and I do believe that was his only bass until after "Toys in the Attic".

I doubt that, it's not like he couldn't afford it. He may have preferred P basses, but on more than a few occasions he practically begged me to sell him my '65 Jazz, which I eventually pawned in '75.

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

I doubt that, it's not like he couldn't afford it. He may have preferred P basses, but on more than a few occasions he practically begged me to sell him my '65 Jazz, which I eventually pawned in '75.

I'm just going off recalling his interviews. It's entirely possible they didn't quote him accurately, he was smokin' too much, he didn't care what his answers were..or I was smokin' too much when I read them, or don't recall all that well what I read.

I was a big fan of his. Perhaps you could ask him and get back to us?

[62Jazzbass]

Every picture I have seen of Tom from the 70's has had him playing a P or a Stingray. That's not to say he never played others, particularly in the studio where he could have brought in others that he owned and/or played studio owned or rented instruments.

Happy to not help at all! ;-)

[billfitzmaurice]

Originally Posted by Sundogue

I'm just going off recalling his interviews. It's entirely possible they didn't quote him accurately, he was smokin' too much, he didn't care what his answers were..or I was smokin' too much when I read them, or don't recall all that well what I read.

I was a big fan of his. Perhaps you could ask him and get back to us?

I haven't seen Tom, or Stevie, since the 70s. I last saw Joe around '85.

[Sundogue]

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

I haven't seen Tom, or Stevie, since the 70s. I last saw Joe around '85.

Bummer. I really wanted to know.

I realize one could get that tone through a variety of basses and other gear, but I could always nail it with my P-bass whenever we covered it. Not so much with other basses.

Just curious.

[CDweller]

I'd bet it's a Precision on "Sweet Emotion". Got that P sound at its core, even if it was run through some effects.

[greenboy]

More interesting is what brand and size of marimba was used.

[MoireBass]

Well, it wasn't a Sadowsky, F-Bass, Stingray, or Parker Fly, because those basses didn't exist yet when 'Sweet Emotion' was recorded in 1974. It's difficult to hear the tonal character of the instrument anyway due to the thick flanging applied (at least on the intro).

Here's another data point, which may or may not be significant: Inside the 'Toys In The Attic' sheet music book from 1975, there are individual band member pictures, they appear to be playing at a concert. In the pic, Tom is playing a sunburst Jazz bass with white pickguard, thumb rest removed, right thumb anchored on the E string in front of the bridge pickup, playing finger-style on the A string. I don't have the TitA CD, but might the sound be that of a Jazz bass using mostly the neck pickup? That can sound fairly similar to a P-Bass if the treble is rolled off, which the flanging does.

[AztecViking]

From Wikipedia...

Instruments

Hamilton has used a wide variety of bass guitars over Aerosmith's career. He has stated in several interviews that his first bass was a Fender Precision that he borrowed and later bought from a friend. During the early years of Aerosmith and the time after their reformation he often used a Music Man bass, a Fender Precision Bass, a Fender Jazz Bass, or a Gibson Thunderbird.

Those basses listed would be consistent with what was available basswise in the early to mid 70's when Sweet Emotion was recorded. It seems lots of pictures from that era show him using the Thunderbird live but that doesn't also mean he also used it in the studio for Sweet Emotion. But he easily could have.

The red bass he's sometimes seen playing in more recent years is a Parker Fly bass but no way was that thing around in the mid 70's. I don't know the history of Ken Parker's hand built basses but I associate them with the mid 90's. I know they did not tend to be inexpensive though. To me that's not an attractive instrument at all but that's just a personal taste issue.

If you want to research it further run down a copy of BASS PLAYER magazine from March 1996 which has an Interview with Hamilton. I did see an online used book seller that had it at eCrater.co.uk.

[greenboy]

It's not even entirely uncommon to track a single song with more than one instrument.

There is some marimba stuff in there, BTW ; }

[MoireBass]

Originally Posted by AztecViking

During the early years of Aerosmith and the time after their reformation he often used a Music Man bass, a Fender Precision Bass, a Fender Jazz Bass, or a Gibson Thunderbird.

Those basses listed would be consistent with what was available basswise in the early to mid 70's when Sweet Emotion was recorded.

Sweet Emotion was released April 1975, so would have been recorded no later than sometime in 1974 (the record labels took a lot longer to manufacture and ship vinyl records back then). The first Stingrays were introduced in late 1976, and there probably weren't any early SR prototypes floating around until Leo Fender's non-compete agreement w/ Fender ran out in 1975.

[poorbassist15]

To me it sounds like a Jazz Bass. Oh, and, wrong forum.