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02-18-2004, 12:59 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: London, England | | | What is 'Riding the Rails'?
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So, umm.. What is it?
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"13,000 Guitar stores in the local area, and you had to choose THIS one to pee in?"
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02-18-2004, 01:59 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Grand Rapids, MI | | | I believe that means you're playing at a volume high enough to start to push your amp and possibly create some distortion. Geddy Lee likes to ride the rails.
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02-18-2004, 02:08 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Los Angeles | | I always thought it meant riding on a train......  |
02-19-2004, 02:27 AM
|  | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | I've never heard it used in a musical context in 20 - 30 years of playing and watching music ....I would suspect it was some kind of "drug culture" reference if somebody said it to me? 
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
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02-19-2004, 02:32 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Oxford, UK | | This is like Call My Bluff 
My suggestion, based purely on speculation, is that it means playing a line that moves along the strings rather than across the neck, thus 'riding the rails' (strings) up and down.
Where did you hear the expression. The horse's mouth would be the best place to fathom out this idiom...
Wulf |
02-19-2004, 06:24 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: London, England | | | On here actually. And some other websites I guess. I dunno. It soudns wierd..I thought maybe it was playiing with the string bent to the 'edge' of the fretboard or something..I dunno.
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"13,000 Guitar stores in the local area, and you had to choose THIS one to pee in?"
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02-19-2004, 06:26 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: London, England | | |
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"13,000 Guitar stores in the local area, and you had to choose THIS one to pee in?"
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02-19-2004, 06:56 AM
| | Unprofessional TalkBass Contributor | | Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Brighton, England, UK, Europe | | Well you answered you own question!!
"It sounded best when pushed to the distortion point. I think Dan Elliot from G-K calls this "riding the rails" I'm into tube amps now, but I would pick one up if the price was right."
I've never heard anybody say that over here though - two nations divided by a common language!! 
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“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.”
Charles Mingus |
02-20-2004, 09:43 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Edinboro, PA | | | Truckers on the Interstate have been known to do it on occasion, or so I've been told.
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02-22-2004, 08:35 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Alberta, Canada | | | My guess as to why it would refer to "rails" is that the main power lines in an amp are often called rails, so if you're pushing an output near the rail voltage you'll be "Riding the rails". |
02-25-2004, 05:48 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: South Florida | | | I've always heard "Riding the Rails" was slapping on the edge of the fretboard
maybe i'm thinking of something else
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02-25-2004, 06:43 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2000 Location: Franklin | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Eskimo I believe that means you're playing at a volume high enough to start to push your amp and possibly create some distortion. Geddy Lee likes to ride the rails. | I don't know aboot that, Geddy uses a SansAmp. That's how he gets his distorted sound.
From the Vapor Trails Tour book:
"Avalon U5 Tube Direct box - for that "clean" sound / SansAmp R.B.I. Bass preamp by Tech 21 - for that "dirty" sound/ Palmer-PDI-O5 Speaker Simulator - for that "big bottom" ........3 Maytag dryers (coin operated) ... for that "clean, clean" feeling."  
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"Nothing is prefekt...certaily not me" -Geddy Lee
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02-25-2004, 09:08 AM
| | Registered User
Artist: Bee Basses, JAF Basses, Circle K Strings | | Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Ottawa, Canada | | Quote: |
Originally Posted by StupidMatt Truckers on the Interstate have been known to do it on occasion, or so I've been told. |
I thought it was something to do with pool... |
03-16-2004, 01:49 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: The 'Hill | |
Quote: |
Originally Posted by StupidMatt Truckers on the Interstate have been known to do it on occasion, or so I've been told. | Hehe my thoughts exactly. | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | 
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