About Geddy Lee's Bass Technique

[cyberfrenzy]

Do you know what makes Geddy's bass parts sound so cool? I mean he is a terrific (and my fav) bass player, but I'm not able to emulate the bass sounds he is making... (I'm just a bass starter though) I'd like to know if there's something about his technique that makes sounds that can just as easily be classified as foreground music as background music....

(Geddy's just one of those musicians who prove that bass isn't a backseat instrument)

[MistaMarko]

Contrary to popular belief, a large part of tone is how you play the instrument. Yes, amps and dials and effects and racks and rigs and heads and cabs play into it, but you can vastly shape a tone by your style.

[Baryonyx]

Jeez, there is a lot to go into regarding Geddy's playing and tone.

One tip though, is to remember that a lot of lines he plays with one finger. Yes, they can be played with 2 but using one finger can often help you get the feel right.

[Thunder_Fingers]

...And he plays REALY hard, he realy dig in.

[artistanbul]

high action, and slap-like attack.

[MikeVQ]

Originally Posted by Chris2112

Jeez, there is a lot to go into regarding Geddy's playing and tone.

One tip though, is to remember that a lot of lines he plays with one finger. Yes, they can be played with 2 but using one finger can often help you get the feel right.

Yeah I noticed that as well, most of his picking is done with the index finger and occassionally I'll see him throw the middle finger in as well. I guess Jamerson was similar?

[Baryonyx]

Yeah, a lot of his stuff is impossible to play with just one finger, but those struggling to get to grips with his stuff might be pleasantly surprised if they try it.

[The Lurker]

Originally Posted by Thunder_Fingers

...And he plays REALY hard, he realy dig in.

+1. Also light strings.

A lot of it's just being Geddy, same as it would be with any other bassist....most of these guys have a lot of stuff in how they play that they might not even be aware of, like how they move between notes and so on.

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Originally Posted by The Lurker

+1. Also light strings.

Read here (from Geddy's bass tech).

Originally Posted by artistanbul

high action

Hmm... I don't think so. On most Rush tracks, you can hear the strings "grinding" the frets, something that hardly happens with high action. Almost any Rush track can serve as an example of this, but the first one that comes to my mind is his solo on "Closer To The Heart" from the live album "Different Stages".

[artistanbul]

yes there is a lot of fret sound but it comes from the power of plucking.
for example a lower action and playing on the fretboard would give that grinding sound with very little effort.

I haven't really checked if he used a high action or low action but, that's why I think that way.

[Baryonyx]

Originally Posted by Alvaro Martín Gómez A.

Read here (from Geddy's bass tech).

Though don't forget that, by his own admission, Geddy used some Rotosound Funkmaster strings on his Wal basses, which were, as he put it "a lighter gauge".

[jgroh]

Originally Posted by MistaMarko

Contrary to popular belief, a large part of tone is how you play the instrument. Yes, amps and dials and effects and racks and rigs and heads and cabs play into it, but you can vastly shape a tone by your style.

+1

I say, study your favorite bassists, cop what you can from their technique and incorporate it into yours, but bottom line: you need your own way of playing.

[Slaphappy]

This thread brought back a funny bass lesson memory...

My teacher was a jazz cat (but he was open to all styles and players in those styles, including Geddy/Rush) who was in his early 40's..and scary as hell and a monster player.

Early on, I was trying to play through one of his typically tough arpeggio exercises, and was plucking like Geddy (mostly with index and assists from middle finger at times). He reached over and thwacked my hand, smiled while he stared at me and said, "Do you think you can play like Geddy Lee? Because unless you are as good as he is, do it like THIS! (showed alternating technique)".

LOL....he never did break me of my weird fingering style, and I still play that way now...very index heavy, medium touch. I don't dig like Geddy does.

[GBGLJE]

I have noticed from watching Rush videos that sometimes he will use the 1st and 2nd finger simultaneously. He attacks the bass about as hard as Geezer Butler but Butler will use all 4 of his fingers individually.

+1 on the Rotosound 66's

[Slaphappy]

THere's a three part interview with Geddy on youtube somewhere, talking about bass. It's recent, ie: Snakes & Arrows.

He plays a couple of basses during the interview, and since he's miked you can hear the bass acoustically as well as the amp. Wow...that's where you can REALLY hear the force of his attack. The same with his backstage warmup stuff on 'Rio' DVD.

[geddeeee]

Geddy's action is not that low, quite high in fact. He's said in an interview, back when he played the Ricky, that to get the sound he wanted he had to have a high action. Probably cos he plays so hard too. A low action and an aggressive playing style would add up to, "Clack, clack clackety clack!!", as the strings bang off the end of the fretboard.
I think it's a personal preference. I have a high-ish action, cos I play hard. Others may get a 'Geddy-like' tone with a lower action and a softer touch....

[jgroh]

Go ask his tech Russ Ryan what his action is set to on his bass. He is great at answering. The thread is linked to above.

[LowEndJazz4Life]

Their is a video of him explaining his signature bass on bassplayer.tv, a website. One thing that he did is sand the varnish off the back of the neck for a slippery feel, altough this could hurt more than help in humid conditions.

[Ric5]

Originally Posted by geddeeee

Geddy's action is not that low, quite high in fact. He's said in an interview, back when he played the Ricky, that to get the sound he wanted he had to have a high action. Probably cos he plays so hard too. A low action and an aggressive playing style would add up to, "Clack, clack clackety clack!!", as the strings bang off the end of the fretboard.
I think it's a personal preference. I have a high-ish action, cos I play hard. Others may get a 'Geddy-like' tone with a lower action and a softer touch....

Geddy set the action higher on his Ric becuse on the Ric he plucked near the neck pickup. So to keep the strings from hitting the pole pieces he raised the action. He uses a lower action on his jazz basses. But the jazz basses that are detuned have the action higher.

[Upslant]

Any takes on what accounts for his often crunchy, chunky attack? Is this just from the hard attack?