Bill Wyman

[GlennW]

Originally Posted by EddieN

I caught the tail end of some cheesy show on PBS called, I think, The British Beat. A mix of old clips and a new multi-band show featuring sixties bands where there's prolly just one or two guys from the original band (& most of 'em lesser acts to begin with, Chad & Jeremy, that sorta stuff). Anyway...

...they get to the end credits where first it says "Dedicated to the memory of John Lennon & George Harrison...Thanks for the music John, Paul, George & Ringo."

Page two of credits, "Dedicated to the memory of Brian Jones...Thanks for the music Mick, Keith, Brian, Charlie & Ron."

Bill Wyman might be the Rodney Dangerfield of bass

[EddieN]

Originally Posted by GlennW

Bill Wyman might be the Rodney Dangerfield of bass

Ah yes, The Search Function. Good Ol' Searchy. Sorry. And your quotes are more accurate too as I was going from memory.

[The Golden Boy]

I love 7.5 year old threads!

Let me preface this:
It's often said 'there's Beatles guys and Stones guys;' I'm a "Beatles guy." I like the Stones, but it's not really my style. I prefer Beatles songs, and I greatly prefer McCartney. IMO he's the perfect bass player. He's the reason I started playing music, and playing bass.

Last year I took a job in a Stones "tribute" band and I had to learn a large chunk of the Stones' catalog. The guy that hired me had played in a couple of projects with me, and seen me perform dozens of times- he told me to learn the songs, but play them like myself (which, I would imagine, is a tremendous compliment) and things would come together in the middle. The other thing he told me is that I should follow the "Keith" parts, not the drums.

My first impression is there is so much space in Wyman's playing- and the songs. My natural instinct is to fill that space. If you fill that space- it sounds wrong. I'm not a very "notey" or "busy" player, but IMO the hardest thing about playing Stones songs is fighting the natural tendency to fill space. The rhythm and groove come- it's about maintaining your fluidity with playing such sparse parts.

As I grow more familiar with the songs, the more I find myself playing them more like Wyman. Not because "that's how Bill Wyman played it," but because that's how the song makes sense.

Playing with this band has been the single biggest learning experience for me since learning to play in a rock trio format.

Another thing that was really different was bass tone. I've ALWAYS used a bright, "ring-y" tone. My Jazz bass and G&L L-2000 have been my go-to basses for over 10 years. I brought my Jazz to the audition- but that was far too bright- even with the tone rolled off, it was too "present" (and there were old strings on there at the time). I remember pics of Wyman with short scale basses, and hollow bodied basses- I had an idea of where to go. My main bass for several years was my old Thunderbird. But it's been mostly sitting in it's case since I got the Jazz. The T-Bird never sounded the way I wanted it to- but I could see that this is the type of thing that suits the tone of the T-Bird. No, it's not short scale, but it's got this low middy thing going on without the "presence" of a Fender style bass.

While I was thinking about the whole Wyman Bass Tone thing, one thing intrigued me about those 60s basses- the mutes. You can hear the fast decay on a lot of the mid Beatles stuff- presumably, that's the mute on the Rick. Watching the Beatles "Revolution" clip- it's Paul playing the first Hofner, with a huge chunk of foam directly in front of the bridge. I decided to give that a shot on the T-Bird. I cut a chunk out of an old neoprene mouspad and it fit really nicely under the strings, but on top of the bridge. While it's not a sound that I would like for much of what I would normally do-it's absolutely perfect for doing the Stones thing.





One of these days I'll get the nerve to actually use my first bass- a 1971 EB-0- for this project. After 20+ years of trying to get it to sound like something else- it has a usable tone, and this would suit this instrument perfectly. There's two problems with that- first, that bass is UGLY. I got it when I was a kid and I've pummelled the crap out of it- different bridges, different pickups, let loose with a Dremel tool... Secondly, the headstock has been broken off at least 5 times (though I've never been the one to break off the headstock) so I'm kind of worried about reliability.

[GlennW]

Originally Posted by EddieN

Ah yes, The Search Function. Good Ol' Searchy. Sorry. And your quotes are more accurate too as I was going from memory.

I didn't like they way they forgot Bill either. I'm glad someone else noticed.

[sedan_dad]

I was so glad to see this thread.
I admire Wyman a great deal.
He always have been my idea of a great player not for so much what he plays but rather what he doesn't.
The absence of notes in the right places make the drums POP.
I love this approach to bass playing.
With a solid drummmer it's pure heaven.

[Jeff K]

To follow up on the Ron Wood as bassist thing, if I remember the story correctly, Bill Wyman came in late one day. Ron was playing bass. After the song, he said, "So, Bill, whaddaya think?" Wyman, because he thinks Ron plays too busy, says, "Bloody 'orrible! Where's the BASS?!"

Then one day, I think they were messing around with "Satisfaction", and Keith hit a wrong chord. Bill says, "No, Keith, that should be an 'E' there". Keith gets a bit irritated and says, "I should know, I wrote the f***ing song!" Bill says, "Maybe so, but it should be an 'E'". Keith hits an "E", and says, "Oh yeah, you're right." It made me laugh because I could just picture Keith, being in a drug and/or alcohol stupor, making such a mistake, even though it was his own song.

[James Hart]

I've been in a Stones mood all week.... I've got "Sticky Fingers", "Some Girls", "Goat's Head Soup", "Emotional Rescue", "Let it Bleed", "Tattoo You" and "Undercover" all mixed up on random since the weekend

[57pbass]

You must give Get Yer Ya Yas Out...Live at Madison Square Garden..

There are a few great tracks on that collection..

[BigSwami]

Originally Posted by sedan_dad

I was so glad to see this thread.
I admire Wyman a great deal.
He always have been my idea of a great player not for so much what he plays but rather what he doesn't.
The absence of notes in the right places make the drums POP.
I love this approach to bass playing.
With a solid drummmer it's pure heaven.

+1000. Great comment! Everyone agrees that Charlie Watts is one of the best drummers in the history of rock music, but not enough people give Bill Wyman the credit for providing just enough bump to expose that sickeningly ontime backbeat.

[silvertone]

What a strange thumb posture? But the results were great...

[silvertone]

Nuff said...

[GlennW]

I think Bill got the Mustang around the time of "Jumpin' Jack Flash". I'd imagined Keith saying something like "Bill, you're in one of the two highest paid bands in the world, the Framus has got to go" (not to imply Bill cared what Keith or anyone else thought) and then he got the Mustang. I know he prefers smaller basses, but always thought it was kind of cool how he played what he wanted.

[Deluge Of Sound]

Originally Posted by nysbob

Very very possible. If you listen to some of those old tracks you'll hear some pretty interesting tuning on the guitars as well.

There is one old Stones track that comes as close to totally disintegrating as anything I've ever heard that actually was released. Check out "I'm Free" - all of it.

"The Singer Not the Song" is pretty interesting too. Not a bad tune, but the tuning is dreadful. Andrew Oldham must have been napping during that one.

That's part of the awesomeness of The Stones though, that ramshackle vibe where it seems like only one or two of them actually know whats going on during any given song. But somehow, it all works. At least, most of the time.

[yellerstang]

I love Bill Wyman's playing. I think the term "rubbery" is a great desription of his playing style. Hearing the band now with Darryl Jones only helps to spotlight Wyman's unique contribution to the band's sound.

I do think "Tattoo You" has the best tracks for dissecting his style, as for once he's further up in the mix, and the album's got a very bright, clean sound.

"Start me Up", "Worried about You", and "Tops" are all great examples. His rhythms appear to be shadowing the rhythm of Jagger's vocal at times....perhaps that's a big part of that off-kilter groove that defines the Stones?

I'm curious about the foam pad next to the bridge? Just how does this affect the sound?