Billy Sheehan Negative/Positive

[Borrosheehan]

I am a Billy sheehan fan since I first saw him playing addicted to that rush and making a bass vs guitar fight with paul gilbert.
For me billy Sheehan is the greatest bassist in all the world, but I want to know what the rest of the TB community has to say about this Bass god.

SHEEHAN RULES, WISH I COULD SOME DAY PLAY LIKE HIM.
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[Joshua Pickenpaugh]

He's a pretty funny guy, too. I remember that column he used to do for BP years ago. One of the questions to him was "I have a loud anoying pop coming from my amp, any advice?", and Billy's response was "I used to have a loud, anoying pop, too...until my Mom divorced him"! Badda-bing!

[IconBasser]

he he... I thought the same thing when I first saw that video 2 years ago.

After 2 years of practicing, I can shred and fret tap (not exactly like him, but I can keep up just fine)

Believe me, it is a cool feeling that I can solo better and faster than every other guitarist that I know personally.

Don't get discouraged, its tough to get the hang of shredding and such, so don't give up. I remember days when I would angrily put my bass down after hours of practicing thinking,"I suck, I can't do it.." But I kept up and now it comes easy.

[AxtoOx]

New here huh. Search is your friend.
I play guitar and bass, If I want to play like Billy, I'll pick up one of my guitars.
Yeah he's good. Not my style.

[purduebass]

In my top 3 favourite players for sure. I love how he draws influences from so many instruments and applies their techniques to bass. Very funny guy as well.

[fullrangebass]

He is definitely one great bass player (please check all his works esp the Niacin stuff). His approach to groove as well as flashy stuff is what made him well known. Most people jugde him on his tricks, yet fail to look on his support to the songs. I Try to use his approach: to play for the song first and then try to expand and get flashy. He is a great clinician and has a great sense of humor too

[wombatboter]

And he is a really good and clear teacher on his video's ...

[Baryonyx]

Very good player. I've seen him live twice now with Steve Vai and he was excellent on both occasions.

[lowerclef]

Not my style, but I've always thought he's the best rock soloist out there. Completely identifiable style and sound, and he just gets better with age. The stuff he does now is really fantastic.

[StanFan]

I'm fairly neutral towards Sheehan. I neither really like him nor do I dislike him. Sometimes I dig his solos, somedays not so much. He's easily one of the more entertaining bassists on stage and has more stage presence than most players of his skill level.

[strkssinthesky]

Originally Posted by AxtoOx

New here huh. Search is your friend.
I play guitar and bass, If I want to play like Billy, I'll pick up one of my guitars.
Yeah he's good. Not my style.

Ditto, I don't enjoy watching a lot of his solos a lot of it is just wanking

[wheat]

I had the good fortune to interview him recently for Bassplaying.com.

Wheat

[foyos]

i really like him.and thats a nice interview

[bacid]

I had the pleasure of seeing him at G3 '03 with Vai, completely awesome. I love him because in addition to being an awesome player he is so funny, and he knows that he can't sing. I saw an interview with him where he said "I hope you guys buy my new album Compression, but I've got to warn you, I sing on it." Now I'm reading that interview for bassplying.com, and he lists his vocal influences as "Tortured animals, people in debilitating pain, wounded crows, and broken trombones." HAHAH! So true, I have Compression, it's a great album until he starts singing, then it's REALLY hard to listen to. I also saw this video on youtube where he pretended that he had to learn a complex Vai line 15 minutes before the show. He kept pretending to mess up and then changed his clothes so that he looked like his Tech, who then taught him how to play the song. Then he went on stage still unsure of his ability, when he pulled the lick off he looked back all confused as if to say "How did i do that?" Too funny. My signature is my favorite Sheehan quote. The quote came from this interview where he was talking about how irritated he gets when he asks people if they can hear bass, meaning bass frequencies, and they mistake it for the instrument and say yes, when really there is no bass present in the mix. He said he wished all guitars were called trebles so that guitarists would have to put up with the same crap that bassists put up with during soundchecks.

[bassist 4 life]

To All The Billy Sheehan Bashers In The World...