RIP Taiji Sawada (ex-Loudness, ex-X)

[mjcantor]

A great bassist from Japan, Taiji Sawada, died today. He played in Loudness and X-Japan for a good deal of time, and had some very memorable basslines. One of my favorite basslines of his was "Xclamation," which was a similar note progression to Roundabout by Yes, but double thumbed a la Victor Wooten. RIP.

[UnfortunateTony]

No way... One of my best gig memories was seeing Loudness. "YOU PEOPLE PARTY TONIGHT WITH ROUDNESS!!!!!!!!" (No racism or anything intended)

[Windreaper]

Yup, sad to see him go. I definitely consider the guy a huge influence in my playing. He could write very nice, melodic basslines that didn't clash with the overall arrangement (as opposed to playing root 1/8 notes all the time). Playing some early X songs really helped my pick playing a lot.

[almightycrunch]

No, they said when they opened up for Motley Crue, "Owwww you peeepo weddy for motweee cwooooooooooo?"

[peledog]

RIP

[ToshiZ]

R.I.P.

He had been first idol bassist to me in my youth.

[Dr. Cheese]

How old was he? RIP.

[ToshiZ]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

How old was he? RIP.

45

[Stealth]

I just listened to Xclamation and I'm stunned. Shame to see such a skilled bassist go.

[pica]

He was taken off life support after a failed suicide attempt. He allegedly assaulted a female member of a Delta flight crew.