Soundgardens Ben Shepherd!!!

[kynoch]

Ok I have just put a post up about Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam....now I will continue with Ben Shepherd of Soundgarden....What do folks think of His Bass Playing? And I am wondering does he use a pick or fingers?

[zongeek]

Ben is a fantastic player. He always wrote some really good lines to those Soundgarden tunes not to mention the songs he actually wrote and how good they are.

Ben used both his fingers and a pic, but more often than not he played with his fingers.

[these_go211]

there was a thread a few months ago about ben. i totally dig this guy too. i also find it interesting that he uses flatwounds. very cool.

[Pearl_jammin]

he is/was no doubt a great writer, however he strung his bass WAY too low.

Live his tone was quite mediocore because you could hear his strings smacking against his neck/pickups because he would play really aggressivly while his bass was like below his knees!

[Alan Vorse]

Highly underrated player. He played some unorthodox lines which I loved. I mostly remember him playing fingerstyle. I know I learned how to play "Jesus Christ Pose" finger style. Ouch!

Edit:Here's a great clip of him in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gyYKnnRvhc

[bthiemann80]

Dude killer video clip, love the part when Chris flips off the camera when it gets in his face hahaa!!

[StanFan]

Originally Posted by Alan Vorse

Highly underrated player. He played some unorthodox lines which I loved. I mostly remember him playing fingerstyle. I know I learned how to play "Jesus Christ Pose" finger style. Ouch!

Edit:Here's a great clip of him in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gyYKnnRvhc

Man, that IS a low strap !!!

Good clip for showing Ben's stage antics, but Cornell's voice sounds horrible here, although I've never been blown away by his voice in a live setting.

[Coward Of Reali]

I love this guy. He's plays metal but doesnt follow the guitar much at all.

[tekhna]

Originally Posted by Pearl_jammin

he is/was no doubt a great writer, however he strung his bass WAY too low.

Live his tone was quite mediocore because you could hear his strings smacking against his neck/pickups because he would play really aggressivly while his bass was like below his knees!

Wait, what? I am not sure his tone is dictated by his bass position.
Silverburst LP in that Jesus Christ Pose clip. Yummy.

[Halftooth]

Man, I really dig Ben...I was just talking to a buddy about the show we went to when we were like 17 and we were standing in front of Ben when they were playing at the Greek in Berkeley. He busted his E string from playing so hard, mid song, and instead of switching out his bass, he just kept playing on it and even incorporated the busted string's tone into the song!

I've started listening to my old Soundgarden stuff again, and I really forgot how cool of a player Ben was. I also really dug Hater too!

[Vic Winters]

He used Peavey gear? Never knew that. How many 1820 and 2x15 stacks did he have in that video? Talk about a wall of sound.

[Coward Of Reali]

I love his stage presence, I gotta rip that off. Except I'll be playing a extremely low Thunderbird between my legs

[Risor]

never heard anything like Ben's playing - he had very different approach to his bass lines and melody... the best bassman soundgarden could ever hope for...


...and his stage perfrormance is killin'

[L.A. Moore]

Got to see these guys in 96 awsome show!