Stuart Hamm - one bass band!

SamJ · #1 07-22-2006, 06:41 PM

I like the second half a lot better than the first.

The first half is chords, and sounds nice, but nothing extraordinarily difficult, but nevertheless impressive; the second half does some really cool slap style.

Has a bit of a country sound to it at times..

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...2527992&q=bass

btw.. he's playing on a Fender Custom bass made by one of the same guys making mine... so maybe some of his "mojo" will rub off on me... NOT!

IgnorantBxt · #2 07-22-2006, 06:51 PM

Great Solo

Akami · #3 07-22-2006, 08:55 PM

So musical, I love his playing.

MrDuncan · #4 07-23-2006, 01:29 AM

Wow!! Sets the standard a little high.

Baryonyx · #5 07-23-2006, 05:04 AM

That last part is part of "Country Music (a night in Hell)" off his first album, "Radio Free Albemuth". if you liked that, prepare to be blown away by the actual track, it's about 10 times better (and that album, as with all of his first three, feature that delicious Kubicki tone!). Buy it!

And yes, that bass is "Mel", one of his Cutom Urge II's. All of the Urge II's he plays have been hand built by Todd Krause. It's funny to think, but stu doesn't actually play the "off the rack" basses, but instead plays handcrafted beauties!

Still, he sounded better on the Kubicki imo!

Jazz Ad · #6 07-23-2006, 05:13 AM

Well he played this very same solo at each and every Satriani concert for the last 15 years so he certainly had time to perfect it.

Baryonyx · #7 07-23-2006, 05:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

Well he played this very same solo at each and every Satriani concert for the last 15 years so he certainly had time to perfect it.

Well, it wasn't that solo exactly, but it feautres some of the component parts. For instance, the chordal piece at the start is Joe Satriani's tune "Love Thing". Stu just took tranposed it for bass. However, Country Music has featured in just about every solo he has done, as it's such a crowd pleaser. Moonlight Sonata is also a popular one, and Stu has used that plenty live. Also, Stu has used parts of tunes like "Sexually Actve" and "Count Zero" to bridge the gaps between largers sections of his solos. Other things that he has played in his solos inslude the Star Trek Theme for a laugh and The Beatles "Abbey Road".

And before you ask, yes, Country Music is a re-write of Earl Scrugg's Foggy Mountain Breakdown. And hey, it works brilliantly on bass!

BrandonBass · #8 07-23-2006, 08:06 AM

whats the name of the part that starts at around 0:48?

SamJ · #9 07-23-2006, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris2112

Still, he sounded better on the Kubicki imo!

it's been since the late 80's since he's played one of those... I agree with Stu btw, the Urge sounds better

Baryonyx · #10 07-23-2006, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamJ

it's been since the late 80's since he's played one of those... I agree with Stu btw, the Urge sounds better

Actually, he stopped using them in the early 90's

And as good as the Urge Basses sound, you now you're gonna need a lot of $$$ before you can get one like his. Mind you, it irritates me that Stu uses them now, and is contractually obliged to stay with them. His tone is quite a bit "blander" than it was back in the early 90's. Mind you, according to someone who nows Stu, the Kubickis still get a lot of playing at home! You can see he'll never leave them behind as one of his first Kubickis is pictured inside of the Outbound booklet.

It annoys me when a musician must compromise on quality because of contractual obligation

SamJ · #11 07-23-2006, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris2112

Actually, he stopped using them in the early 90's

And as good as the Urge Basses sound, you now you're gonna need a lot of $$$ before you can get one like his. Mind you, it irritates me that Stu uses them now, and is contractually obliged to stay with them. His tone is quite a bit "blander" than it was back in the early 90's. Mind you, according to someone who nows Stu, the Kubickis still get a lot of playing at home! You can see he'll never leave them behind as one of his first Kubickis is pictured inside of the Outbound booklet.

It annoys me when a musician must compromise on quality because of contractual obligation

He could walk away from them tomorrow.. trust me there are no contracts with Fender that bind anything.. Many a Fender endorsed artist plays other instruments in public.. it's entirely Stuart's choice to play Fender. If he's getting discounts for public appearances, that's fine, but it's not something he can't walk away from.

Tomorrow he can kick them to the curb and go to Gibson, or whom ever.

Alvaro Martín Gómez A. · #12 07-23-2006, 10:28 PM

Another Stu/Kubicki fan here. Maybe the CDs aren't a good comparison point since the recording studio can improve so many things, so I suggest to check his instructional videos. Stu's tone on the first one "Slap, Pop And Tap For The Bass" (with the Kubicki) is infinitely superior than on his 2nd ("Deeper Inside The Bass") with the Fender.

BTW, Geddy Lee should return to his Ric.

SamJ · #13 07-23-2006, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alvaro Martín Gómez A.

Another Stu/Kubicki fan here. Maybe the CDs aren't a good comparison point since the recording studio can improve so many things, so I suggest to check his instructional videos. Stu's tone on the first one "Slap, Pop And Tap For The Bass" (with the Kubicki) is infinitely superior than on his 2nd ("Deeper Inside The Bass") with the Fender.

BTW, Geddy Lee should return to his Ric.

I guess Stu and Geddy are both misguided... oh well, could be worse though, they could be choosing a MIA Jazz instead of a custom shop version to play.

Baryonyx · #14 07-24-2006, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alvaro Martín Gómez A.

BTW, Geddy Lee should return to his Ric.

+1! But it's not the Ric for me, I wish Geddy could go back to using his Wal basses! They sounded like a million dollars! Still, I'm happy in a way that Geddy can't return to Wal basses on record, because it preserves the memory of that beautiful period in the 80's when Rush were at their prime and everything was perfect.

threshar · #15 07-24-2006, 07:43 AM

I prefer the urge tone myself - it is fatter and has more low end.

I asked Stu about his kubicki's and he said that while he still likes them he rarely plays them "When you have a bass where everything is 100% custom designed for you.. it is sort of hard to use anything else but that". I'd probably have to agree.

I've owned a Kubicki which I sold (I loved that bass, but I just grew away from it, so I sold it to someone else who now loves it as I did). Then I got an Urge II, which I loved for a year. Then I discovered warwick's, which is what I love now. Who knows what I'll use next year.

As for Stu's solos he almost always ends with country music as it is such a fun tune for the crowds. (When I was at a clinic of his he was playing it and was pretending to fall asleep while doing it). There's a few solos's up on stuarthamm.net that show various things. One from 84 (heavy wanking), one from the engines of creation tour (includes the abbey road part), and another from another satch tour (98 I think) where he goes all out playing fun stuff like love boat, on the road again, bugs bunny, etc.

Stu's best work, imho, is definately the stuff he does with frank gamble & steve smith. The music is just.. wow.

Alvaro Martín Gómez A. · #16 07-24-2006, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris2112

+1! But it's not the Ric for me, I wish Geddy could go back to using his Wal basses! They sounded like a million dollars! Still, I'm happy in a way that Geddy can't return to Wal basses on record, because it preserves the memory of that beautiful period in the 80's when Rush were at their prime and everything was perfect.

Hoping not to derail the thread, I just want to say that while Geddy's Wal tone in the studio is sublime, the live tone isn't that great for me, at least comparing "Exit... Stage Left" with "A Show Of Hands".

Baryonyx · #17 07-24-2006, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by threshar

Stu's best work, imho, is definately the stuff he does with frank gamble & steve smith. The music is just.. wow.

Thats great stuff, but I still prefer his solo stuff, especially the earlier stuff. It's funny, because he says he was spending so much time with Satch in those days that Satch's writing style rubbed off on him, and you can certainly hear it, especially on KOS! Either way, Stu is an absolute legend.

Papersen · #18 07-25-2006, 07:15 PM

I also prefer Stu´s old sound. It´s quite sad to know that he "has" to play his Sig basses by contract. His tone in "Show me what you can do" with Gambale/Smith is sometimes atrocious. I loved his early stuff and own all of his solo records, but this one is sooooo ....

BTW, Chris2112 your knowledge about Stu stuff amazes me. Seems to be you´re a true fan.

About Geddy´s tone: I like his live Wal tone. The note articulation in YYZ is clearer than ever in ASOH.

Tom · #19 07-25-2006, 09:14 PM

I was just working on transcribing that solo last night

. It just sounds great.

I remember when I first started on bass (late 90s), my first major goal was to be able to play his live solo from The Urge, "Quahog's Anyone?" which was pretty different to begin with ("Surely the Best" and "Linus and Lucy"), but also had "Sexually Active" and "Country Music."

SamJ · #20 07-25-2006, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Papersen

I also prefer Stu´s old sound. It´s quite sad to know that he "has" to play his Sig basses by contract. ...

AGAIN, HE DOES NOT HAVE TO.. HE CHOOSES TO! I mean does anyone seriously think Stu Hamm, or the dozens of other Fender endorsed artists couldn't get an endorsement elsewhere? or from multiple places? They're heavy weights and can do what they want.