How can I make my bass sound like Geddy Lee's?

[floydianrush22]

Hey guys, I have a year's experience on bass. I learned the basics of bass-playing by first playing to Pink Floyd, some Led Zeppelin, and a couple of other songs with simple bass lines.

By the time I had 7 month's experience I decided to learn some harder stuff such as the playings of Rush's Geddy Lee. I have to say that he is one of the few reasons I wanted to learn bass. Now, I can play and still learning Rush songs. While I have somewhat mastered multiple finger-picking and playing sixteenth notes, I have never gotten to make my bass sound like Geddy Lee's. Only close, but not close enough.

I currently play an Ibanez SRX2EX1 bass, and use a Boss Distortion Pedal and a Fender 100 watt amp to 'imitate' Geddy Lee's bass sound. Anyway I can pull off the sound with what I have or do I need to get something else?

[Fliptrique]

You need fresh strings, a heavy handed right hand technique and low action - check out some live videos on youtube to see how geddy plays - his technique is somewhat uncommon. If you dig Geddy`s current tone, a sansamp would also help.

[pigsonthewing]

a geddy lee sig jazz bass would be cool for that, but you don't need it
but it would still be sick

[canshaker]

Move to Canada?

[RickenBoogie]

Geddy sounds like Geddy because of his technique, much more than because of his gear. You will develop your own sound, over time. Imatation is a great form of flattery, but it's not really what your goal should be. Concentrate on learning, and playing your own way.

[line6man]

When i read the title of this thread, the first thing that came to mind was "You can't sound like Geddy Lee, because the tone is in his fingers."

As I'm sure you know, just about any great player can get the tone he wants from any bass. Give Geddy a Jazz bass and he sounds like Geddy. Give Geddy a Rickenbacker, and he'll still sound like Geddy...
I'm not really a Rush fan, but i have seen enough of his playing to know that his tone is not a button you push or a knob you turn, it's all about the way he plays.

[NKBassman]

It's all in the right hand. Pull every note as hard as you can, practice that way for years, and you probably still won't sound like Geddy Lee.

A Sansamp will help though, that's for sure.

[southernrocker]

Knock the hellouta those strings!

[paganjack]

yeah lots of mids and treble, some light grit and then RIP on the strings. the right hand strength is the key. playing a J, or at least using two pickups to get that growl helps too. but as mentioned, it's more in the fingers than in the gear. he sounds like Geddy because he IS Geddy, not because he plays Geddy's bass.

he uses a variety of techniques (as should any good bassist) but that is the main one i think of.

[CapnSev]

His modern tone?

Just rev up a chainsaw.

[sedan_dad]

"How can I make my bass sound like Geddy Lee's? "


Have him play it.

[Eric Perry]

Originally Posted by RickenBoogie

Geddy sounds like Geddy because of his technique, much more than because of his gear...

+1

[Ubersheist]

As stated before, it' 90% in his right hand, hitting the strings really hard. I also hear a bit of compression in a bunch of his recordings - something with a fairly mild ratio, moderately fast attack, and a fairly short release.

[Vakmere]

Go buy all the gear he has, set it up and you have his sound.

Geddy sounds like Geddy because of his technique, much more than because of his gear...??? not likely, it's a combination of each.

[Absentia]

I can get it by just playin really really hard yet evenly.

[NKBassman]

Originally Posted by Vakmere

Go buy all the gear he has, set it up and you have his sound.

That's the wrongest, most absurd statement I ever would have expected to read in this thread.

Plus, that's probably at least $3000-$4000 worth of DIs and hard-to-find discontinued pieces. Even if you did want to get it all, somehow managed to find it (and have a place to store it!), set it up properly, and practiced for years and years to emulate Geddy's style, you could probably come close, but that's still HIS style.

If you'd give Geddy a p-bass, and have him play it in my bedroom through my Ampeg SVT-3pro with bad tubes and my home-made 2x12 cab, it would still sound like Geddy Lee.

[Vakmere]

Originally Posted by NKBassman

That's the wrongest, most absurd statement I ever would have expected to read in this thread.

Plus, that's probably at least $3000-$4000 worth of DIs and hard-to-find discontinued pieces. Even if you did want to get it all, somehow managed to find it (and have a place to store it!), set it up properly, and practiced for years and years to emulate Geddy's style, you could probably come close, but that's still HIS style.

If you'd give Geddy a p-bass, and have him play it in my bedroom through my Ampeg SVT-3pro with bad tubes and my home-made 2x12 cab, it would still sound like Geddy Lee.

Spoken like an expert.

Lighten up dude......

[Hyper-sloth]

Originally Posted by Fliptrique

You need fresh strings, a heavy handed right hand technique and low action - check out some live videos on youtube to see how geddy plays - his technique is somewhat uncommon. If you dig Geddy`s current tone, a sansamp would also help.

He has hand issues because of his technique. Don't ruin your hands! I have problems now because I always played really hard.
A sansamp will indeed help.

[RickenBoogie]

Originally Posted by Vakmere

Go buy all the gear he has, set it up and you have his sound.

Geddy sounds like Geddy because of his technique, much more than because of his gear...??? not likely, it's a combination of each.

Seriously?? If you're really serious, then I must say, you're way off on that one. I can only assume it was meant as a joke, otherwise,...????

[J. Crawford]

Buy his Sig Bass.. I have one.. I lovez it.

But I dont play Rush, so what am I saying?