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Mel Schacher

K

KrisH

Nov 6, 2007
653
14
New Jersey
www.bandmix.com
#1
Just got done picking through my mp3 collection looking for covers to do and ran across my Grand Funk file. Couldn't resist, and OMG!!! I'd forgotten what I saw in Mel Schacher's playing -- "Please Don't Worry", "Inside Looking Out", even "Time Machine." Now I remember why I was so infatuated with that man. And why my own free-form playing sounds the way it does. In fact, it's downright spooky!!!

Just saying, is all . . .
 
#2
Greetings from the North,

Grabbin that Red Grand Funk album (the one with Mel in the Poka Dot shirt, I think it was poka dot). Snatchin out that LP and throwin it on the turntable. Plug it into a 'Realistic 15" Bass Combo amp'. Place the needle on "Paranoid" and CRANK IT UP! Oh ya, lock the door so they can't get at you lol........

Rezdog
 
#4
Mel's classic West stack.
 

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#9
Rezdog said:
Greetings from the North,

Grabbin that Red Grand Funk album (the one with Mel in the Poka Dot shirt, I think it was poka dot). Snatchin out that LP and throwin it on the turntable. Plug it into a 'Realistic 15" Bass Combo amp'. Place the needle on "Paranoid" and CRANK IT UP! Oh ya, lock the door so they can't get at you lol........

Rezdog
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Shalom oh mighty rezdog. Need to catch up you and me sometime. I been hanging out with a song writer and his Mohawk wife, here in the land of cheese, chocolate and mountains.

Back on topic....I grew to Mel on bass. His distorted bass on "Grand Fink Live" or "Mark Don and Mel" probably had more to do with hearing loss at a young age than anything else, except maybe Humble Pie Rocking the Filmore or Allman Brothers at the Filmore.

We're old, but we have fond memories, don't we.

Thanks for posting this.
 
#11
Back in the day, I convinced my bandmates to mine "Closer to Home" to liven up our play list. Man, I grooved to Mel's riffs on "Sin's a Good Man's Brother", "Aimless Lady", and "Nothing Is the Same".

Playing bass in a power trio is a challenge in itself, and Mel does a great job. Thanks for reminding me of him and his skill.
 
#12
jaywa said:
Love that J-Bass he is playing on Wally's pic. With the pickup covers, thank you very much.
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Hard to tell from that photo, but I'm pretty sure that's Mr. Schacher's "mudbucker" Jazz. It looks like a neck PU cover, but it's actually a big old Gibson humbucker.
That bass through West Fillmores is where that raging live tone came from.
 

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#17
If TB ever starts a Mel Schacher Fan Club I will renounce my earlier vow of No More Clubs and happily beg for my number!

When, as an impressionable 11-year-old I discovered my cousin's (vinyl) copy of Closer To Home it was like stumbling over granpa's porn stash...listening to that album on headphones while gazing starry-eyed at the inner jacket b&w photo of shaggy-haired troglodytes tearing it up at Madison Square Garden with those towering amp stacks... it was like destiny calling.

What's really funny is that it took me a good 10 years after that to recognize how much Mel's bass playing had influenced me. It sneaks up on ya; it's not like I ever consciously thought about copping a Mel Schacher lick, but so much of his approach to the instrument just grows on you insidiously. Mel is da man.
 
#20
grayhawk1853 said:
I put on the live album just last night. Some of that I hadn't played in over 25 years, but it all came back. Thanks for bringing this up. He was a major influence on me.
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I think Mel was a major influence on a lot of bass players from that generation, he’s probably the main reason I settled in on bass rather than one of the other instruments I played in the late 60’s/early 70’s.
For the life of me I don't know why he doesn't seem to share the notoriety enjoyed by other influential players from that era.
Maybe he just doesn’t like the limelight?
 

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