About Geddy Lee's Bass Technique

[I<34080]

Learn everything Chris Squire played, and John Paul Jones and John Entwistle and you get Geddy Lee.

You mean Jack Bruce

 

[Blacksack]

well as much as i'd love to steer the thread back onto the OP's original post about geddys technique i cant help but stir the pot a little with all the "high and mighties" going on about tone in the fingers vs tone in the amp

for all you "tone in the fingers" people watch these.... then shut up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmJkqAAOquA&feature=related
and yes this is guitar but helps my point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDLvlicXBV8&feature=related

for all you "tone in the expensive amp" people watch these.... then shut up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDN1UbFyVwQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqF2JRsp2Uc&feature=related

NOW can we get back on geddy's technique?

 

[HillBillyWannaB]

Do you know what makes Geddy's bass parts sound so cool? I mean he is a terrific (and my fav) bass player, but I'm not able to emulate the bass sounds he is making... (I'm just a bass starter though) I'd like to know if there's something about his technique that makes sounds that can just as easily be classified as foreground music as background music....

(Geddy's just one of those musicians who prove that bass isn't a backseat instrument)

To the OP (i stopped reading when the arguing started, so I'm not sure if it's been covered):
-Jazz Bass (neck pup full on, bridge pup 3/4, tone full on).The Geddy jazz bass has a more favorable bridge pup position.
-Fender Custom shop or vintage Jazz pups. Bridge pup about 1/4" from strings, neck pickup almost flat.
-Hard attack
-Low action
-Neck almost flat
-Hard attack
-Fresh Rotosound 66 strings (40/60/75/95). Yeah, I know they say Geddy uses 45-105, the 95s will get you closer.
-Hard attack

These are a good start. I get a good Geddy tone out of my "Bass in a Box" headphone amp just with these tips. EQ from here to get the tone you like. Alot of people recommend the sansamp DI box, I think it takes away a little bit of that edge, but it is a good addition. You can split your signal with a Boss LS-2 line selector pedal. Run one signal through the sansamp for the fatter, lower tone and another signal distorted with alot of treble. That will get you closer to his recent live sound. I run each signal through one channel of a stereo rack eq and fine tune it from there.

A decent amp/cab is the last part of the equation.

Oh yeah - hit the strings hard and practice!

 

[superdick2112]

The Geddy tone is a hard one to nail down, especially live using a single amp, but I can get close enough (at least for my own satisfaction) at home by using my Ric 4003 (strung with D'Addario ProSteels), with the neck pickup going into my SWR Baby Blue combo, and the bridge pickup going into the distortion channel of my Crate Palomino guitar combo, set for light overdrive. I play mainly over the neck pickup, and use a strong right hand attack. Both amps are EQ'd for slight bass & treble boost, with the mids set fairly flat.
At gigs, I use my Spector LX-4, run through a Boss EQ-20 with a "smile curve", into my Phil Jones M-500/8-T/16-B rig.

And I agree with the folks that say 90% of his sound comes from his hands & playing style - he's had a pretty consistant sound over the years, despite using a variety of different basses and amps. No intended "high & mighty attitude" here, just my personal & humble opinion.

 

[dmot002]

+1 thanks JG,

its incredible how many people who simply do not know what they are talking about post something as ridiculous as geddy getting his tone out of his rig...if you haven't figured out that the tone is in your hands people, move on, there aint nothing for you in bass land

So if all the tone is in your hands, that means you could plug into 10 different amps and they"ll all sound the same .

 

[superdick2112]

So if all the tone is in your hands, that means you could plug into 10 different amps and they"ll all sound the same .

Thats about how many different bass rigs Geddy has used over the years, and while there are variances in tone from album to album & tour to tour, he still sounds like himself, regardless of the bass or amp he's playing through.

 

[BuffaloBass]

Yeah, shhhh, dont spread the news; manufacturers hate this kind of talk.