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Bernard Edwards - The Bassist for Chic

#62
terrelli721 said:
I absolutely loved Bernard's playing, but never saw him slap his basslines. I love both fingerstyle and slapping, but always admired how he was as funky as anyone without laying down a slap line.
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in the Live at the Budokan DVD (his final show, 1996) he does a bit of slapping in Sister sledge's we are family, and occasionally in other songs.

re. the thumb-and-first finger together like a pick technique, he called this "chucking"- on the DVD he does it on "dance dance dance". it's quite percussive and the upstroke and downstroke sounds noticeably different.
 
#63
The Mock Turtle Regulator said:
in the Live at the Budokan DVD (his final show, 1996) he does a bit of slapping in Sister sledge's we are family, and occasionally in other songs.

re. the thumb-and-first finger together like a pick technique, he called this "chucking"- on the DVD he does it on "dance dance dance". it's quite percussive and the upstroke and downstroke sounds noticeably different.
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Sounds good. I'll have to check that one out. I was amazed by his use of octaves. Incredibly smooth.
 
#67
Bernard Edwards slapped alot on the final Chic albums, Tongue in Chic and Believer. Bernard was a fine slapper but his finger style and faux pick style was made him special. He and Anthony Jackson are my two favorite Jamerson disciples.
 
#69
I read an article about Bernard recently that talked about his history as a musician... apparently he was a guitar player first and when he switched to bass, he couldn't really swing playing finger style, so he played with his thumb like he would using a pick on a guitar. Also, in an other article I read a long time ago, apparently he taught Nile Rogers (who was a jazz player at the time) how to play funk on the guitar.

Regardless of his technique, the dude was a monster of the funky bass lines!!!!
 
#70
Bernard was so great. Even though I was no fan of Disco in general back in the day, Bernard's groove and Nile's guitar playing were unmistakable ear-grabbers and booty-shakers. One of my best friends is Bill Holloman (we play a jazz gig together every week) who has been Chic's sax player since the early 90's. He was on Bernard's last gig at the Budokhan. He's got a framed concert poster for that gig in his studio, a cherished possession. He loved Bernard dearly, and says he was just as great a person as he was a bassist and producer, and that's truly saying something.

Btw, that poster is signed by everyone who was on that gig, which included Steve Winwood, Sister Sledge, Phillipe Saisse and Slash...that's right, that Slash from G&R!!!
 
#72
Steve S said:
I knew Barnard Edwards died but never knew the particulars. How did he pass away?
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Just got off the phone with Bill and asked him for clarification. Bernard had pneumonia, which everybody thought was just a bad flu at the time. In fact, after the gig he "seemed to perk up" as Bill said to me. Unfortunately though he died in his sleep in his hotel room later that night. A total shock to everyone. There's some erroneous info in some bios on the net that it was a Power Station gig in Tokyo that was Bernard's last, but it was indeed the "Live at Budokhan" gig that's on DVD and CD.
 
#78
JAUQO III-X said:
When I first started playing Bass I was into Bernard Edwards(like a crack head :)) pulse,feel,groove,smoothness and how his tone sounded so great in the mix just as much as I was into Louis Satterfield,James Jamerson and Chuck Rainey and he was a very talented Producer as well.


If you want to check out a killer live record check out Chic live at Budokan.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000I8LB/102-8374499-9556113?v=glance&n=5174
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i'm gunna get ordering this!

i love bernards playing, when did he pass away? also i've seen some sister sledge videos on mtv and sometimes it isnt the orginal sister sledge, at least it doesnt appear to be, did someone cover them or something?

also, from when did chic and sister sledge start playing again without bernard?
 
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#79
side note/ Bernard's rhythm mate in Chic, the great drummer Tony Thompson passed away a few years ago too. I loved Tony's drumming, awesome groove!
 

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