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Chris Squire vs Geddy Lee

#42
Al3x said:
Geddy. He knows his stuff. As I remember, Chris is a rather...uneducated player.
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Thats cool. I guess yes just let an uneducated player play with the greates prog band ever. That makes perfect sense (sarcasm). Just listen to chris play. Hows that uneducated? Listen to an interview with him or something. Maybe that will show you how uneducated (sarcasm again) he is.
 
#43
msxbass said:
No mention of "TheOX" who influened both of these great players.The reason Squier plays with a pick and plays a Ric is because that was what Entwistle was playing at the time and TheWho was Chris Squiers favorite band. Where do you all think Geddy got his tone from???
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Amen. The Ox was just too good for me to include in this
 
#44
Both are accomblished players in simular styles that border on bass line exercises. Hate the tone that both use doesn't resemble what a bass guitar tone should be. Both voices are annoying at best after 15 minutes, especial Getty. For me it shows the appeciation of pop music compared to rock n roll over the past 25 years. Bass exercises and a voice void of masculinity just doesn't appeal to me, no offense to others who think their great. I'm not saying they have no talent just that their direction is more on the theatrical side of music where mine is more in the clubs, dance orientated, with the bass and drums the heart and backbone of the band. In their applications they take the instrument and put it on one side of the stage with the guitar on the other and a drummer alone in the middle. Just not a true sounding or playing styled rythmn section. Can't dance to either one of them and I doubt anyone that likes them can dance or cares about dance ability to begin with.
I have seen both of these players live and actually played a gig on the same bill as Squire back in 1969 I think. One of Yes's first gigs here and I thought they were terrific, especially the guitarist who should heart N soul in his playing, I just don't hear or see it in the other groups shows.
But isn't nice theres so many types of music to choose from. Doc
 
#45
I like both, but as someone else mentioned Squire's playing is more classically leaning (and more sophisticated) than Lee's, who's closer to a rock bassist, albeit one with great chops, so it's Squire for me.




Doctor Dirt said:
Both are accomblished players in simular styles that border on bass line exercises. Hate the tone that both use doesn't resemble what a bass guitar tone should be. Both voices are annoying at best after 15 minutes, especial Getty. For me it shows the appeciation of pop music compared to rock n roll over the past 25 years. Bass exercises and a voice void of masculinity just doesn't appeal to me, no offense to others who think their great. I'm not saying they have no talent just that their direction is more on the theatrical side of music where mine is more in the clubs, dance orientated, with the bass and drums the heart and backbone of the band. In their applications they take the instrument and put it on one side of the stage with the guitar on the other and a drummer alone in the middle. Just not a true sounding or playing styled rythmn section. Can't dance to either one of them and I doubt anyone that likes them can dance or cares about dance ability to begin with.
I have seen both of these players live and actually played a gig on the same bill as Squire back in 1969 I think. One of Yes's first gigs here and I thought they were terrific, especially the guitarist who should heart N soul in his playing, I just don't hear or see it in the other groups shows.
But isn't nice theres so many types of music to choose from. Doc
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I understand what you're saying but neither Yes' nor Rush's music is meant to be danced to any more than Bach's Art of the Fugue is. That's not the only role the bass fills.

Squire's bass playing doesn't fill the traditional rhythm section part - I'd equate it more to the role a cello fills in classical ensemble playing. And his playing no more a bass exercise than the Cello Suites are (and yes I know they started life as exercises but they aren't anymore).
 
#46
well for me,Yes was first,and Chris is just my favorite rock bass player,ever.period. i have every album he has been involved in,and gone to countless Yes shows since 1972. i love Rush and Geddy in particular,he has acknowledged Chris as a definite influence,but i have never been to a Rush concert,that must mean something....? i really love hearing vocal harmonies,so i think that is another big reason i prefer listening to Yes,and my favorite rush album was Presto,where i think Ged was making a point of singing more melodically,without the hard-rock falsetto screech....
 
#47
I love them both, but for me Squire is the best with Geddy second (of ALL bass players).
Squire is the reason I picked the bass. Both have amazing skill and technique, but I find Chris more melodic and much more fluid and effortless regarding technique and style. Geddy is the reason I have a jazz bass, a Geddy, what else! But Chris is the reason I'll some day get a Rick!!!!!
 
#49
I am going to choose Geddy Lee. I just really like that guy, and I really like his band. They played the only real "prog-metal" I ever cared for; Geddy really makes the bass growl; and he plays the only really technical music I care to listen to. I LOVE Geddy's "classic" singing voice, and I've seen him in concert many times. I think every Rush album up until Signals is some of the best music I've ever heard.

Yes is THE absolute best progressive rock band of all time. They had the lyrical brilliance and otherworldiness of Pink Floyd and King Crimson, along with the harmonic values of Queen, and they took it to new places. The off-beat section of "Close to the Edge" is the coolest piece of music ever recorded, even better than Tull's "Thick as a Brick," and I really LOVE Tull's "Thick as a Brick."

Chris Squire has a reputation for being a bit of an egotist, and for showing up late for rehearsals, and even gigs.

Geddy Lee seems to be the nicest guy you could ever meet.

So I'm going with Geddy, for many reasons, but that doesn't mean I think he's any "better" than Chris Squire. I think Geddy really LOVES him some Chris Squire, and that says a lot right there.

Thank God for BOTH of these brilliant players, and the brilliant bands that brought their music to our ears. Jon Anderson, Alex Lifeson, Steve Howe, Neil Peart, Bill Bruford, Alan White, Rick Wakeman, and ALL you other guys (both guys named Trevor, and all the Tony Kayes, etc over the years,) thank you all for bringing us some adventurous and cool music that I still listen to all the time.

And by the way, "Caress of Steel" ROCKS. Anybody who doesn't get that album should really worry about their taste in hard rock. "No One at the Bridge?" C'mon!
 
#55
I believe Geddy could play Squire's lines more easily than vice versa, but Squire's lines are much more tasteful and graceful. Of course, they have rather different roles in their bands, where Squire serves the song while Geddy has to BE the song. Regardless, my vote is for CS by a wide margin.
 
#57
Rickengeezer said:
I believe Geddy could play Squire's lines more easily than vice versa, but Squire's lines are much more tasteful and graceful. Of course, they have rather different roles in their bands, where Squire serves the song while Geddy has to BE the song. Regardless, my vote is for CS by a wide margin.
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+1
 
#58
Well let's see...I created a jam band with a guitar player and drummer just to be able to learn and play Rush songs...and I also play synthesizers and pedals...so my vote is...Geddy!

I admire Squire, love his tone, and I have played some Yes songs and learned his lines. And if Geddy didn't exist I might lean towards Squire. But I don't see Squire handling synthesizers, pedals, bass AND singing...:eyebrow:

To me Geddy not only had (up to Signals) killer bass tone, but weaves notes amongst his two other band mates like a fiend. Check out Cygnus X-1, that solo bass intro still blows me away.

I've learned a good portion of Rush's songs and just memorizing all those passages is an exercise. My two favourites lately are The Trees and Red Barchetta.

I've begun learning to play with a pick as well recently, just to open up another avenue to bass playing. And if I could cop either guy's bass tone I'd be happy... :smug:

Side note: I've read and heard in interviews that the reason Geddy plays busy is because he needed to fill the gap of a rhythm guitar player to Alex's lead. So you can add 'rhythm guitar' to Geddy's arsenal as well...:p
 
#59
I got into bass because of Geddy but Squire is a whole other level beyond Geddy in terms of playing (and Geddy will agree to that). Geddy always saw his own style as somewhere between Entwhistle and Squire, like a more simplified, more rocking version of Squire. Squire's playing in the 70's was so innovative, I don't think another bassist in rock has been more creative.
 
#60
Funny seeing this thread zombied after a year. I went back and found my original post on p. 1 where I voted for Squire, but I think in the year since then I would switch my vote to Geddy. It's the "what have you done for me lately" factor.

I still am amazed by Squire's playing on all those classic Yes albums, and even to an extent on the Trevor Rabin ones... but when I listen to the Yes albums from the 1990s onward, he doesn't seem to have continued generating that magic. Fly From Here was OK but kind of bland to me, I don't find myself going to back to it to listen again and again. Geddy Lee just seems to have kept up his creativity more.
 

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