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Chuck Rainey...just jaw dropping

#61
Caca de Kick said:
I have seen plenty of pics with Chuck holding that P and keeps calling it a "57". It's a wide-known fact around the entire world with real neck stamps as proof, rosewood boards did not exist on fender basses until mid-59.
JAUQO, I hate to say it, but I really think he's a little off in his timeline. No one else has ever been able to prove a rosewood board on any other 57. I know he has no reason to diassemble the bass just to show the dates for us peons, and I remember reading the Precision was just a regular 'ol bass hanging in a music store, and the store owner claimed it was supposedly there "for a while" before Chuck bought it.
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I'm only telling you what chuck told me.at one time he did have the bass disassembled and I'm sure when it was he did see it's dates stamped on the neck and the body.maybe the Fender experts can chime in and tell us exactly what year Fender introduced the rosewood fingerboard on it's precision Bass.Chuck said it was 1956 or 57 I don't know.
 
#63
This is what Chuck had to say on his P Bass tonight.

Well, I bought my bass in 1960 but I had been looking at it in the music store for at least three years (since I was a JR in High School - that was in 1957) and it definitely was the same bass. I happen to be the first Electric bass player in my home town. Also I certainly never had the money or time to have had the finger board changed in those days even if I had wanted to.other than that, since I own and played the instrument for over 20 years - it's definitely a P-Bass '57'. BTW, there is a carbon copy of my bass (from Fender) in my display in the Blues Museum in Clarkesdale Mississippi home of Muddy Waters, Ma Rainey, Robert Johnson and Charlie Pride.

Ity could very well be that I may have a special instrument from the past.
Chuck


from me
There is a strong possibility that Chucks bass could indeed have been made in 57 and it could have been a prototype before the rosewood fingerboard P Bass was introduced.
 
#66
WooHoo! I just learnd 'Peg!' There is not ONE SINGLE MOMENT in that song where the bass is not SO FREAKIN' COOL! - Now I can cross one of those, "I just gotta do this before I die" things off my list!:hyper: :bassist:

That is what I LOVE about this forum... I have always wanted to learn 'Peg' - didn't know that Chuck Rainey was responsible for that kick-arse bassline... read this thread - got re-energized - read the Will Lee article - got to know Chuck a little better that way, broke out the song and really fealt like I knew where it was coming from... All because of this forum!

Thanks gang!!!

One thing that is for sure - a Music Man Stingray 5 does not get that wonderful Fender funky sound though... I am still monkeying with my tone to get close, but there is a real personality to a Fender that is very hard to simulate. And I know, I know... it's in the fingers... but having the right tool for the job doesn't hurt matters any...

--tz
 
#67
I happen to love the work that Chuck did with the Rascals. I will never forget putting a transistor radio under my pillow as a kid and being captured by the bass on "Groovin". I was hooked as a fan ands still am. I saw a show in Denton, Texas about 8 years ago that was a latin jazz show that Chuck had put on stage. Until you have seen the live version, you can't really appreciate the extreme talent of Chuck Rainey. I only wish the live opportunity presented itself more often. WCZ
 
#68
I'd just like to add a couple more that no one's mentioned yet. His line on Aretha Franklin's cover of the Elton John song "Holly Moses (Border Song)" is very cool.

As far as Steely Dan goes, I've always loved his playing on "Home at Last" off of Aja. His playing locks up so well with Bernard Purdie's "Purdie shuffle."

Also, you guys should check out Donald Fagen's first solo album "The Nightfly" if you haven't already. It's a fantastic album and the bass playing on it is just amazing. In addition to Chuck Rainey; Marcus Miller, Abe Laboriel, Anthony Jackson, and Will Lee also play on it. My favorite Chuck Rainey line on the album is definitely "Green Flower Street." It's incredibly catchy, and really pushes the song to another level. One can learn a lot about how to play great pop bass lines by listening to that album and hearing those five guys. Each one of them is a master, and it's amazing that to me that they all played on the same album.
 
#72
tZer said:
Well, if anyone wants to offer up a transcription to "Peg" and "Sanford and Son"... My wife will be putting my equipment out by the curb (figure of speech... my wife is no brute) if I spend another penny on my addiction!

JAUQO III-X!!!!

...uh... ahem... :smug:
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[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#73
JAUQO III-X said:
No,that was one Bass line (and Chuck informed me of that).
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Not the version I've got - it has a 'clear' sounding p-bass (with popped notes etc) panned hard in one channel, that plays the intro section, over a dull p-bass that runs through the whole track. The clear bass also does the two bar "Jamerson" solo..

Maybe it's the engineer dubbing it up.:bassist:
 
#74
Lo. said:
Not the version I've got - it has a 'clear' sounding p-bass (with popped notes etc) panned hard in one channel, that plays the intro section, over a dull p-bass that runs through the whole track. The clear bass also does the two bar "Jamerson" solo..

Maybe it's the engineer dubbing it up.:bassist:
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what version do you have?
 
#76
I don't care how old this thread is.

I've been listening to Chuck Rainey for years. In the summer of 1999 my friend got his driving license and borrowed his stepfather's Fiat Cinqiciento with the old man's cassetes all over the place. He must have had about 4 Donald Byrd ones.

We were all big House Music fans and used to get sweaty to songs like Byrdman's Revenge and Flowers by Armand Van Helden which, we found out, both sampled Byrd's Think Twice which I believe Chuck played on. The bass line is smooth, inventive and just beautiful.

I've not stopped listening to Byrd since.

Did that Chuck Rainey transcriptions book ever get finished?
 
#78
JAUQO III-X said:
All the bass lines for the book have been transcribed. And waiting for Chuck to go over them.
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That's fantastic news! is there much from his work with Donald Byrd?

Does he know about the club records that sampled the Byrd songs? I'm not 100% sure he played on Think Twice but he definitely played on the album. The Armand Van Helden song is actually more of a soul track. It's actually quite good and stands up well a decade on.
 

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