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Cliff Burton Hype
- Thread starter AlphaMale
- Start date
I've been playing bass since 1989. The reason I decided to play bass, is Cliff Burton. I watched him in the Cliff 'em All video, and that was it. I was a music freak, but no other bassist is single-handedly responsible for changing my life, by inspiring me to play bass. Not Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones, McCartney, Steve Harris....loved 'em, but they just didn't have the effect Cliff had. He DID change metal bass. Enough said! Oh, and BTW I play funk, hard rock, used to play metal, everything. I'm "good" but next to Cliff, I'm nothing! Rest In Peace Cliff, and thanks!!
Heres the biggest difference between Cliff and any other bassist including Les, Anthrax's, Webster, Miller, and Harris etc.
When I have had a crappy day I come home and play the Orion solo and it makes me feel good, I don't play The Trooper or Got The Time or Hammer Smashed Face or My Name Is Mud, that's it, and that's all that matters to me.
When I have had a crappy day I come home and play the Orion solo and it makes me feel good, I don't play The Trooper or Got The Time or Hammer Smashed Face or My Name Is Mud, that's it, and that's all that matters to me.
Glad to see so much appreciation for Cliff !!
But, I have to disagree w/ MysticBoo here. I don't and never have thought that Cliff was buried in the mix. It's easy for bassist to think that the bass should be louder in the mix
. But, we've got to remember that our audiences are, for the most part, not bassists or musicians. So, when mixing a song, you have to realize what most listeners focus on, THE SONG as a whole. The bass must support the song. Cliff knew this, and he fulfilled his role in the band wonderfully! BTW, if you wanna hear bass that's buried, listen to And Justice For All ! Newsted should've quit the band then....he can't be heard on any track!
Glad to see so much appreciation for Cliff !!
But, I have to disagree w/ MysticBoo here. I don't and never have thought that Cliff was buried in the mix. It's easy for bassist to think that the bass should be louder in the mix
He wasn't very audible on Master of Puppets (not on every track, though), IMO. But I do think Ride the Lightning turned out rather well.
+1... gotta wonder what motivated the studio staff to turn the bass into non-musical quiet "booms"...
IIRC, it not hat he was buried so much, more that he used distortion a lot and was harder to pick out so much. Also he probably "Mid Socoped" whitch never helps metal bassists stand out. (Cept Lemmy, but he is a different story!)
As for Jason, he put up with way too much ****, he is a fantastic and underrated player, and should have walked at AJFA, eg. +1.
As for Jason, he put up with way too much ****, he is a fantastic and underrated player, and should have walked at AJFA, eg. +1.
Yeah, I remember watching the Grammy performance of "One" in '89 I believe. Newsted was all over the neck, playing a very complicated line that couldn't be heard. Even live, they had him turned down! I think the unofficial word was that Hetfield didn't particularly care for Newsted's lines, and IMO I think Jason was stoked to have the gig, and was overplaying.... maybe trying to be impressive or fill Burton's shoes or something. I think he definitely found his place later, and started writing tasteful basslines that fit the music better. Unfortunately tho, IMO Justice was there last good album. I don't care for Metallica after they matured, you might say....some say they sold out, whatever that really means???
BTW, I saw Trujillo when he was with Suicidal Tendencies probably around '90 or '91, opening for Queensryche when they where big w/ Silent Lucidity. He was about 10 feet away, I was impressed w/ his abilities, and I'm sure he's grown in the last 17 years as a player.
Haha, your funny, bass on AJFA, thats the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard...
But seriously poor Jason... I still hate him though because he played with a pick on orion solo/other songs.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of pick players either. But, I believe he can play either way. He was probably pressured to do it.
Every time I record, the engineer asks me to play w/ a pick, and a lot of my friends have started to. I personally can't do it! I've been a bassist since day one, never played guitar and never used a pick! After 18 years, I can't change! And, the stuff I write can't be played w/ a pick anyways. I pluck several strings at once w/ my thumb and index and middle fingers, at the same time. Like, in one song I play the open low B, the D at the 9th fret and the G at the 11th at the same time. And, I'm always playing octaves simultaneously too, another thing that can't be done with a pick.
+1 Worst production ever! Well maybe not ever but it was horrible. sounded like they mixed it and then ran the whole thing through a compressor.
Ok, I'm not trying to be an elitist here but, technically your fingers are "better"... With your fingers you have a large variety of things you can do, slapping, keyboarding, etc etc. With pic you are limited to just strumming or throwing away/trying to hold your pick in an awkward way to do anything else... What do you guys think?
-1
IMO, slap techniques are in a league of their own, separate from more traditional fingerstyle techniques. As for picks... they offer a new range of techniques that you can't pull off with just your fingers. To think that you're limited to strumming shows that you haven't really spent much time with a pick to see what it can do.
Quite true... All I've seen done with a pick on a bass is some punk-pop plucking and maybe a pick slide... are there more techniques that you can really do on a bass (like sweep picking?)?
I wish I could do both. I'd love to have the attack sound of a pick in my tone toolbox (I wouldn't use it much, but it'd be there). And, I agree that slap has to be used tastefully.... I've noticed at the local music stores that a lot of kids pick up a bass and all they do is slap. If you ask them if they're in a band (like I have) most say "NO" and the ones that are, don't slap much in their bands music. And, I should clarify. The pick players that I'm not fond of are guitar players who couldn't cut it and switched to bass, or the Pete Wentz (spelling wrong probly) type, that couldn't come up w/ a memorable bassline to save their lives!! So, I'm not talking about the Chris Squires of the world.....AWESOME!!!
when i started playing bass around 88 or 89. i was all about punk/hardcore/thrash.black flag,minor threat,discharge/slayer etc.i played with a pick. by around 93/94 that scene was kinda dead.so i wanted to explore my instrument.i started to check out jazz,soul,blues,funk,surf,etc. i took maybe 5 lessons,learned to play with my fingers,learned a little theory etc.around 98 or so i realized i just wanna play fast old school punk/hardcore.so i mostly play with a pick now,but i'm glad i learned both.i've always seen slap bass as "white boy funk" which is kinda fakin' the funk anyway.it never hurts to know more styles.you gotta know the rules in order to break 'em.
I feel ya SKATE RAT I started in '89 too and was all about Metallica HAHA at that time. But, as a kid i was crazy about Michael Jackson and Pop music of the early to mid 80's. So, I have some funky roots that bleed thru sometimes. I played w/ a black drummer recently. He said i was blacker than him HAHA. (I'm a white dude BTW) We free jammed, and I came up with a slap lick that rivals any that Flea has wrote....it just came out. Funk, for me, is all about locking in w/ the drums in a way that makes you wanna dance! I have zero music theory and have had all of one lesson. So what I play comes from my emotions at that moment w/ my ear guiding me. Let's not dis funk or slap or say it's for a certain race...it's all about shakin yo butt. It's got it's place. Funk makes me wanna move, the same way metal makes me wanna head bang! It's ALL good! Rock on bro
I started in '89 too and was all about Metallica HAHA at that time. But, as a kid i was crazy about Michael Jackson and Pop music of the early to mid 80's. So, I have some funky roots that bleed thru sometimes. I played w/ a black drummer recently. He said i was blacker than him HAHA. (I'm a white dude BTW) We free jammed, and I came up with a slap lick that rivals any that Flea has wrote....it just came out. Funk, for me, is all about locking in w/ the drums in a way that makes you wanna dance! I have zero music theory and have had all of one lesson. So what I play comes from my emotions at that moment w/ my ear guiding me. Let's not dis funk or slap or say it's for a certain race...it's all about shakin yo butt. It's got it's place. Funk makes me wanna move, the same way metal makes me wanna head bang! It's ALL good! Rock on bro 
i think it's mostly because he looks cool and he died.
he was an excellent bassist, but i don't consider his sound exceptional.
he was an excellent bassist, but i don't consider his sound exceptional.
No, by today's standards, his sound needed some tweaking. But, back then (25 years ago!) he was remarkable! And, he wasn't concerned about his look....bellbottoms were WAY out of style HAHA!!
