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Duff Mckagan? Any opinions?
- Thread starter RSJ4STRING
- Start date
+1 on Steven Adler. He was pretty solid. I didn't see adding Sorum so much a musical improvement as a reliability improvement.
Duff is a very good bass player and rock musician in general. My understanding is that he had a heavy hand in a lot of the songwriting, especially on Appetite. He invested a lot of his early earnings in Microsoft and Starbucks, which might make him the richest member of GnR. Ya gotta love a smart bass player.
Doesn't he do the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camps, as well? I'm sure he gets plenty good coin for that and doesn't have to put up with the B.S. of touring. Or a lead singer.
Actually the 'crowd' were dubbed over the top - believe it or not the live tracks are in fact studio tracks...just read it in Slash's book. Apparently it used to be done quite a bit with bands ??!!
Great band, good bassist. Cannot seem to play his basslines with the same feel, and I believe he is a lot better musician than a lot of people give him credit for. Didn't he write 'So Fine'??
One thing you can say about Duff. He's the only bassist who can play a good rock solo. Listen to the Tokyo Bass Solo on Youtube. Influenced me to mess around and try writing solos.
I know alot about GNR.
Duff was not a guitar convert. His brother had a les paul bass that sat in the familys living room , when he was around 10 he learned some of his first stuff on it. He started drumming and played with the fastbacks.He played in 30-ish bands in seattle before 1983 and played whatever instruments bands needed. Search youtube for izzy and duff, and you will see him drumming new rose. he sings as well pretty good.
Duff is a good bass player. He had some blow and booze problems but worked through it and has really calmed down alot. He is a real humble guy and i respect that.Duff inspired me alot i was not even alive when appetite was out but i love that record.
BTW alder is a bad ass
Duff was not a guitar convert. His brother had a les paul bass that sat in the familys living room , when he was around 10 he learned some of his first stuff on it. He started drumming and played with the fastbacks.He played in 30-ish bands in seattle before 1983 and played whatever instruments bands needed. Search youtube for izzy and duff, and you will see him drumming new rose. he sings as well pretty good.
Duff is a good bass player. He had some blow and booze problems but worked through it and has really calmed down alot. He is a real humble guy and i respect that.Duff inspired me alot i was not even alive when appetite was out but i love that record.
BTW alder is a bad ass
Yes he is still kinda.The only real job he has ever had is playing for GNR. He started a knew band called adler's
appetite which does alot of GNR covers that was in 2003.Now he supposively is finally clean and if thats true i hope he stays that way because i cant see his body taking much more abuse tha guy has done alot of binge drug use, real sad
.Just thought I'd share this with all you other fans of Duff, the Slither jam with Stephen Perkins for his instructional video is really awesome! Check out what he's playing during slash's solo (2:46)
His tone and fills are to die for...
His tone and fills are to die for...
Unrepresented
Something Borderline Offensive
Never heard that before, interesting. That makes me wonder why that little flub was left in, if they could fix it quickly with a second take.
I consider that song to be one of the lowest points on that album, but everyone's got favorites.
We're currently mixing a real EP for my band and I've realized how much I'm in debt to Duff's punchy tone. I'm definitely channeling him on at least one or two songs.
My favourite Bassist, always will be
he inspired me to take up bass, and his tone is to die for!
he inspired me to take up bass, and his tone is to die for!
He's a meat and potatos kinda player with a simple tone, simple approach, and an attitude that I really appreciate. He knew his role and he did it well 
I will always love him! I love the ballad type stuff where he plays with the melody, and his octaves, to fill in the spots. I think we sometimes judge bassists to harshly by themselves instead of judging what they do for the band. Personally I believe there wouldn't be a GNR without Duff! Same gos for SLASH, AXL, etc...
And as far as there timing and overall roughness, and even Adler, on Appetite, that was the sweetest roughness to hit my ears in that horrible, sterile, synth age of the 80's!
Keep playing Duff, the 80's are back!
And as far as there timing and overall roughness, and even Adler, on Appetite, that was the sweetest roughness to hit my ears in that horrible, sterile, synth age of the 80's!
Keep playing Duff, the 80's are back!
He can't do that these days. I'm reading SLASH and I'm to the point where GN'R is falling apart. Duff can never drink again because his pancreas exploded.
But anyways, since I've been reading the book I've gotten into Guns a lot more, and Duff is definitely my favorite person from the band. I started listening to him a lot, and I love his tone and his style on stage. He's not a virtuoso or anything, but he can jam for sure.
It's hard to believe thinking back on it now, but Appetite knocked Def Leppard's 'Hysteria' off the top spot in the album charts. Now I'm a fanboy of both bands, but they seem years apart in style. It's easy to see how GnR exploded onto the scene with their rough, hard hitting debut up against the many, many highly polished and massively produced pop-rock of the time.
A little like Nirvana did a few years later.
Yeah, I think about every decade or so you have to start over again! Music becomes so "polished" it isn't even real anymore.
Yeah I always did like his tone. That is why I checked out G.K. in the first place.I Used to play Sunn and/or Randall, but now I am a G.K. man for sure.
I actually never thought much about him but we just added Rocket Queen to our set which made me dust off the ol Appetite for Destruction stuff and I have a new found respect for him. Solid bassist IMO.
Duff is extremely talented and is very underrated. He makes great use of the space he is afforded. He slides in those great little fills that are so perfect you hardly notice them. Hell, I still hear the odd note that I haven't picked out since Appetite was first released!! As for Steven Adler, I like his drumming (Never enough cowbell!!). I was reading Slash's book, and he said that looking back years later, he realized that Steven's drumming had a big part in defining Gn'R as a band and for the success of AFD, and that he felt that Steven never got the credit he deserved. I'm glad he's clean and sober now, and hopefully Adler's Appetite will bring him happiness and success.
bigfatbass
Inactive
- Jun 30, 2003
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- Endorsing Artist: Karl Hoyt Basses
From a total non-GnR fan, a few things are still easy to hear: Seminal rock bass tone, creative melodic lines, and fills that pretty much smack the nail on the head every time. I'd put him on the level of a Graham Maby or James Honeyman Scott, for playing exactly the right notes, in exactly the right places, to serve the song and make it move. Possibly the single most underrated talent in ANY bass player. I like Slash's playing, too, but the band in general is lost on me. Who can stand all that whining?
I also preferred the looseness of the AFD line-up, way more rock and roll!
I also preferred the looseness of the AFD line-up, way more rock and roll!
