I have no way of quantifying what best means with regard to bass playing. All I can say is that if there was a Mt. Rushmore (pun intended) of bass players, omitting Geddy would be perceived by many as a snub.
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Geddy Lee, best bass player.
- Thread starter BassismT20
- Start date
Maybe this is the problem or the point: Geddy Lee play bass, not fireworks...
The same is can be applied for others underrated bass players like Gary Thain, for example...
I dont understand this stupid racist thing...
I don't judge the bass player by his weight, color, nacionality, genre, graduated or not...
Geddy Canadian Lee created a legendary band, with legendary bass lines.
Period.
A lot of students with 20 years or bar musicians can play that, even myself...
BUT... Someone of us could created that?
So, no way, He is the guy, not us that just can repeat his creation. A lot of better players today but the opposite for composition, maybe is time to invent some new note...
This is just about respect, i like Rush but I am not a fan.
But I love this speech:
*Statistically*, as in sheer numbers takes all, I'd have to say Lee Sklar wins.
It all comes down to what you like... I like John McVie's playing more than Geddy's, but even I don't think he's the best. All of them are great, and there's that many more great ones we never will hear or read about. Some of them may even be on this thread.
BTW OP, welcome to TalkBass! If someone hasn't already made you aware, there actually is a club for Geddy fans... Geddy Lee fan club | Page 6 | TalkBass.com
Geddy Lee was a huge influence on my playing when I first started (mostly in the form of depressing me..."I'm NEVER going to be that good..."), but I'm amazed that it took until page 6 for a reference to Lee Sklar to show up. He also may not be "the best", but man, that guy is EVERYWHERE...
The bass player of this band has a very unique feel and sense of rhythm that would leave Geddy bewildered any time, there is simply no way anyone can keep up with this band.
And I am not joking, I am deadly serious:
Anyone who would claim they can nail what this band is doing would be lying.
I am not saying that it sounds good, but they sure have their own style that would be very hard to copy for any trained musician.
And I am not joking, I am deadly serious:
Anyone who would claim they can nail what this band is doing would be lying.
I am not saying that it sounds good, but they sure have their own style that would be very hard to copy for any trained musician.
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If that doesn't sound good to you there is something wrong with your ears. It must be over your head.
The assertion that 20yr olds at Berklee can outplay him is daft. *I* can play Red Barchetta passably well - am I better than Geddy?
C'mon - Neil and Alex are probably better bass players than me ;
By that same token - I bet these Bass wizzes in school have mates with guitars who can play everything Satch or Petrucci have done, while asleep and eating a toasted cheese sandwich.
Who wrote these tunes? Could these students create original music of the same quality?..
C'mon - Neil and Alex are probably better bass players than me ;
By that same token - I bet these Bass wizzes in school have mates with guitars who can play everything Satch or Petrucci have done, while asleep and eating a toasted cheese sandwich.
Who wrote these tunes? Could these students create original music of the same quality?..
You are probably right.
And I who thought I understood avantgarde musicians and music.
But I'll still give them credit for nailing the tension and anxiety theme of the song, better than Pink Floyd could ever do it them self.
So, where would Geddy or Squire be without Entwistle, who, I believe, they both claim as a major influence?
It would be interesting to do a genealogy tree (forest actually) of electric bass player influences. After all, the electric bass has not existed for that long.
So, by way of a simple manufactured example, suppose we agree that Entwistle, Bruce, Dunn, and Macca had no significant influences. Put each at a root. Then connect to those where there was a direct influence etc etc. A good amount is probably documented in interviews.
Continue with interconnected trees that might turn into generic graphs. Then maybe there is a wat to compute an "influence value" based on direct, secondary, tertiary, ..., influences. Ok, back to my day job.....
It would be interesting to do a genealogy tree (forest actually) of electric bass player influences. After all, the electric bass has not existed for that long.
So, by way of a simple manufactured example, suppose we agree that Entwistle, Bruce, Dunn, and Macca had no significant influences. Put each at a root. Then connect to those where there was a direct influence etc etc. A good amount is probably documented in interviews.
Continue with interconnected trees that might turn into generic graphs. Then maybe there is a wat to compute an "influence value" based on direct, secondary, tertiary, ..., influences. Ok, back to my day job.....
Do you think it's easy to miss every single beat? You'd think that if the bass and drummer are both playing random, variable tempos, they would eventually coalesce once or twice during the song... but I don't think that ever happened.
Geddy is a great bass player but I don't think anyone deserves the title of best. Your personal style or favorite genre will dictate who you perceive as best. My vote is Berry Oakley and Allen Woody because that's the style of bass I play. YMMV and should vary. Enjoy your own likes but best is too subjective. End of rambling.
BassismT20, first off, welcome to TB!
It's great to have someone who's excited about bass playing and has a bassist that he loves.
We've all been there, blown away by someone's playing and inspired by them to play.
That's not only awesome creatively, but it's that feeling that will make you a lifelong musician and give you a place to go to escape to when life gives it's little unexpected turns.
Geddy, IS the best, for you in this moment, and may always be, and I think that you were sharing that excitement.
That's cool man.
A lot of what you read above is from folks that have been around for a bit and have discovered a lot of love and inspiration from other bassists, but there's nothing like that first player that makes you want to pick up that instrument and never put it down.
It's like that first romantic love of your life, you'll never forget them or how they made you feel that first time.
Geddy is a very unique player with his own sensibilities and whatever chord that strikes in you is priceless.
You certainly don't have to seek external verification for that, as you won't always get it, as can be evidenced from some of the above, and I don't think that you were seeking that, just sharing your excitement.
Victor Wooten tells a story of how he discovered Jaco Pastorius's song Portrait of Tracy, and how he stayed up with his bass until he learned it for himself and how that really inspired him to play with harmonics.
If I can share one piece of advice from my own experience, go do that with Geddy's tracks, slow them down, learn them, get a teacher to break them down for you if you need to, and you'll be so inspired to play, that you got to the point that you can play what inspired you so much in the first place.
The other thing, IMHO, would be to go seek out folks here that are as pumped by Geddy's playing as you are.
You'll find a lot of them on TB.
Here's some cool footage on him if you haven't seen it yet:
Geddy Lee Interview on Rock Icons 2015 | TalkBass.com
Play on man, and again, welcome to TB!!
It's great to have someone who's excited about bass playing and has a bassist that he loves.
We've all been there, blown away by someone's playing and inspired by them to play.
That's not only awesome creatively, but it's that feeling that will make you a lifelong musician and give you a place to go to escape to when life gives it's little unexpected turns.
Geddy, IS the best, for you in this moment, and may always be, and I think that you were sharing that excitement.
That's cool man.
A lot of what you read above is from folks that have been around for a bit and have discovered a lot of love and inspiration from other bassists, but there's nothing like that first player that makes you want to pick up that instrument and never put it down.
It's like that first romantic love of your life, you'll never forget them or how they made you feel that first time.
Geddy is a very unique player with his own sensibilities and whatever chord that strikes in you is priceless.
You certainly don't have to seek external verification for that, as you won't always get it, as can be evidenced from some of the above, and I don't think that you were seeking that, just sharing your excitement.
Victor Wooten tells a story of how he discovered Jaco Pastorius's song Portrait of Tracy, and how he stayed up with his bass until he learned it for himself and how that really inspired him to play with harmonics.
If I can share one piece of advice from my own experience, go do that with Geddy's tracks, slow them down, learn them, get a teacher to break them down for you if you need to, and you'll be so inspired to play, that you got to the point that you can play what inspired you so much in the first place.
The other thing, IMHO, would be to go seek out folks here that are as pumped by Geddy's playing as you are.
You'll find a lot of them on TB.
Here's some cool footage on him if you haven't seen it yet:
Geddy Lee Interview on Rock Icons 2015 | TalkBass.com
Play on man, and again, welcome to TB!!
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I don't know about "best". I do know that the "Fly by Night" / "Caress of Steel" / '2112" era affected my playing a lot when I was in High School.
The triplets and walkdown at the D octave change running through "Fly by Night" apparently made a big impression on me, as I still use it, probably too much.
This kind of stuff also became a benchmark for me on how electric music should sound. I like it "sweet and slick".
The triplets and walkdown at the D octave change running through "Fly by Night" apparently made a big impression on me, as I still use it, probably too much.
This kind of stuff also became a benchmark for me on how electric music should sound. I like it "sweet and slick".
Lemmy is God, anb BTW the best rhythm guitar player playing bass in the world! !!
