Geddy Lee Technique

[JimmyM]

True, I've seen him doing that for the chords in School Days but I'm not familiar with much else of his catalog. Is it something he did like Geddy for faster sixteenth note sections too?

Single notes? Not that I know of. But he didn't have to

 

[JimmyM]

Yup, School Days is all that. Pretty sure Claypool got it from Clarke and Geddy got it from Claypool.

Then there's the really weird Ryan Martinie "invisible pick" style.



Ryan's whole playing style is just so foreign to me, but it works so well for him. So precise but so forceful.

Respect to Ryan, who's terrific, but Dave LaRue did invisible pick long before anyone ever heard of Ryan Martinie

 

[DanGroove]

Here's some footage of Rush playing Animate live, you can see him using that technique through the whole song. I've always just played with 2 fingers on my right hand, but when you get to that second chorus (~2:25), it's almost impossible for me to hit those chords that fast without using some technique as he does.

Are there two washing machines and a vending machine on stage behind Geddy?

 

[Jehos]

Are there two washing machines and a vending machine on stage behind Geddy?

Yeah, that's another Geddy thing. He runs his bass direct, but rock shows demand big stacks of amps. So he puts silly stuff behind him just to take up space on the stage. The rotisseries are my personal favorite. Notice that they're mic'd.

 

[Ric5]

 

[DanGroove]

Yeah, that's another Geddy thing. He runs his bass direct, but rock shows demand big stacks of amps. So he puts silly stuff behind him just to take up space on the stage. The rotisseries are my personal favorite. Notice that they're mic'd.

LOL I never knew or heard of this. I was never that into Rush but always admired his playing. My fandom just increased a few fandom units.

 

[JPaulGeddy]

I used to be in a Rush trib band, so got pretty decent at that. It's still part of my style these days, will do the semi-flamenco thing when doing 8ths/16ths/etc. More comfy than a pick for me these days.

 

[bhendrix]

Geddy is the reason I wanted to take up bass in 1979 - Hemispheres was/is a masterpiece and seeing them live several times during the Hemispheres tour (was lucky enough to roadie for a local band that got a few southeast dates to open for Rush) and being able to meet him and watch him work up close, well, been a huge fan ever since! Now 40 years later, I'll still never do justice to any of his work, but I sure have had a whole lotta fun trying!

 

[scowboy]

Respect to Ryan, who's terrific, but Dave LaRue did invisible pick long before anyone ever heard of Ryan Martinie

As did Bernard Edwards.

 

[zombywoof5050]

Another cool thing about the dryers (not washing machines) was that there were Rush t-shirts in them, and Geddy would occasionally grab a warm t-shirt out of one of them and throw it out into the audience.

 

[Laklandfan]

I think Jack Bruce used a similar right hand technique, it was technique based playing an Indian instrument called a Veena (?) which is an older version of the sitar. I could definitely see Jack Bruce being an inspiration to Geddy. I think Abe Leboriel Jr also used a similar Flamenco style. I think in the late 80s, Geddy took lessons from Jeff Berlin, which could possibly have influenced him.

 

[micguy]

Another cool thing about the dryers (not washing machines)

Damn - I've been doing it all wrong! I just bought 4 washing machines for a tour - they're supposed to be dryers?

 

[Charlzm]

I don't often see many people mention Geddy's right hand technique, particularly from the 90's on. It seems to be one of the most unique right hand techniques so I'm curious to see if there's any other pros that use the same technique or if any of you had experimented with it. I've briefly tried to learn it but its pretty hard to get the hang of but seems to work great for those songs where he just plays a consistent 16th note pattern. The way he grooves and accents different notes just playing straight 16ths is pretty crazy.

I don't like to play with a pick, so I learned the "flamenco" finger technique to play steady notes at a higher speed than I can pluck with my fingers. I first saw Geddy doing it, although Cliff Burton and Bryan Beller are (were) both proponents of it as well.

Here I am using it to play steady 16ths for a few bars starting at 6:11...

 

[mikewalker]

I've been doing that sort of stuff forever - had no idea it was a 'Geddy' thing (Must be those Kenayjunz, eh?).
I was recently SCOLDED for the one-finger trill-picking by a (keyboardist) bandleader I was subbing for, he told me "that's WRONG"...

 

[Janforth]

I am not sure who else is using this technique, I do it sometimes (very poorly). As far as I know, Geddy Lee has been using that technique from the very beginning of Rush (perhaps even before), check out this video from '74, scroll to the 30:56 mark, you will hear and see it (as clear as the poor quality video will allow), but quite evident.

 

[Altitude]

Geddy seems to play pretty far forward and with an almost underhanded approach to the string anyway, even when he's not using that technique.

It might have been an accidental discovery to use both directions of his stroke to get a different effect.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I don't often see many people mention Geddy's right hand technique, particularly from the 90's on. It seems to be one of the most unique right hand techniques so I'm curious to see if there's any other pros that use the same technique or if any of you had experimented with it. I've briefly tried to learn it but its pretty hard to get the hang of but seems to work great for those songs where he just plays a consistent 16th note pattern. The way he grooves and accents different notes just playing straight 16ths is pretty crazy.

Please don’t make me listen to him sing....Ya got a video of him using this technique?

 

[Altitude]

Not to put down Geddy, who is a fantastic bass player, but Stanley Clarke was doing that Flamenco thing in the early 70s long before anybody knew of Geddy Lee or Les Claypool.

I'd argue they both came up right about the same time. They're within 2 years of age; Rush dropped their first in '74 and Stanley first appeared on RTF in '72.

 

[pbass2]

I wonder if Jamerson ever did anything like this. If he really was always plucking with just the one finger, there's some fast bits that are pretty damn impressive just with regular plucking.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Wonder why Rush would put a mic on a stage prop? Or three mics (two of which are different types) on three separate stage props?