George Murray... gear?

[consectaneus]

Good stuff here. His climb to the A 3rd in the closing is so catchy.

I'm just dipping my toe into the waters here, learning a little Station to Station and Golden Years. So far I'm finding a wealth of cool lines that mix R&B with a rock feel which is just the best. Looking forward to delving into more. Long overdue.

 

[P. Aaron]

I'm just dipping my toe into the waters here, learning a little Station to Station and Golden Years. So far I'm finding a wealth of cool lines that mix R&B with a rock feel which is just the best. Looking forward to delving into more. Long overdue.

Murray is perfect during this era of Bowie. He and Dennis Davis are so studio like but when Bowie has those songs like What In the World from [b[Low[/b], they’re right there keeping it together. I saw them live in ‘78 when Bowie was doing the Heroes tour.

Studio players are always a great source of playing to draw from. After all, the playing is simple, precise, usually tasteful and liked by millions. It’s what we’d all like in our own playing so, listen & learn as much from these pros as one can.

 

[P. Aaron]

Carlos Alomar's blog entry about Dennis Davis & George Murray. Nice pic of George with his top hat and P bass. The Making OF David Bowie’s -D.A.M TRIO-

Bummed to read that Dennis Davis passed away. A terrific drummer.

Why can’t the drummers I suffer to work with just copy that guy?

 

[design]

Dennis Davis’ son Hiraku has a series of interviews with people who played with his dad.

Here’s George Murray in November 2017!

 

[garp]

Dennis Davis’ son Hiraku has a series of interviews with people who played with his dad.

Here’s George Murray in November 2017!

Thanks very much for posting that...I never would've found it on my own.

 

[design]

Re George’s gear. Here are some pics of him!
* light coloured P Bass with maple fretboard, 1976 on the Dinah Shore TV Show.
* dark coloured P Bass with rosewood fretboard, 1976 onwards
* Ampeg amps and others?
* Travis Bean TB2000 bass
* a bass I can’t identify, brown wood body, double P pickup arrangement, light coloured pickup covers (Dimarzios?), 1979 Saturday Night Live TV show. [Edit: a BC Rich Eagle].

 

[design]

Also here’s 42 minutes of a great TV appearance from 1978 Musikladen in Germany where George plays his Travis Bean with a pick, before playing his dark P bass with his fingers, then back to his Travis Bean with fingers.

 

[Bob_Ross]

a bass I can’t identify, brown wood body, double P pickup arrangement, light coloured pickup covers (Dimarzios?), 1979 Saturday Night Live TV show.

That looks like a B.C. Rich

 

[design]

* a bass I can’t identify, brown wood body, double P pickup arrangement, light coloured pickup covers (Dimarzios?), 1979 Saturday Night Live TV show.

That looks like a B.C. Rich

Oh yeah a BC Rich Eagle, like this one.

 

[ZachM]

Man, that TB2000 from the video is an excellent sounding bass

 

[KoalaBass]

Hey yall, here's a link that popped up fairly recently, it is a transcription from a cool 1978 Sound International article about Bowie's rhythm section: The Rhythm Section (SI Sep 78)

On George's gear: "George plays a Fender Precision bass with D'Addario flatwound strings and a Travis Bean bass with Carl Thompson wirewound strings. The Travis Bean is played through an MXR Flanger and a Mutron phaser. Both instruments go through a bi-amped stereo equaliser and two Ampeg SVTamplifiers and cabinets."

" I use the Travis Bean for the Ziggy Stardust material and the Fender on the Station To Station material. That is just a matter of personal preference because either bass could do either job, I just choose to break things up that way. The different strings suit the different instruments, the Travis has a rougher sound and the wirewound strings add a bit more bite."

Didn't know d'addario flats were already in the game by '78. Does anyone know if they were similar to today's chromes?
Also no mention of the added J bridge pick up.

This was a very informative read for me, hope you'll dig it too!

 

[erik_ghoulet]

That was great. Super underrated player.

 

[350125g0]

Was listening to Station to Station the other day... just beautiful sounds.

 

[600 Ohms]

Thread resurrection. I'm fairly obsessed with George Murray and it's good to see other fans of his. On the two released recordings from the isolar II tour (1978) he just never puts a foot wrong. The best.