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Greg Lake's bass sound

#21
even tho I saw ELP a few times in the early '70s, including Cal Jam, and still dig his bass sound from then, he really stood out in both incredible sonics and talent when he was with Crimson, especially live where he used a Zemaitis and got a truly mean snarly tone when he dug in which was perfect for the intense music that band played. except for the lucky few who saw them in '69 Greg's monstrous stage presence had been a virtual secret until the exceedingly scarce concert recordings in quality audio started becoming available about a decade ago. that's when he really made the most indelible impact on me and I rate him as high as anybody just from that glimpse. it seems he was another bass recruit requested by Fripp who learned bass on the job just like Boz! Greg really was something special.
 
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#22
pretty damn badass!
upload_2017-10-12_0-59-52.png
 
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#23
Bob_Ross said:
Given that a number of ELP tunes have the bass doubling Emerson's left hand
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Guess you haven't played with too many pianists yet. Once they get down into the frequency range that the bass is working in, doubling the line is almost a necessity unless you want a murky mess.

PS every photo of Greg while in KC shows a Jazz Bass, which is also what I saw him using when I saw ELP in 1972. The Zemaitis came later as far as I know. BTW, a local guy I know owns one of Greg's Zemaitis six strings.
 
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#24
Bob_Ross said:
Given that a number of ELP tunes have the bass doubling Emerson's left hand, I'd say you're only partially correct.
:::dancing banana:::
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There is a joke about the best bassist in ELP being Keith's left hand. I think that is only really true when you go deep into Keith's compositions. I think there was a faction in the band between Lake's poppier leanings and Keith wanting to write sonatas. When Keith wrote stuff out like Tarkus, he basically schooled Greg into copying his left hand ostinatos. Greg was apparently left quite cold by the title track on Tarkus, which is surprising as it is one of the few ELP tracks I enjoy coming back to. I think Greg earned his rights playing bass in King Crimson. There is enough live material for

Being brutally honest, I don't think ELP really gelled together at all. There isn't a lot of intuitive grooving going on in that band. As such Greg had to carve out his own role in the band, so he was more 'bass player' than 'bassist'.
 
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#25
I like his live sound on Pictures at an Exhibition, when he isn't drowning it in effects. Not boomy, but definitely not clanky either.
 
#26
Axstar said:
There is a joke about the best bassist in ELP being Keith's left hand. I think that is only really true when you go deep into Keith's compositions. I think there was a faction in the band between Lake's poppier leanings and Keith wanting to write sonatas. When Keith wrote stuff out like Tarkus, he basically schooled Greg into copying his left hand ostinatos. Greg was apparently left quite cold by the title track on Tarkus, which is surprising as it is one of the few ELP tracks I enjoy coming back to. I think Greg earned his rights playing bass in King Crimson. There is enough live material for

Being brutally honest, I don't think ELP really gelled together at all. There isn't a lot of intuitive grooving going on in that band. As such Greg had to carve out his own role in the band, so he was more 'bass player' than 'bassist'.
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Lack of a groove all falls on Palmer, IMO. I love his playing but groove just wasn't/isn't in his DNA.
 
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#28
Bob Coldwell said:
Well, I think ELP was a very tight band. I don't know if they needed to "groove" to be good, any more than the London Philharmonic does.
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I agree 100%, but I also agree that Carl Palmer rushed a lot and wasn't the most fluid player on earth. Chops out the wazoo and great ideas but he rushed a lot.
 
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#32
Gluvhand said:
It's funny. That was the knock on Cozy Powell as well and he went on to play with Emerson and Lake, and did a better job than most thought he would. I guess Emerson liked to be rushed.
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Wouldn't surprise me. There's a certain type of drumming that works well with Keith, and Carl, Cozy and Brian Davison of the Nice all had that vibe. Very technical, driving, with a mix of the classical and jazz of the day.
 
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#33
All of ELP rushed! I have a few live recordings, and they always pile into tracks like Hoedown. It is weird that the band could still be tripped up by things such as fixing on a tempo for 'The Great Gates of Kiev'. Again I've heard a few live recordings where, after Keith Emerson's organ demolition solo, the band struggle to get the tempo right.

JimmyM said:
Wouldn't surprise me. There's a certain type of drumming that works well with Keith, and Carl, Cozy and Brian Davison of the Nice all had that vibe. Very technical, driving, with a mix of the classical and jazz of the day.
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I have a soft spot for Brian Davison's drumming. Definitely more a jazz drummer than anything else, and he definitely played with a lot more swing (maybe too much?) than Carl.
 
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#38
By way of contrast and a bit of shameless self promo, here is my bass cover of “Eruption / Tarkus” played fingerstyle.

It’s murder to play. 4 strings of 4ths, all muted with my left hand note by note fast, then three more 4ths one fret up. Yikes.

I also have a cover on my YouTube channel of “Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression” in case anyone’s interested in more ELP.

 
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#40
rtav said:
By way of contrast and a bit of shameless self promo, here is my bass cover of “Eruption / Tarkus” played fingerstyle.

It’s murder to play. 4 strings of 4ths, all muted with my left hand note by note fast, then three more 4ths one fret up. Yikes.

I also have a cover on my YouTube channel of “Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression” in case anyone’s interested in more ELP.

Click to expand...


I enjoyed that. Quite a workout, eh? I often forget how good Lake was because ELP's music was pretty seamless.
 
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