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How about that ANDY ROURKE?

sethlow3

sethlow3

Jun 19, 2003
2,384
1,016
Nashville, Tennessee
#1
I just stumbled across him about 2 months ago and I haven't been the same since. He is so melodic and groovy. He is in his own unique pocket in which he is locked in time but not always with the drums. Another good UK bass player I love!

I was entertained to only find a couple of threads on these boards about Andy. My advice to anyone who hasn't heard him is to go out and buy "Hat Full of Hollow" for great examples of his playing. He doesn't always use a pic I found out, and he currently has a decent website. I just figured it was time for another go round about Andy. I would really like people to post any interesting facts or quotes from Andy since he is still so new to me. Thanks....
 
#2
Andy's a great player. He actually played in Funk bands before joining the Smiths (How about that for a bit of trivia?)

While the Smiths were never really a funky band, check out the track "Barbarism Begins at Home" from the Meat is Murder album. Amazing groove. He's very underrated.
 
#4
Andy is my favorite bass player for the reasons you mentioned. His lines fit so well, but are so different from the melody of the songs. His funk background mixed with Joyce's desire to play punk-like drums really made some interesting stuff. I just love how no other bass player has his sound or even comes close really.

I really miss the Smiths. :bawl:
 
#5
You're kidding! Andy sold tha old Yamaha from the old Smith photos? I wonder how much gear he really owns now? Although I was born when the Smiths started, I wish they were still together too. The way Marr and Rourke would play together was so beautiful. So I'd also ask. What kind of vibe did you get from 1st listening to Andy?

I got a real sense of warmth and rhythm from him. His stuff just suits the music, and its no complicated slappity stuff like a lot of kids play nowaday. ("real" bass playing IMO)

BTW I heard "babarism begins at home" about the 3rd time I heard Andy and its very funky. He can make a pick sound like slap, and he is able to coax so many usable tones out of his p basses.
 
#8
sethlow3 said:
I just stumbled across him about 2 months ago and I haven't been the same since. He is so melodic and groovy. He is in his own unique pocket in which he is locked in time but not always with the drums. Another good UK bass player I love!

I was entertained to only find a couple of threads on these boards about Andy. My advice to anyone who hasn't heard him is to go out and buy "Hat Full of Hollow" for great examples of his playing. He doesn't always use a pic I found out, and he currently has a decent website. I just figured it was time for another go round about Andy. I would really like people to post any interesting facts or quotes from Andy since he is still so new to me. Thanks....
Click to expand...

Superb player. A big influence on me.

We just played a Smiths tribute charity gig at the weekend, it went down a storm. I had to learn 16 Andy Rourke basslines, note-for-note, in 2 weeks. Not easy.

I was under the impression he used a '64 UK-slab Fender precision bass for most of the Smiths stuff, through Ampeg amps.

There's one website out there containing almost all of the Smiths stuff tabbed out for bass... badly. They're virtually all wrong, don't use it.
 
#9
davidmwilson said:
the simple stuff is great too. Even something straightforward like the verse of 'There is a light that never goes out' is a great lesson in taste and melody.
Click to expand...

Amazing tune.

Other good ones for bass are "This night has opened my eyes" "William it was really nothing" "This Charming Man" and "Heaven knows I'm miserable now"
 
#11
I had to learn "Heaven Knows..." and "this charming man" the day I heard them. And yeah, learning his stuff is not incredibly easy. He's got a smoothe flavor with slides and double stops. Then he's got that "in your face" sound with a pick. Which i guess goes to show how important both techniques really are. Again with a Pbass. I see kids on these boards who play fingerstyle on their P basses and complain about not having a good punk tone.

My friend has a smiths live tape and it looks to me like Andy stays in standard tuning for "barbarism...." and everything else. He's just really good with a pick I guess.

I didn't like Morrisey's voice at 1st but now I really like it. Anyone else feel that way?
 
#12
yup, Andy Rourke was one of the people I wanted to play like when I started playing bass... his 'P-Bass with a pick' tone is my idea of how great rock bass should sound

live, Andy used 2 basses, one tuned to E and 1 tuned to F (!)

I read an anecdote of his recently where his roadie gave him the wrong bass for a song and he ended up playing a whole song a semitone higher than it should have been...
 
#15
Awesome, indeed.

I'm surprised to hear about having the bass tuned to F - Many of their songs are in F#, with Marr using a capo on the 2nd fret. Maybe he used the E bass for those, and they played others in F and he used the F bass for those. Hmm.

When I first heard BBaH, I thought it was slapped. I tried to learn it that way. :D
 

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