How to get Geddy's tone on Tom Sawyer?

[cfsporn]

Yeah, it's interesting how the isolated bass track doesn't sound all that good, but in the mix, it rules!

Am I the only one who likes the isolated sound?

 

[markkoelsch]

I still don't understand how he can play what he does using only his index finger for most of the notes. . . . You will get a long way towards the "tone from fingers" part of the equation if you can figure that out.

That single finger flcik is a relatively new thing for Geddy. In teh Moving Pictures era he was using 3 fingers a lot of the time.

 

[Hamlet7768]

That single finger flcik is a relatively new thing for Geddy. In teh Moving Pictures era he was using 3 fingers a lot of the time.

Watching him on Exit Stage Left, you can tell he's still using one finger when he can.

 

[two fingers]

Am I the only one who likes the isolated sound?

Meh. Probably not. You're allowed to like what you like. I think it would be better for me if it were an overdrive of some sort making all that noise. But, to me, it just sounds like a guy who needs to lighten up or raise his action. It's more clank and noise than tone. But, again, it works really well with their sound. And he is a great player no doubt.

I'm just trying to imagine the looks on the faces of the sound guy and/or band members if I were to play that line sounding just like that when the sound guy says at sound check "OK let's get a level on the bass."

 

[Teacher]

Isolateds are often disappointing to me, but they remind me of what I might sound like in a mix.

 

[JimmyM]

Jimmy, maybe you replied to the wrong post, but let's get real. Hands matter, but tone is not ALL in the hands. Guys like Entwistle, Squire, Lee, and Sheehan use tons of gear precisely because gear matters. Highly processed tones like theirs use plenty of EQ, OD, and FX -- not to mention complex stereo/biamp configurations.

If that's true, then how come they've all switched out different gear during their careers and still sound the way they always have?

Nobody's saying anyone could buy his way into any tone he wanted, but not even Tony Levin himself could duplicate his "Sledgehammer" tone using his hands alone (i.e. no signal processing).

Ya, to cop that sound identically you need an OC-2, but I use a completely different bass from Tony and can still cop that sound with an OC-2.

Copying tones can be done. I heard a guy pretty much nail Justin Chancellor's Wal tone using a Ken Smith Burner and a rack rig. That, in fact, is the caveat: there's no guaranteed way for Player A to copy Player B's tone.

Thank you for making my exact point, bro! If he's copping that tone well, that's almost certainly because he's playing more like Justin Chancellor, not because he sets his rig the same way.

When a professional musician says "nobody sounds like me except me", they are talking primarily about style. And that is something I generally agree with! But this whole "tone is ALL in the hands" thing... Not even Jaco could clone himself on a vanilla P-bass... harmonics can't be pulled from it in the same way.

You don't know that. Everyone always says you can't sound like Jaco without a fretless and there are numerous examples of Jaco using a fretted bass and sounding exactly like himself.

 

[David Jayne]

You don't know that. Everyone always says you can't sound like Jaco without a fretless and there are numerous examples of Jaco using a fretted bass and sounding exactly like himself.

And I can get big, fat harmonics all day, on a P bass with Ti flats. Pretty sure Jaco could have as well.

 

[David Jayne]

If that's true, then how come they've all switched out different gear during their careers and still sound the way they always have?

In fairness, Billy himself said he can't really do his thing without his actual gear(mega-compression is key).
But yeah, they change brands, but make it work. If you're good you sound like you no matter what.

 

[JimmyM]

Billy has changed his rigs several times over the years and still sounds like Billy.

 

[David Jayne]

Billy has changed his rigs several times over the years and still sounds like Billy.

Yes, you beat me to my edit.

 

[wateroftyne]

If that's true, then how come they've all switched out different gear during their careers and still sound the way they always have?

I'm not sure if include Geddy in that. His J tone in 1981 sounds nothing like his Wal tone, or Steinberger tone. Or his J tone in 2013, for that matter.

Note choice, groove and dynamics are all in the fingers. Tone is partly in the fingers. The rest is gear and EQ.

 

[David Jayne]

I'm not sure if include Geddy in that. His J tone in 1981 sounds nothing like his Wal tone, or Steinberger tone. Or his J tone in 2013, for that matter.

Note choice, groove and dynamics are all in the fingers. Tone is partly in the fingers. The rest is gear and EQ.

Yeah but that was a conscious choice by Getty. He has said on camera that he's gone toward a more bass, less treble direction over the years. Very deliberately.

 

[JimmyM]

If I wasn't told he switched basses, I doubt I could tell. You can turn down the treble on a Ric, too

 

[Stone Soup]

If I ever sounded like this at sound check, I would get fired from any band I play with.

 

[BawanaRik]

That's a cool bass part to whip out and impress your friends.

Rush seems like a group of friends living the dream. Geddy is going to be 60 in a couple of months and has managed to do it with my new measure of ultimate success. He never had a "real" job!

Congratulations Geddy!

 

[SirMjac28]

iTunes and $1.29

Priceless

 

[SirMjac28]

I'm not sure if include Geddy in that. His J tone in 1981 sounds nothing like his Wal tone, or Steinberger tone. Or his J tone in 2013, for that matter.

Note choice, groove and dynamics are all in the fingers. Tone is partly in the fingers. The rest is gear and EQ.

I have to say I'm impressed because I could never be able to tell what he used by just listening to the recordings?

 

[wateroftyne]

I have to say I'm impressed because I could never be able to tell what he used by just listening to the recordings?

Genuine question - do you disagree that different basses have inherent tonal characteristics: J, P, Wal, Musicman, Hofner, etc?

 

[wateroftyne]

Yeah but that was a conscious choice by Getty. He has said on camera that he's gone toward a more bass, less treble direction over the years. Very deliberately.

...Suggesting that tone isn't all in the fingers.

 

[David Jayne]

...Suggesting that tone isn't all in the fingers.

The finger bone's connected to the......brain bone.

Hey, lots of his tone adjustments over the years, or even within a song come from his choice of attack and general technique. Sure, he's adjusted his gear too.

I think the point is, if you hand Geddy, or any other notable player your bass and amp, he'll get it sounding like him in short order. It'll be close enough. Not exactly the tone we all know and love, but you'll know it's him.

On the other hand, if Geddy were to hand some beginner, student level player his bass, plugged into his concert rig, would that student be able to make a noise that sounds like Geddy?

Of course gear/EQ is part of it, sometimes a BIG part of it. But what do you use to adjust EQ?