• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

I am become...Geddy

#21
I am totally there with ya, dude. Though I play in an original band and I do my best to keep from becoming a thudding, dragging Rush clone band, I tend to get two reactions when I give someone our CD: #1 "That's YOU singing?" #2 "You sound like Rush."

I can't help it, though. Just the other day someone was commenting on my Electric Six T-Shirt and thinking that Jack White was part of that outfit (he sang on one song). I said I could never get into White Stripes because NO FREAKING BASS PLAYER. So I have to have something to catch my interest in the sub 300hZ frequencies or I just can't get too excited.

But I will say I consciously do not encourage Rush covers in my band. It would be too much, I think.
 
#22
In my old originals band (this is years ago...early 90s), we were constantly being told we were Rush clones. We took it as a compliment. I can pretty much play any Rush song ever made on bass, and even though I did take lessons for the first 3 years, I considered the time I sat figuring out Rush songs by ear as my real education (pre-internet).
 
#23
Another thing I find interesting with Rush songs is how integral all three main instruments are to each other in the songs.

I started learning The Trees this week and I'm totally digging the intricate bass work against the guitar and drums.
 
#25
the_hook said:
But I won’t sing…:eyebrow: We're looking around for either a skinny guy with a huge schnoz, long hair and high vocals or a girl that looks the same and actually likes Rush songs....:p
Click to expand...
Haha, good luck! I play in a Rush tribute band, and I'm with you, I love playing Geddy's bass lines. They come completely natural to me for some reason. But as far as a girl who likes Rush, I can probabaly count on 2 hands the girls that have come up to us after a show and really dug it. And that's been alot of years - haha.
 
#27
the_hook said:
I was only partially kidding about doing less busy bass lines; I can do both. I just find when I do more complex stuff I can 'see' the different note patterns (like pieces on a map) better than some plain flat country road that goes on for miles and lulls you to sleep..:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

That can be tough, if you have a repetitive riff that makes up a bassline, but the form is more complicated than "Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus."

Just some ideas...these may or may not be useful to you:

-Even though you don't want to be a singer, can you still sing the whole tune in your head, beginning to end? Knowing the vocals can give you better "signposts" to help keep you "on the road," so to speak.

-Sounds like you may need to develop a sense of "form awareness." Sometimes this only comes with repetition. We have one tune in our book (we're a jazz fusion trio) that has repeats, an "A-B" chorus, an interlude/vamp, and a modulated chorus. Come to think of it we have several tunes that have a complicated form, even though I can play the chord changes bar-to-bar in my sleep--I darned well have to be in the right part of the tune to walk the changes! :eek: Sometimes the only reason I have the book open is not to even read/remember the changes as much to read my scribblings to myself regarding how the form works--what section comes next, order of solos, where we repeat to, etc...

The tunes we've been working on longer, I really don't need the crutch anymore. Some tunes I still lean on it, though.

I realize you don't use sheet music in a live cover band situation, but would it be cheating too much to scribble out a "cheat sheet" listing the form in some kind of shorthand "A-A with cool riff-B, A guitar solo, etc..."? Tape it down to the stage in front of you? Maybe not practical in your situation, but it would give you something to rely on until the form becomes natural--which trust me, it will after enough repetitions.

EDIT: As an aside, I thought it was really interesting watching the "Beyond the Lighted Stage" documentary, where the band members were talking about how "La Villa Strangiato" was so epic that it was really kicking their butts trying to pull it together. This should be encouragement to us normal stiffs how even the Masters we look up to have to devote hard work and practice to make things happen. :)
 
#28
Geddy uses certain patterns fairly frequently, and once you figure out what they are, it's easier to get a feel for his parts.
His phrasing still feels awkward to me a lot, which is part of the challenge in covering someone else's work.
I never had any ambition to play Rush covers at a gig, but at home it does feel good when you nail the songs.
La Villa is probably my favorite, or maybe tied with Freewill.

As far as playing simple stuff, the fun is in the nuances. The subtle variations that often really define the bassline.
Not necessarily recognizable to the audience, but very obvious to the band when you leave them out.
 
#29
Never say never....

At a recent jam we had a chance to try out some singers. Well that didn’t work out…I don’t know where people get the belief they can pull something off when clearly they can’t. Most didn’t even know the proper lyrics to the songs, nor could any of them reach the Geddy level registers we were after.

Man, when I started this jam band all I wanted to do was play the bass. But having had that experience I decided it’s DIY time again; I’ll do the singing. We tried to find a keyboard player a while back, but that didn’t happen, so I bought some gear and learned to play keys and pedals.

So now it was time to tackle vocals. Not because I have a great voice (I have zero desire to sing), but there are a few songs where the vocals could help as a guide for us to play our parts better and no one else wanted to do it.

On top of that, the three of us have a really solid chemistry from playing for a year now, and we each have challenging parts to play on each song. Introducing another person into the mix just hasn’t seemed to work.

So I picked one song to try out and see if I could pull off playing bass, synthesizers, pedals and vocals. It wasn’t easy; while I’m thinking of the lyrics I’m messing up on the bass parts. But with some practice I was able to get the parts working.

We finally jammed where we could test the song out and even though we only did a few takes, it came off quite well. The other guys found the song just easier to play with the vocals, and I was just starting to get into a good groove with all my parts. With some more time on it I can see things improving.

And from that I learned something new: I now understand the phrasing of the lyrics (and breathing) within the parts of the song. I also didn't have to think in terms of how many bars I play certain parts, nor did I have to keep that close eye contact with the guitarist/drummer for any part changes. I just sang and played and they followed my lead.

And they said I was actually good....so now they want me to sing more songs...:scowl:

Now all I need is a big wig, large schnoze with glasses and I'm set...:eyebrow:
 
#30
That's similar to what happened to me about a million years ago. (late '80's)

When I got out of the Navy, I got into two bands, both with drummers I'd worked with pre-Navy. One was a blues-rock kind of thing. The other started as basically almost a Rush tribute band.

The drummer in the bluesy one was very tasty and soulful. Every note he hit was exactly where it should be. But he was kind of minimalist.

The drummer in the prog group was very technically capable. But he had much less soul. That bands guitarist was the drummer's little brother. They basically wanted desperately to be Neil Peart and Jimmy Page.

We learned a LOT of Rush tunes as a trio. But didn't have a decent singer or keyboardist. When we found a keyboardist, he didn't want to do the Rush tunes we'd learned. So we started writing originals.

We auditioned probably fifty singers over three years. Two were legitimate lead vocalists. One turned us down. The other showed up for the first rehearsal stoned and I fired him. Of the other ninety-six percent of the auditions, a third or so were physically uncomfortable to hear. And the rest were like me: godd enough to sing backup, but not lead.

That's how I became our lead singer, not because in any way did I think I was good enough, but because I was already there. We call that the Phil Collins Method.

It was only years later that I found out whose voice I imagined when I wrote. We couldn't have afforded him anyway. My mental voice is Paul Carrack.
 
#32
He sounded like Gabriel because they did a lot of rehearsing with him basically imitating Gabriel while they looked for the new singer.

A few weeks/months singing like him made that feel natural to Phil.

You would think that all the time spent trying to do what I heard in my head while I wrote would have similarly made me sound like Paul Carrack. And you'd be wrong.
 
#33
I think if you cover Rush you are at a natural risk as a bass player of taking on all the Geddy roles. Not many singers or keyboard players raise their hand to sign up for Geddy singing or playing a 10 second orchestra pad three times and calling it a song.

I kind of arrived there albeit a long time ago. Somewhere between Power Windows and Hold Your Fire my life took a turn that involved gainful employment and a serious relationship where somehow this woman and I now jointly own everything and we have a small clone of the two of us running around.

Having said that, I took a 10-year hiatus without touching a single instrument in that time. While I don't recommend that to anyone, the unintended benefit was that I learned to listen to music. Apparently the fact that I was trying to learn intricate and complex bass parts since I was 12 somehow got in the way from me actually hearing music like "regular" people do.

I just recently bought my first bass in a decade and have been practicing up to a reasonable level. Oddly, after a few hours of practice here and there I feel really, really comfortable again. I just played along with side 1 from Moving Pictures (I learned it on vinyl and therefore the concept of a "side" still has meaning) and feel that I am playing it better than I ever did before with all the nuances and tones far more correct than the busy lick soup that I had previously amalgamated from all of the different live stuff I've seen Geddy do over the years.

And because this reply is all over the map, I'll add that I recently saw Peter Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra at one of his first shows of their tour over in London. Amazing show.

Was there a point to this? No. This isn't the post you were looking for. You can go about your business. Move along.
 
#34
Tom Sawyer was easy to sing compared to Limelight..:eyebrow:

Trying to fit those vocals while playing some of the bass parts is just not easy. But I never back down from a challenge, so I'll keep at it.

Does anyone have advice on how to keep yourself sync'd up between vocals and playing? This is a whole new mountain to climb, but I'm determined to climb it.
 
#35
digital man, make the time period 18 years and you have me :), I'm 51 and have been a Rush fan since I was 15 or so (Holy hell, have they been around that long?). About 1.5 years ago, I had this weird instrument withdrawal attack, and went out and bought a new spector. I too believe I listened to things differently as well. Damn I wish I was playing all that time.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back