I never realized John Mcvie was so good

[emblymouse]

McVie's style is as defined as what he doesn't play as much as what he does play.

I've always admired how he's able to leave open space in his bass lines.

John McVie and Mick Fleetwood are masters of understatement. There are so many times I think I hear a note in a McVie bassline, only to realize he just implied it. Same with Mick Fleetwood. It's not about what they CAN play but more what they CHOOSE to play. Well chosen words have a bigger effect I think.

 

[Godfather]

I am sorry to disagree but Lindsey Buckingham is simply the master of the 'one note' guitar solo....

How about Mike Campbell of The Heartbreakers?

 

[The Golden Boy]

Don't sleep on McVie, to many album accounts of a good player there.

I'm not sure a lot of people draw from the whole history of the Fleetwood Mac.

Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Pete Green were all in Mayall's band. Green wanted to split off into his own band- and decided that his rhythm section was going to be Fleetwood and McVie. Peter Green could have had his pick of the litter for whoever he wanted to play with him, and he chose Fleetwood and McVie... As I'm aware he started talking to the press about his new project- "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac" BEFORE consulting with McVie and Fleetwood. As I also understand it, Mick was all in, but John didn't want to leave the steady paycheck of Mayall... "but you've gotta join, I named the band after you..."

 

[RickC]

AFAIK, he owns the first bass Modulus ever built. IIRC a P-bass type. He tried it at a NAMM show and bought it instantly. And yes, he is a great bass player.

Actually, that would be me. Seriously. AFAIK, the *first* Modulus bass was a narrow-neck 6-string that was Geoff Gould's personal instrument, and the Modulus prototype. According to Geoff, the bass was unintentionally sold out from under him at the NAMM show in the mid 70's. I found the bass in a Boston music store in the late 90's and contacted Geoff about it. He verified it's authenticity, and told me he hadn't seen it in over twenty years.

There's more. After fooling around with it for a couple of years, I returned the bass to Geoff around 2000; imo, the only "rightful" owner. The bass was subsequently stolen from him in 2002, and then once again recovered in 2004.

Here's a link:

http://ggould.com/stolen_bass.html

btw, it was the best, "warmest" sounding Modulus I ever played.


And speaking of Mac, he had two very early Alembics, one fretless with a stainless steel fretboard. These were a symmetrical body style, unlike the typical Series I and II shapes. Here's a pic of the fretted. Note the brown pickups, very typical of the first Alembics:

Invalid Link Removed

/rick

 

[jerry]

How about Mike Campbell of The Heartbreakers?

Another great example of one of the MVPs of rock & roll guitar playing!

 

[DWBass]

I learned "Say You Love Me" a week or two ago. It is very cool. The song is in A and the mystery chord at the climax of the song is a D. Until that point you really have to stay off that D until the climax or you just destroy the powerful effect of it.

It's a very fun tune to play. Simple, but not mundane. Yes - I had a John McVie moment when I learned the tune, which is why I looked at this thread. He's great.

KO

Here's an impromtu version from my old band. We have a better version but I can't find it at the moment.

 

[9mmMike]

Here's an impromtu version from my old band. We have a better version but I can't find it at the moment.

Very clean bass. Nice.

 

[kraigo]

I like John McVie a lot and consider him highly underrated in much the sense of another of my heroes, John Deacon.

Really listen to the bass line of Queen's "Your my Best Friend". Not the droning root on the keyboard, but the bass part. It's Jamersonesque. It's a _REALLY_ brilliant bass line that is so buried in the mix that it's easy to miss. There's a remix on my CD of _A Night at the Opera_ that makes it pop out a lot more.

KO

 

[kraigo]

What's with all the Lindsey Buckingham bashing? I absolutely love the fingerpicking on "Never Going Back Again". I really like the fact that he's not your typical guitarist. If he's not unique he's at least very unusual. He's a team player and a composer. I'd rather be in a band with him than 95% (or more) of the guitarists out there.

KO

 

[Basshappi]

McVie is a very underrated player. McVie/Fleetwood are one of rocks great rhythm sections.

 

[jaywa]

What's with all the Lindsey Buckingham bashing? I absolutely love the fingerpicking on "Never Going Back Again". I really like the fact that he's not your typical guitarist. If he's not unique he's at least very unusual. He's a team player and a composer. I'd rather be in a band with him than 95% (or more) of the guitarists out there.

+1. A guitarist with solid rhythm makes things so much easier. Still not as important as a great drummer, but darn close.

 

[Eric Perry]

What's with all the Lindsey Buckingham bashing? I absolutely love the fingerpicking on "Never Going Back Again". I really like the fact that he's not your typical guitarist. If he's not unique he's at least very unusual. He's a team player and a composer. I'd rather be in a band with him than 95% (or more) of the guitarists out there.

KO

Agreed. Never Going back Again is one of my favorite Fleetwood songs. The whole Rumours album is killer, IMO.

 

[Lync]

Fleetwood Mac=great band.

Everyone should at least check out Rumours front to back.

It is a "must-have".

(IMO)

 

[PVTele]

Here's an impromtu version from my old band. We have a better version but I can't find it at the moment.

Very very nice. Not a note you don't need Even on that recording your tone just shines through. What was that, a P-Bass?

 

[MtManiac]

I am sorry to disagree but Lindsey Buckingham is simply the master of the 'one note' guitar solo....

Not to get too off topic, but I think Neil Young has that award already, from Down By The River.

 

[MtManiac]

Agreed. Never Going back Again is one of my favorite Fleetwood songs. The whole Rumours album is killer, IMO.

Rumours, to me, is one of those rare "perfect" albums, not a single dud song or bad note choice from anyone on the entire album.

 

[Thor]

Well, let's fAce it, FM is a 3 iteration band.

The Peter Green/Jeremy Spencer Band

The Bob Welch/ Danny Kirwan Band

The Nicks/Buckingham Band

The last being the wildly successful pop band. The first being
the outrageous blues band with that over the top little hobbit
Jeremy Spencer doing the strangest things on stage.

From that band, the 'Vintage Years' live recording from the
Boston Tea Pary, John's solo work on 'The Green Manalishi'
really stands out. When I listen to that cut I think he
is playing a 60's 6 string bass there. Hofner? Hagstrom?

Peter Green's work on Rattlesnake Shake should be textbook
tone and style homework for every Marshall stack wanker.

The transition to the smooth jazz rock blend that Kirwan and
Welch brought was a really calming and smoothing phase in
the band's sound. I saw them on that tour in 72, opener John
Baldry, FM and headliner Savoy Brown with Kim Simmons.
That was the 'Future Games' and 'Bare Trees' era. There sound
had morphed from raw to smooth and defined.

Bare Trees, imho, set the stage for the pop sound to come.
Christine McVie's rendition of 'Spare Me A Little' would have
played well on any later album. Great tune I have always
wanted to cover.

Mick published a bio a few years back, great book on a unique
musical journey.

One thing I have objected to lately is the appearance of heavily
remixed FM songs on the radio which bear no relation to the original
abum mixes, which imo were already perfect.
To what end this was done I am not sure, but it is obvious
that LB's solos are redone and remixed.

None of this takes away from the legacy of one of the most
solid 'One Two Punch' rhythm sections in contemporary
blues and pop music.

Yeah. great player.

 

[sound of bass]

Hmm, I always thought he was a good bassist, but not a great one. But speaking of the McVie's, I always felt it was Cristie McVie's voice that really set FM apart. Shes a much better vocalist than Stevie Nicks ever was, in my opinion.

 

[jerry]

The transition to the smooth jazz rock blend that Kirwan and
Welch brought was a really calming and smoothing phase in
the band's sound. I saw them on that tour in 72, opener John
Baldry, FM and headliner Savoy Brown with Kim Simmons.
That was the 'Future Games' and 'Bare Trees' era. There sound
had morphed from raw to smooth and defined.

Bare Trees, imho, set the stage for the pop sound to come.
Christine McVie's rendition of 'Spare Me A Little' would have
played well on any later album. Great tune I have always
wanted to cover.

I've been a fan since the beginning too, and I was fond of the 'Future Games' & 'Bare Trees' album era. I always dug that they morphed and when Christine Perfect came aboard they started concentrating on writing.
I was a fan for quite awhile before they hit big and was very stoked for them considering all they went through including their manager sending a bogus band on the road.
They had almost ten years of Rock & Roll insanity even before the Buckingham/ Nicks media circus.

 

[DWBass]

Very very nice. Not a note you don't need Even on that recording your tone just shines through. What was that, a P-Bass?

Thanks for the compliment. You can't get any busier on that song or it will sound like garbage. I tried to just cop the same feel as John. Not a P Bass. It was either my old Tobias (with single coils) or my old Peavey Millennium, both of which I no longer own. I'm a Lakland guy these days. That was recorded on a Zoom H2.