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Larry Graham or Louis Johnson

#23
I've heard it said that Louis came up with his style independent of hearing or knowing of Larry Graham. I guess that could happen... if he lived in a cave;)

Back in the late 60's Sly & the Family Stone was everywhere. Everywhere. And with only a few broadcast channels available it was rare that people would miss them on Ed Sullivan (whole families glued to the tv on Sunday nights), Mike Douglas, etc.
 
#24
Originally posted by pyrohr
To Andrew Jones, I grew up in Jamaica Queens Which is the hometown of Marcus Miller. I've known Marcus since he was about 13 or 14 years old. I can say here that Marcus seeing me Actually play "hair" by Larry graham gave him a new found love for the style today known as thumping and popping. He was going to music and art high school and his main instrument was clarinet, he had started playing bass to get into the music scene going on in the neighborhood. He told his friends Tony and Fergie that "hair" was over dubbed in the studio. They were passing by my house and heard me playing it so they rang my bell and came in to see me do it. They left and came back with Marcus (who at the time was playing with my ex wifes brother's band) and played it for him. I showed him my approach and he loved it. Marcus is about 2 or 3 years younger than me so Graham was still new to him while I had been listening to him for years.
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Great story. Back in the day, "Hair" was THE bassline. Messed with a lot of heads, especially of those who tried to learn it from an album without seeing Graham do it.

Gotta ask... could you sing it like Graham when you played it?;)
 
#29
To Andrew Jones, I grew up in Jamaica Queens Which is the hometown of Marcus Miller. I've known Marcus since he was about 13 or 14 years old. I can say here that Marcus seeing me Actually play "hair" by Larry graham gave him a new found love for the style today known as thumping and popping. He was going to music and art high school and his main instrument was clarinet, he had started playing bass to get into the music scene going on in the neighborhood. He told his friends Tony and Fergie that "hair" was over dubbed in the studio. They were passing by my house and heard me playing it so they rang my bell and came in to see me do it. They left and came back with Marcus (who at the time was playing with my ex wifes brother's band) and played it for him. I showed him my approach and he loved it. Marcus is about 2 or 3 years younger than me so Graham was still new to him while I had been listening to him for years.
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Wow! best post,...ever.


Seriously, thats a great story. Funny thing is I've heard marcus tell a story about a older guy in his neighborhood showing how to slap.The other side of the coin?


AJ
 
#31
Sorry, but I've got to be the voice of dissention here.
Originally posted by Treena Foster
The fact that the thought of originality would even innate in one's mind would be put there to second guess the Original Thought, thus making the thought unoriginal, and infinitely intertwined to the bewilderment of originality.

This first sentence/paragraph makes no sense to me. It is not even a proper sentence. It is just nonsensical gobledygook, which looks close enough to a complete though to try to pass for one. If someone could explain to me what it is supposed to mean, I'd appreciate it.

When I first read it, I thought that Treena was posting it as a joke.

No, we cannot as conditioned human beings state for complete truth that every thought is or is not original, as every aspect of our life can be integrated into that single thought, and, as stated by so many before, picked apart and manipulated to fit the latter 'color scheme.'

I guess "for complete truth" is supposed to mean "with complete truthfulness." But what single thought are we integrating every aspect of our lives into?

Modern genius is almost a paradox within itself, an interesting conundrum

"Modern genius," whatever that is, is "an argument that apparently derives self-contradictory conclusions by valid deduction from acceptable premises?" Nope. Or "a riddle whose answer is a pun?" Nope. Or "a question or problem having only a conjectural answer?" No, genius is not a question.

in which most of us fall victim to wanting to claim the title.

Everyone is claiming to be a genius? don't think so.

Modern genius? Originality? Impossible. We have technology, high speed interaction. We have televisions and ignorance. Genius is a fairy tale,

Sorry. Genius is (from the dictionary) "a single strongly marked capacity or aptitude," or "an extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity, or "a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially : a person with a very high intelligence quotient." None of these things have been nullified by television or the internet. More minds may go undeveloped, but I belive man's capacity for the the extraordinary will never be usurped.

a dying system with a sense of extinction.

Genius is a system? Nope. And what the heck is "a sense of extinction" supposed to mean?

Originality, much like nothing or infinity, or another's perception.

I can't get any meaning from this at all. Perhaps I might if it were a sentence. Can anyone explain?

Something we will never truly know, something we cannot comprehend, something we cannot grasp.

Try comprehending this: originality: "1 : the quality or state of being original
2 : freshness of aspect, design, or style
3 : the power of independent thought or constructive imagination"

.............................-Kristen McCalla
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Treena
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#33
Originally posted by JAUQO III-X
I knew where it came and thought it was perfect for the thread.


Treena I still Love you;)
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I also thought it was excellent for the thread!

Considering the thread was a carry over of another, it felt appropriate.

It's also questioned as to who the original author was............-Kristen McCalla?

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"Oh if there's an original thought out there, I could use it right now." -- BobDylan - Brownsville Girl

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Treena
 
#34
Who really knows! However, I'd venture to guess that it was Larry based on some history. The way I see it was that Larry "introduced" it into pop culture while Louis showed everyone that you could take that style to another level and still stay within the context of a song.

I remember those days when I use to LIVE and BREATHE Louis. He made thumpin' so rythmic AND melodic. Seeing him live? Man, was that a treat!!!

Gotta give Louis credit for giving me GAS for a brand new MM Ray (and "starving" at times tryin' to save for it as a college student, $450 BTW). :)
 
#35
Originally posted by sirthumbs
...I remember those days when I use to LIVE and BREATHE Louis. He made thumpin' so rythmic AND melodic. Seeing him live? Man, was that a treat!!!

Gotta give Louis credit for giving me GAS for a brand new MM Ray (and "starving" at times tryin' to save for it as a college student, $450 BTW). :)
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I can sing that same tune. Only difference is I went in to buy a natural finish Stingray and came out with a coffee brown Sabre. Bought it with insurance money from a stolen Jazz Bass.

Peace,

James
 
#36
I'm really surprised that none of my fellow old school players haven't mentioned that the technique was actually borrowed from the compendium of Spanish guitar technique. <i><b>That</i></b> is where Larry first saw the technique...


But really, I thought of it first and unless my mind is failing I did it first way back in the 50's....
 
#37
Originally posted by pyrohr
I grew up on Sly and The Family Stone and remember a concert I went to in the late 60's. Larry had huge hands and thumped and popped effortlessly. I also saw Louis Johnson playing with Billy preston (after another thumper Keni Burke) left Prestons band. when he was 17 years old. He was a good up and coming nobody and did very little of the thump and pop stuff at that time. This was around 73 or 74 give or take a year. He was using the black nylon strings on his bass (I had the same strings on my bass at the time) and I was thumping and popping at the time. There was not alot of music being played outside of Sly and Graham Cenral Station where thump and pop was being used outside of black rock which came shortly before 70's funk. Larry opened the door for thump and pop, others found different applications for it. Also Louis was dicovered by Quincy Jones thus the "Q" touch and start of his popularity. All in all Sly and the family Stone were innovators of black rock(funk) music in the 60's and opened the doors for all thumping, blazing hornline driven party lyric songs that came later and Larry Graham Was a big if not the biggest part of that.
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Well said.
 
#38
Originally posted by malthumb
From what I understand he is focusing more on producing, but if you listen to Isreal & The New Breed It's A New Season, that's Terrence. It was recorded live in 2001, so there has been quite a bit of time passed.

Peace,

James
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I believe Terrance is still playing with DFW(Dallas Fort Worth Mass Choir)from time to time also.
 

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