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Met Stefan Lessard

Peter Squire

Peter Squire

Aug 22, 2004
2,376
9
56
Adelaide, Australia
www.theantics.net
#1
Who is exactly the same age as me.

Tried to not be a fanboy, just sat and had a beer with him. I turned the conversation away from 'how much do you love australia" to 'how much do you love bass' His stories were amazing, and to be honest, not much different to our stories that I read on Tb.

I guess he saw me as a fellow bassist who hasn't got the talent and breaks that he has had, but he was very easy and kind with it. Players in the popular bands must get fanboys all the time, I guess, but Lessard was more interested in what i did than what he did.

He is not only a brilliant bassist, but a down-to-earth nice guy as well. :D
 
#6
Get this story then, the reason I didn't post the story was because I don't want you guys to disbelieve.

Hand on my heart - honest truth.

I met this girl at a gig last weekend, and she asked if we played any Dave Matthews. I said, no, sorry, although I love his work and more so love Stefan Lessard.

Anyway, she turns out to be a friend of Dave Matthews (went to school together etc) and she gave me tickets to his Sydney concert, I bought a cheap flight.

When I get there, she has arranged for me to meet the band afterwards and i got to (humbly, wetting my pants) have a beer with Stefan Lessard. He's a lovely guy, very smart and humble too. We talked about geddy lee,who is my hero,and he said that he was into him as well, so there you go

I know it sounds bizarre, and it was.
Honest to God truth
 
#12
rockstarbassist said:
If I could ask him anything, it'd probably be somewhere along the lines of "HOW do you write those bass parts for such simple guitar!" :( My lead guy writes a lot of Dave-type stuff, very simple and chord-based, but I can't create stuff a 1/1,000 of Stefan's. Believe me, I've tried. ;)
Click to expand...

i really wouldnt call dave matthews' guitar lines simple. he's an awesome guitarist and songwriter.
stefan is an awesome bassist, but all his stuff is jazz based material. once you get the hang of writing and playing that style, you can bass yourself right in with him!
 
#13
bass element said:
i really wouldnt call dave matthews' guitar lines simple. he's an awesome guitarist and songwriter.
stefan is an awesome bassist, but all his stuff is jazz based material. once you get the hang of writing and playing that style, you can bass yourself right in with him!
Click to expand...

Well not "simple" as they're like single-chord notes or anything, but it's nothing like really crazy and over-the-top, is what I more mean, I think. Yes, I love his stuff and it's great and catchy as hell, but you don't need the technical skills of a Vai or EJ to pull it off is what I'm sayin'.

Do you know of any online lessons or something where I can start looking into that stuff? I'm learning a lot just by playing/learning so many of their songs that we cover, but would love to be able to create something similar of my own.
 
#15
rockstarbassist said:
Well not "simple" as they're like single-chord notes or anything, but it's nothing like really crazy and over-the-top, is what I more mean, I think. Yes, I love his stuff and it's great and catchy as hell, but you don't need the technical skills of a Vai or EJ to pull it off is what I'm sayin'.

Do you know of any online lessons or something where I can start looking into that stuff? I'm learning a lot just by playing/learning so many of their songs that we cover, but would love to be able to create something similar of my own.
Click to expand...

i see what your saying. i agree.

For lessons, i highly recommend getting personal lessons. i think thats the best way. but if thats not possible, just google search bass guitar lessons and a ton of cool sites will come up. a lot of them have videos and stuff that will instruct you on how to do different things. the possibilities are everywhere.
alot of creating also just comes from time and experience. also, keep up on learning their songs because sooner or later you'll be able to implement his style right into your own.
 

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