I recently fulfilled a near-lifelong dream by purchasing a gorgeous Rickenbacker 4003 in Mapleglo. While it will probably take some time to get used to the playability - I've almost exclusively played Fender or Fender-adjacent basses up to this point - I've fallen in love with the sound and the niche exoticism surrounding this bass and its place in pop culture. My latest obsession is scouring Google images for pictures of established bassists playing Ricks.
To be clear, I'm not talking about well-known Rick wielders like Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, McCartney, Lemmy, Rutherford, etc. I'm more interested in players who seem to have used the bass for short spells, if not one-off occasions. Or at most, perhaps they own the bass but are not especially known for playing it as their signature.
Some interesting examples I've come across:
Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath
John Entwistle of The Who
Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth
Adam Clayton of U2
Mike Watt of The Minutemen
Paul Simonon of The Clash
Jaco Pastorius (!!!)
My roommate went to see Wilco during their run of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot anniversary shows and said John Stirratt played a Rick.
I'm sure there are more that I'm losing mental track of right now. It's so interesting to me just how many of these exist, given how specific and nonstandard Ricks are in their sound. Something about the way these players saw them almost as necessity basses is very curious to me. They could have opted for something standard like a P or J bass, but instead they played the Rick, with its myriad tonal and visual idiosyncracies. Maybe they wanted to try something new. Maybe they sought to imitate the small sect of famous bassists who regularly touted Ricks, like say McCartney? Or maybe it was just what was around. Can anyone name other rare occasions where famous artists played Ricks (and perhaps embed or link to an image)?
To be clear, I'm not talking about well-known Rick wielders like Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, McCartney, Lemmy, Rutherford, etc. I'm more interested in players who seem to have used the bass for short spells, if not one-off occasions. Or at most, perhaps they own the bass but are not especially known for playing it as their signature.
Some interesting examples I've come across:
Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath
John Entwistle of The Who
Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth
Adam Clayton of U2
Mike Watt of The Minutemen
Paul Simonon of The Clash
Jaco Pastorius (!!!)
My roommate went to see Wilco during their run of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot anniversary shows and said John Stirratt played a Rick.
I'm sure there are more that I'm losing mental track of right now. It's so interesting to me just how many of these exist, given how specific and nonstandard Ricks are in their sound. Something about the way these players saw them almost as necessity basses is very curious to me. They could have opted for something standard like a P or J bass, but instead they played the Rick, with its myriad tonal and visual idiosyncracies. Maybe they wanted to try something new. Maybe they sought to imitate the small sect of famous bassists who regularly touted Ricks, like say McCartney? Or maybe it was just what was around. Can anyone name other rare occasions where famous artists played Ricks (and perhaps embed or link to an image)?
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