Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
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.
RIP Andy Rourke
- Thread starter Grinderman
- Start date
The Warlock Pinchers kind of unkindly sum up my feelings about Morrissey, but the band... just top shelf.
Whoa...interesting: "Andy tuned his basses up to F# in the early days of the Smiths. In later years he would use a dedicated F# bass for older songs alongside a bass in standard E tuning..."
RIP Andy Rourke. My prior band had a couple of Smiths lovers in it. I've always enjoyed them, but was never a super fan. But in that band we played several Smiths and Morrissey covers (even though it was an originals band), and I learned a lot from the bass. Still Ill in particular expanded my mind and bass vocabulary, especially since I am not a picker by trade…
Last edited:
I remember reading somewhere about Andy and the F# bit as it wasn't good for the neck and to use super light gauge strings.
Further in that link he talks about how he purchased his '64 p bass at Manny's Music in Manhattan in like 1984 or so. I wonder how much it was? that's like us buying a 2003 today.
apparently this is what Morrissey had to say about the death of Andy...
"Sometimes one of the most radical things you can do is to speak clearly. When someone dies, out come the usual blandishments … as if their death is there to be used. I'm not prepared to do this with Andy. I just hope … wherever Andy has gone … that he's OK. He will never die as long as his music is heard. He didn't ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else. His distinction was so terrific and unconventional and he proved it could be done. He was also very, very funny and very happy, and post-Smiths, he kept a steady identity - never any manufactured moves. I suppose, at the end of it all, we hope to feel that we were valued. Andy need not worry about that."
MORRISSEY.
"Sometimes one of the most radical things you can do is to speak clearly. When someone dies, out come the usual blandishments … as if their death is there to be used. I'm not prepared to do this with Andy. I just hope … wherever Andy has gone … that he's OK. He will never die as long as his music is heard. He didn't ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else. His distinction was so terrific and unconventional and he proved it could be done. He was also very, very funny and very happy, and post-Smiths, he kept a steady identity - never any manufactured moves. I suppose, at the end of it all, we hope to feel that we were valued. Andy need not worry about that."
MORRISSEY.
Yeah, i only posted because it relates. Absolutely not going for "promotion "
Anyway, my bandleader was in a band with Andy and Dolores from the Cranberries called D.A.R.K.
they toured opening for the Cranberries.
when he started this new band, which was mostly a studio project, he got Andy to record this one tune.
so i get to play one of Andy's lines every week. And it really is a lovely bassline.
I'm about 85% there. I can kind of get the feel spot on, but some of his fills i miss.
obviously he is famously a pick player and i only play with fingers so i dont get it exactly.
It's funny you mention that.
The song he plays on for us starts in F# and im always wondering if he is playing tuned to F#. It would makenthe song much easier to play i think, but i havent tried it.
I keep meaning to bring a capo to practice to test.
as a kid I could never figure out smiths songs until I understood the tuning in more recent times. this was pre. YouTube.
you gotta follow some big shoes. I hope you learn those frills properly. good luck. post some more songs some time.
Aye. I was chatting with our guitarist yesterday and we thought this conceivably could be the last studio recording he did.
There's video of him playing with Johnny Marr live just a few weeks after he recorded this, so probably not, but it is definitely something I'll think about every time i play the song going forward.
As it so happens, Marr owns one of McGuinn's old Rics, but he has stated that Tom Petty was a primary inspiration in his youth, although there's plenty of Bryds DNA that filters through that.
I'm super bummed! Andy was THE MAN!! 
For those of you that want to hear some of his bass genius…check out this early (1984) show! Bass way up in the mix so you can hear it clearly! This is my all time fave live set! RIP Andy!!
For those of you that want to hear some of his bass genius…check out this early (1984) show! Bass way up in the mix so you can hear it clearly! This is my all time fave live set! RIP Andy!!
He's 3 years older than me and saw them first in '85.
Crazy to think he was 21 or 22 at the time.
One of the best rhythm sections in alt rock. They gave Marr a platform for his meandering playing.
I'm not familiar with DARK...is there a DARK song I can listen to that shows off Andy's playing?
Really cool article. Nice to discover he used few effects just like me when gigging.
Some songs didn't have vocals which kind of enhance the dynamics between Rourke, Marr and Joyce. I love this one:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed].
(the last "." is being parsed as a period so you have to add it to the link
The whole album is on youtube. I couldnt say which tracks are better than others
Last edited:
