If “not sounding like anybody else” is the criterion for greatness, my two year-old niece banging on my bass strings should have multiple Grammy’s by now. 
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Someone help me appreciate Lemmy
- Thread starter stringthrough
- Start date
The African Tree Climbing Perch can climb trees. However it plays the bass worse than Lemmy
To be fair, he only used those settings until he acquired some Marshall heads from Nigel Tufnel....
He approached the bass differently than those who came before him. His sound and style were his own and it really worked well in Motorhead. He would not have achieved the success he enjoyed if he had played bass the "right"/conventional way in my opinion. I have never been a fan of the "there's a right way and a wrong way" mindset when it comes to music. That being said I don't emulate his style-I just enjoy it when I hear it.
I was never a big fan of Lemmy's sound but he always put a smile on my face whether I was watching an interview or a video of him performing. He always seemed larger than life. Probably the kind of guy you'd enjoy sitting down with at the local pub for a pint of ale. R.I.P Lemmy.
Yeah ! This was my first introduction to MotorHead, on the "Young Ones" and I LIKED IT !!!!
i get it! it makes sense to me now. thanks for responding, KBD.
Um. Let's see....I'm not so in to it, but he DID claim to have the largest Nazi paraphernalia collection of any bassist (in the same interview he also lamented how being referred to as a bassist really irked him). So if you like Nazi stuff and play bass, but wish people referred to you as a guitar player, he was definitely your guy. :x
Be not disturbed by that attitude. It seems common these days to denigrate someone you disagree with to make you position look wrong.
So liking Nazi paraphernalia makes him a worthless, disgusting person?
What's wrong with you?
If you like Motorhead (and I do), he wrote the songs, sang the songs and played bass. All while living an unapologetic rock n roll lifestyle and remaining, by all accounts, a hell of a nice guy and eminently approachable. I have never really focused on his bass playing, but Motorhead rocks and Lemmy IS Motorhead.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
I stopped reading after the first page. Sorry everyone.
Don't think of Lemmy as a 'bass player.' He's not laying down basslines in the traditional sense of that dynamic.
He's acting like a rhythm guitarist and frontman, but doing it on bass. If you step out of the 'this is what a bass' place traditionally is in a band' you'll have a much better chance of digging what he's doing. Also it helps to not be all serious about bassskillz in the classic sense. Lemmy is a player who carved out his own place in the music and in music in a greater sense.
Or to turn it around a bit, look at a guy like Peter Hook (New Order/Revenge/Joy Division)...he took bass and rather than going low, went high and lead melodic...another player who shattered the paradigm.
I like bass players who see the box that we put the instrument in...and promptly knock out the walls.
Don't think of Lemmy as a 'bass player.' He's not laying down basslines in the traditional sense of that dynamic.
He's acting like a rhythm guitarist and frontman, but doing it on bass. If you step out of the 'this is what a bass' place traditionally is in a band' you'll have a much better chance of digging what he's doing. Also it helps to not be all serious about bassskillz in the classic sense. Lemmy is a player who carved out his own place in the music and in music in a greater sense.
Or to turn it around a bit, look at a guy like Peter Hook (New Order/Revenge/Joy Division)...he took bass and rather than going low, went high and lead melodic...another player who shattered the paradigm.
I like bass players who see the box that we put the instrument in...and promptly knock out the walls.
Lemmy never wanted MH to be labeled Heavy Metal.
Most of those people only know Ace of Spades.
Sort of like the folks wearing Ramones shirts that only know "I Wanna Be Sedated".
I was sitting in the waiting area of a supercuts where they play whatever is the top pop Disney music, little 3 note melodies over and over, and suddenly Ace Of Spades comes on. Talk about appreciation. I think the quick guitar riff melody is lifted from somewhere semi classical, which is standard for genius, but the construction of the song and modulations of power chords to choruses was so...musical compared to the surroundings. Orgasmatron is good too, great drum groove (thanks Bill Lazwell for bringing it forward), and his sense of humor was showing.
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Those folks can't appreciate more than the "hit". I'm a Ramones fan cause that's what got me into playing NYC punk, & having a precision bass. But Lemmy, as much as DeeDee, is an influence on my bass writing. No matter if it's fast single notes, chords, or melodic lines, everything has its own groove & Lemmy certainly wasn't just a bass player, he was in a league of his own & carved a path for others to learn from. It's defining yourself when you don't fit a predetermined "mold"
