Someone please explain all the love for Steve Harris

[zontar]

Hey-he galloping bass is pretty cool--and is a trademark type sound & style--he does more than that.
I have always enjoyed listening to his bass playing...

 

[NeonVomit]

What am I missing?

Well, the Steve Harris innovator you mention managed to come up with not just a bass sound, but a compositional style which influenced a lot more than just him being a bass player. He's been involved with his bands audio and video production through the years, from vinyl and videotape to DVD. He's been involved with some more running of the band stuff and creative direction as well.

The next time your four strings make a decades long commotion, develop a knack for songwriting which sounds fresh through the years while managing to get the singer of the band to fly you across oceans and continents to conquer arenas, stages, festivals and God only knows...

Well, if you manage to do any of what Steve Harris did you be sure to tell us!

Not trying to be a jerk, but just because he didn't play jazz, funk or redefine the role of bass in pop doesn't mean he ain't what others are claimimg. The man took four strings and helped develop and define a style of music. He is part of the family of the bass guitar and has done so honorably by laying it down with the drums on albums and concerts for about as long as I've been alive.

Got Harris?

...yeah, that basically sums it up A monster player, songwriter, producer and bandleader. Iron Maiden would not have sold 100 million+ albums or be what they are today were it not for his incredible drive and vision.

 

[Wisebass]

Now if someone could explain the love for John Paul Jones...

Hi Yonni

Now this goes too far!

...needs to be punished at once!


Wise(b)ass

 

[Yonni]

Hi Yonni

Now this goes too far!

...needs to be punished at once!


Wise(b)ass

“He’s not the messiah, he’s just a very naughty boy!”

 

[Yonni]

Did any particular basslines stand out for you?

Hard to say after 60 tracks, most of which I can’t remember the names of. Listened to Losfer Words again this morning and the bit’s that stood out for me were the more melodic bits rather than the gallops. I guess that was where my original comment came from - the gallop thing is great technique and drives a lot of the songs. I hadn’t heard enough of him to see what else he added and was unaware that he basically (pardon the pun) IS Iron Maiden. Next up is sampling this:
TROOPER - Premium British Ale from Iron Maiden

 

[bassboysam]

Those lists are usually rubbish and not worth paying attention to. As a means of ranking players, useless. How does that even work? Skill? Influence? Innovation? Best moustache?

Because they're typically focused on rock and pop music, you won't see a lot of the names that serious listeners and musicians would recognise.

I don't much like Iron Maiden, as an aside.

so rock musicians and listeners are not serious?

 

[DrayMiles]

I do hope that you understand that technical proficiency on the instrument isn't an island unto itself.

Harris, is a composer, a lyricist, a visionary (Maiden is HIS band), and a businessman. The entire concept is basically his and it is a well oiled machine. It has out lived every fad and fashion for 30+ years. I equate him in the same category as McCartney, Bruce and few others. His feel and sound is singular. He doesn't sound like anyone else, and he drives that band. I remember learning Phantom of the Opera, Hallowed be thy name, Running Free, and lord let us not forget.. The Trooper.
This reminds me of folks who don't get Jazz or Classical music. Take the time to listen WITH AN OPEN MIND, and you will receive the benefits of that. You can't put anything in a closed mind or fist. I applaud you for asking, but I have to listen to something for awhile in order to decide if I have an opinion I want to share.
It's funny, as an example, I grew up playing Loudness, Kiss, Maiden, Accept and Riot. I joined a band in High School playing funk, In Illinois I played Chilli Pepper style funk, R&B, and in the college Big Band, In Europe I played with Jeff Beck and Mick Taylor, and then played traditional Country (Waylon Jennings all the way for me!). Now, I'm studying with Rufus Reid and I'm playing 3 straight ahead jazz gigs this weekend...

The point I'm making is don't dismiss subtlety. I asked the same question to a mentor of mine...

me: Who do you think was the greatest soloist of all time?
Ken: Louis Armstrong
me: What? That grinning ... (blah, blah, blah...) You're kidding me?

Now, 20 years + later, thousands of gigs, and reading his biography (plus trying to play West End Blues on bass)

I get it...

I applaud you. Keep an open mind... Always. Despite the way things are now in the world. IMO...

 

[Kaa]

Dear TalkBass, when anyone says I don't "get" something, it insinuates I don't have the intellectual capabilities to understand it. This is insulting. Please refrain from using this phrase. Thank you. KC

 

[Kipp Harrington]

Dear TalkBass, when anyone says I don't "get" something, it insinuates I don't have the intellectual capabilities to understand it. This is insulting. Please refrain from using this phrase. Thank you. KC

I don't think TBers meant "don't get it" in the literal sense.

 

[Yonni]

Dear TalkBass, when anyone says I don't "get" something, it insinuates I don't have the intellectual capabilities to understand it. This is insulting. Please refrain from using this phrase. Thank you. KC

I never insinuated that you are not intelligent. When I said “I don’t get” it all I mean is that I feel I’m missing out on a piece of the jigsaw. No insult intended. We’re all bassists here and no ones likes or preferences are any more important or better than anyone else’s. I’m only interested in learning and comraderie. Let’s keep it friendly ok?

 

[India_Sierra]

so rock musicians and listeners are not serious?

Your comprehension needs work if that's your interpretation of what I wrote. Go back and read it again and if you still don't get it, give me a shout and I'll elucidate.

 

[wintremute]

I never insinuated that you are not intelligent. When I said “I don’t get” it all I mean is that I feel I’m missing out on a piece of the jigsaw. No insult intended. We’re all bassists here and no ones likes or preferences are any more important or better than anyone else’s. I’m only interested in learning and comraderie. Let’s keep it friendly ok?

I don't think he was calling you out. I think he's calling out statements directed at him (or at another person), not self reflecting.

For example, "You don't get Steve Harris because you're stuck in a jazz world." "You don't get Jaco because you eat peanut butter."

As opposed to your statement of "I don't get Steve Harris."

But I'm just making assumptions and guesses, and I think we need Sam the Eagle to clarify all of this for us.

 

[bass71]

He's a superb stage performer and musically very, very good at what he does, probably the best heavy metal bassist of all time ...but I doubt whether he is a good all rounder, which would be my definition of a "great bass player"
For me a great bass player is someone who can play any style thrown at him...extremely well.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

He's a superb stage performer and musically very, very good at what he does, probably the best heavy metal bassist of all time ...but I doubt whether he is a good all rounder, which would be my definition of a "great bass player"
For me a great bass player is someone who can play any style thrown at him...extremely well.

"Studio" musicians.

 

[bass71]

"Studio" musicians.

Exactly...well said.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

Exactly...well said.

Thanks. I would have to agree with you for the most part. However, I'm not sure that a hired gun, let's say, Larry Carlton, would lay down a blues guitar track/solo that would be as good/intense as SRV. SRV pretty much being a "one trick pony"... but arguably THE BEST at what he did.

 

[wintremute]

Your Ferrari isn't the best car in the world because it can't haul a mini fridge, 4 cases of water, and 2 giant bags of dog food.

Your Kia isn't the best car in the world because it can't go off roading.

Your Subaru isn't the best car in the world because it can't go 0-60 in under 5 sec and has lousy handling at top speeds.

 

[charlie monroe]

Your Ferrari isn't the best car in the world because it can't haul a mini fridge, 4 cases of water, and 2 giant bags of dog food.

Your Kia isn't the best car in the world because it can't go off roading.

Your Subaru isn't the best car in the world because it can't go 0-60 in under 5 sec and has lousy handling at top speeds.

I get where you are going with this, but those are all true statements, lol.

The best car is a rental because it can do all of those and more

 

[4stringsjack]

Your Ferrari isn't the best car in the world because it can't haul a mini fridge, 4 cases of water, and 2 giant bags of dog food.

Your Kia isn't the best car in the world because it can't go off roading.

Your Subaru isn't the best car in the world because it can't go 0-60 in under 5 sec and has lousy handling at top speeds.

My Subaru is the best car in the world because it can go 0-60 in under 5 seconds, haul a mini fridge, 4 cases of water, and 2 bags of dog food, and it can go (light) off roading. Actually, I don't own it any more, but I used to have a modified Subaru Outback XT (turbocharged) that would hit 60 in consistently under 5 seconds and do all those other things, all while looking totally unassuming. That was a fun car! (BTW, none of those attributes would have qualified it as the impossible-to-achieve best car in the world... I mean, it was still just a Subaru.)

 

[Jazz Ad]

in an interview in BP magazine he was adamant about using two fingers only.

He often uses his thumb though to that makes it 3 fingers.