Sting played a what??!?!??!

[HeebeeJB]

Ibanez have always made darn good basses, and as regards Stings playing and singing I still cant play and sing " Message in a Bottle " without falling over....

 

[Baryonyx]

apparently he recorded just about everything for The Police with one of those musicians, and he doubled it on record with an upright.

story i've been told is as such:
he played jazz bass, and was a teacher. some sort of scandal with a student, he gets disbarred, has to live off his bass talents. after stints in dive bars and jazz bands, joins The Police. right a semi-autobiographical tune called Don't Stand So Close To Me. becomes famous. the end.

I'm not sure about the scandal with a student. He used to be a teacher somewhere in Tyneside (might have been Newcastle or Shields), and actually taught the aunty of an ex of mine. I don't think there was a scandal though, I think the Police just got a bit of momentum going and he jacked in the day job!

 

[redstrand]

There never was a scandal...the song was a song...Roxanne was the big hit some 3 years before Don't stand So close. Now I dig Sting's music and The Police is an all time favorite...but he was just another starving artist who taught during the day and recorded all night. No need to make some silly accusation.

 

[fullrangebass]

IIRC Roxanne is a song about a woman (Civil Engineer IIRC) that Sting had a crush on, that worked in the Transportation and Traffic Department

As far as Don't stand so close to me, I never heard any accusation or gossip of any sort (then again I'm not best friends with Sting I only know him from the musics he has been involved), but rumors spread like wildfire

 

[dhagler]

On the reunion tour he played a Fender. Only a Fender. Never changed basses at all. I think it was his old '51. I love the simplicity of that.

 

[synaesthesia]

Funny you mentioned the vintage Fender.... last time I saw Sting live, I was in Singapore in the mid 90s, the band was the one with Vinny Colaiuta on drums. The local rag there had a reviewer who must have looked up some 80's file on Sting as he or she clearly mentioned Sting Playing an IBANEZ bass in the review of the gig. He only played the Fender slab all night though I think he strapped on a nylon string guitar at one point.

 

[projectMalamute]

Funny you mentioned the vintage Fender.... last time I saw Sting live, I was in Singapore in the mid 90s, the band was the one with Vinny Colaiuta on drums. The local rag there had a reviewer who must have looked up some 80's file on Sting as he or she clearly mentioned Sting Playing an IBANEZ bass in the review of the gig. He only played the Fender slab all night though I think he strapped on a nylon string guitar at one point.

For a while in the 90's he was playing an old fretted jazz bass and a fretless Ibanez Roadstar II. You can see this in the Soul Cages concert film.

 

[bassteban]

I had one of those, bought it new in '80. By '82 the neck had twisted and warped something terrible. Traded it in on a 13+ lb '81 Schecter Jazz with a beautiful bird's eye maple neck....that eventually warped and twisted beyond repair!

Two decent brand-name basses, two warped necks...
You might want to quit playing your basses in the shower.

 

[Machines]

I had an MC900 for a bit. The neck was like a banana and it the truss rod was maxed out.. sounded great though !

Swapped it with a guy on myspace for his Stingray.. he was happy with the deal.

 

[Rich Summoner]

The way I understand it is that, until The Police became famous, Sting never felt that he was a Bass Player, but more of a singer, so he didn't really care what bass he played as long as it was in tune. Later, when he got a bit of cash, he pretty much bought anything that caught his, ummm, "ear", as it were. He simply tried everything until he found what he wanted. Great idea if you got the money to do it with!

IMHO, those 80's Ibanez basses sounded great and were a great value. I knew a lot of guys in HS and college that played them (I was a drummer then), and they had no trouble at all.

I think Sting was a bass player first, and developed his vocal ability. If you read his book, Broken Music, he talks about taking up the bass, and realizing how it contributes the the backbone of the song. As he played with various groups and then with Gerry in Last Exit, he realized he would have to sing all the songs he wrote, and it developed from there. His bass playing, as it progressed became second nature. As for not caring about the bass he played, he really did start with the best, the Jazz and Precision, so it became a non-issue.