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The credibility of Gene Simmons.

#61
onlyclave said:
What's your point?
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Here is my two cents on Cliff, he knows his place in the band. The Young brothers tell him what they want and he lays it down, he is a team player. The producers who have done AC/DC albums have said Cliff would be a great session player. I think Cliff's work is essential listening for new players - get into the pocket with the drums and don't over play the song.

Gene, I respect what Kiss has done and some of the bass lines are pretty darn good.

My two cents.
 
#62
Metal Mitch is absolutely right about Gene's playing style, blues/arpeggio scales walks in a lot of KISS songs; Strutter, Rock-n-Roll All Night, Love Gun are all good examples of that. Fun bass parts that make the song sound heavy, but not overbearing. Not especially hard to master, but fun to play.

Gene is the perfect fit for KISS' sound, but Getty Lee he is not. Does that make him any less of a bass player? IMO it does not. My dad, who played guitar in country bands for 40+ years, went to Nashville for a bit when he was younger to try to make it in the music biz as a studio musician. When he went there he learned a great lesson which he shared with me that puts everything in perspective. And he said, "Son, don't waste a bunch of time worrying about who is better than who. There is always going to be someone out there is better than you. The sooner you realize that, the better musician you will become. It's about making music and putting your personal feeling into the part you are playing." He proceeded to tell me about how when he went to work every day, he would pass people playing in the streets of Nashville for hat money that he felt were way better than him. They inspired him every day to better his playing. I quit worrying long ago about who was better than who because of this. I look at things more from the, "What can I learn from watching and listening to this person."
 
#63
heckraiser said:
Metal Mitch is absolutely right about Gene's playing style, blues/arpeggio scales walks in a lot of KISS songs; Strutter, Rock-n-Roll All Night, Love Gun are all good examples of that. Fun bass parts that make the song sound heavy, but not overbearing. Not especially hard to master, but fun to play.

Gene is the perfect fit for KISS' sound, but Getty Lee he is not. Does that make him any less of a bass player? IMO it does not. My dad, who played guitar in country bands for 40+ years, went to Nashville for a bit when he was younger to try to make it in the music biz as a studio musician. When he went there he learned a great lesson which he shared with me that puts everything in perspective. And he said, "Son, don't waste a bunch of time worrying about who is better than who. There is always going to be someone out there is better than you. The sooner you realize that, the better musician you will become. It's about making music and putting your personal feeling into the part you are playing." He proceeded to tell me about how when he went to work every day, he would pass people playing in the streets of Nashville for hat money that he felt were way better than him. They inspired him every day to better his playing. I quit worrying long ago about who was better than who because of this. I look at things more from the, "What can I learn from watching and listening to this person."
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What a great attitude! Your father must have been someone very special.
 
#64
Is still is but he doesn't play anymore, well not much anyway. He retired from music about two years ago. Anyway, I learned a lot from his pushing me to be better. He used to have me fill-in on bass some nights and purposely play songs that I didn't know, never heard even. Here I was clueless at first, but as time went by I got a lot better at picking up on the progressions, and anticipating song structure. He was quite a card.
 
#65
JimmyM said:
This business about Gene's playing being bland and boring...where the hell does that come from? Sorry but I don't think you've heard much KISS. I think he's one of the least bland and boring rock bassists out there. OK, he's not Jack Bruce, but I can name a good 10-15 early KISS songs that have great and not-that-easy-to-play basslines...*snip*
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+1

Rockmusician said:
Gene has some good basslines. It would be easy for him just bang away on the root all tghe time but he doesn't. Many of their songs are good because of his playing. I think he is somewhat underrated. I used to be a huge KISS fan. The live shows have been pretty bad the last few years and are only getting worse. I saw them last year and it was by far the worst show I have ever seen by any band. The vocals were terrible, especially Paul's. He was screeching, flat and couldn't hold a note. Gene's bass sounded like it was coming through an AM radio. They have become a caricature of themselves.
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odd about Paul's vox - I have found ever since his stint in Toronto as the Phantom that his singing was better than at any point in his career - to me the early 2000s shows I saw he sounded stronger than in thee 80s or 90s - alot better really.....like I guy who re-learned to sing and added a new, larger fuel tank
 
#67
pudgychef said:
+1

odd about Paul's vox - I have found ever since his stint in Toronto as the Phantom that his singing was better than at any point in his career - to me the early 2000s shows I saw he sounded stronger than in thee 80s or 90s - alot better really.....like I guy who re-learned to sing and added a new, larger fuel tank
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I think Paul's voice was best in the 90s. (Unplugged, Carnival of Souls) but now, when he gets late in the tour it can get pretty bad. But when it's good, it's good.
Check YouTube for when they were on, Letterman... Or maybe it was Leno... I don't know, it was one of those late night shows :D
 
#68
JAUQO III-X said:
Thanks guys.

And it's not that I'm looking for any love from tb. It's just that the attacks really are old. And have been for an extremely long time.
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Aw, buddy...Any time you need a hug, you just let me know :D

I agree BTW. I like a good argument as much as anyone but for some reason it gets ugly with you and a handful of folks. Well just remember that they're not the majority.
 
#70
bassguitarthund said:
(Gene) has stated in the past interviews he is more interested in the music as a whole and if that means the bass takes back stage then that is the way it is.
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I feel this way about bass in general. It's one of the reasons I play it. Of course I do NOT mean that I think the bass always needs to hide in the background, be buried in a mix, or play only root notes.

I endeavor to improve constantly and would like to be able to play everything that comes into my head instantaneously. There are several "busy" players whose work I admire, but personally I feel part of the typical role for bass is to be able to know what NOT to play. Sort of like Rick Danko once said something about how he plays "space" (within a piece of music) more than he considered himself a "bass player."

Gene comes across as a total egomaniacal douche, but as for the band itself, he is good at what he does.
 
#71
heckraiser said:
"...don't waste a bunch of time worrying about who is better than who. There is always going to be someone out there is better than you. The sooner you realize that, the better musician you will become. It's about making music and putting your personal feeling into the part you are playing."
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Wisdom.

Man, I need to write this on a piece of paper and tape it to the back of my bass.
 
#72
MrMeacham said:
Why does music have to be art. That's they silliest thing I've heard in long time. It's bad because it's entertaining and not art? Being an entertainer is art. He's probably on of the most successful artists ever. Kids don't know who the Beatles, Springsteen or Miles Davis are but most of them know who KISS is. We went to a block party were it got played. He told me he likes the tune and sings it. He's 5 and I'm 50. Gene is doing something right.
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without offending anyone.......80% of people are pretty stupid, they buy anything, look at what kind of music is hot now....i was watching SNL, Rihana, M&M and they had musicans with them just pretending to play, all music was done on computer.......but one of my favorite lines is "sure know something"
 
#76
Yeah got to agree with JimmyM you have not been listening to much Kiss check out the stuff he laid down on the Hotter than Hell or Dress to kill albums early stuff he was very much into adding what I would compare to (horn runs) such as a sax player would over movable chords that is what took simple meat and potatos rock songs 3 chord stuff and made them better without Genes rides these songs would never have come to life as they did to JimmyM's list I would like to add You got, got nothin' to lose and Love Gun
 
#80
Muddslide, I agree with all you said in the previous post except for the egomaniacal douche. Egomaniacal, probably. Douche, have to disagree on that one. He and the rest of the band does a lot of good work for charity and the military. Was just stating what I had read in a past interview :)
 

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