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Verdine White on a Peavey and really playing!

#61
Dr. Cheese said:
I believe Verdine had the education and knowledge to become a chops heavy player if he had wanted to. His solo on Gratitude showed what he could have done if EWF had moved in another direction. Not slapping was a stylistic choice. I can slap: case closed.
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I wasn't saying because he doesn't slap he's not a good player. Plenty good players don't slap. I was talking about his playing technique. If you really look at it, he's not very polished. You can have all the musical knowledge in the world. I know dozens of Berkley grads who know music up and down but lack a lot of qualities that could make them pro musicians. And I disagree regarding his solos. No doubt he knows music and is well educated there.

Not sure if you're able to view this vid. At the end he plays live and does a solo and not a very good one, IMHO. But he does EWF tunes very well.
 
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#62
DWBass said:
I wasn't saying because he doesn't slap he's not a good player. Plenty good players don't slap. I was talking about his playing technique. If you really look at it, he's not very polished. You can have all the musical knowledge in the world. I know dozens of Berkley grads who know music up and down but lack a lot of qualities that could make them pro musicians. And I disagree regarding his solos. No doubt he knows music and is well educated there.

Not sure if you're able to view this vid. At the end he plays live and does a solo and not a very good one, IMHO. But he does EWF tunes very well.
Click to expand...


I'll sit down and watch the entire video today. I see your point about bad technique.
 
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#63
DWBass said:
I wasn't saying because he doesn't slap he's not a good player. Plenty good players don't slap. I was talking about his playing technique. If you really look at it, he's not very polished. You can have all the musical knowledge in the world. I know dozens of Berkley grads who know music up and down but lack a lot of qualities that could make them pro musicians. And I disagree regarding his solos. No doubt he knows music and is well educated there.

Not sure if you're able to view this vid. At the end he plays live and does a solo and not a very good one, IMHO. But he does EWF tunes very well.
Click to expand...


DW, I watched all of the clip you posted, and I think he is heavy handed because of the double bass influence. I think his approach to fingering and use of of open string octaves shows string bass influence too.
I think he can solo, but accompaniment is really where shines. The fact that he plays nice lines while being a big part of EWF vocal harmony is worthy of mention too.
 
#65
DWBass said:
I wasn't saying because he doesn't slap he's not a good player. Plenty good players don't slap. I was talking about his playing technique. If you really look at it, he's not very polished. You can have all the musical knowledge in the world. I know dozens of Berkley grads who know music up and down but lack a lot of qualities that could make them pro musicians. And I disagree regarding his solos. No doubt he knows music and is well educated there.

Not sure if you're able to view this vid. At the end he plays live and does a solo and not a very good one, IMHO. But he does EWF tunes very well.
Click to expand...


It was that raw "un-polished" tone and playing that helped to make EWF the standout group that they are. His style is unique to him, and when I hear his playing I know it's him. The simplicity with the right notes in the right place is actually what made me interested in playing the bass guitar.
 
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#66
Not making "excuses" for his solo on that tape but it may help to remember what era he came up in. Bass solos were far more groove oriented that even just a few years later when Stanley Clarke hit the scene, followed by guys like Alphonso Johnson. Examples of what I'm talking about are Willie Weeks on "Voices Inside (Everything is Everything)" and Bob Babbitt on "Scorpio". Monster solos at the time and still very cool for people who take things in context vs. compare everything to post-Jaco soloing.
:D
 
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#67
Reggiep said:
It was that raw "un-polished" tone and playing that helped to make EWF the standout group that they are. His style is unique to him, and when I hear his playing I know it's him. The simplicity with the right notes in the right place is actually what made me interested in playing the bass guitar.
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Exactly. Many never figure out what it takes to really propel a groove and cut through in the mix. Hint: it might not be the most notes or the most pristine sound. Lee Sklar talked about that decades ago. There's a message here that'll likely continue to fall on deaf ears.

The master of minimalism to me is still Paul Jackson. His funk wasn't driven by note count.
;)
 
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#68
No doubt. Was def not expecting a flurry of notes or anything like that. Just something a bit more put together. I'm not a fan of blizzard solos at all. I was basically responding to Dr. Cheese' statement that Verdine could have been a 'fusion' guy (if that was what he was implying), so to speak. I cherish all the basslines he played with EWF and play them to this day near exactly the way he played them. How can you not?!
 
#69
DWBass said:
No doubt. Was def not expecting a flurry of notes or anything like that. Just something a bit more put together. I'm not a fan of blizzard solos at all. I was basically responding to Dr. Cheese' statement that Verdine could have been a 'fusion' guy (if that was what he was implying), so to speak. I cherish all the basslines he played with EWF and play them to this day near exactly the way he played them. How can you not?!
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I think he could have been a fusion guy. Rick Laird and Alphonso Johnson were not shredders in Mahavishnu Orchestra or Weather Report.
 
#71
DWBass said:
No doubt. Was def not expecting a flurry of notes or anything like that. Just something a bit more put together. I'm not a fan of blizzard solos at all. I was basically responding to Dr. Cheese' statement that Verdine could have been a 'fusion' guy (if that was what he was implying), so to speak. I cherish all the basslines he played with EWF and play them to this day near exactly the way he played them. How can you not?!
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It was a pretty short solo and I agree not very good. In the meantime his body of work tells me that if he chose to go the Fusion direction vs. doing stadiums all over the world I don't see anything that tells me he couldn't have. I could easily see him playing with George Duke in addition to actually having played with Ramsey Lewis. When his focus was more bass oriented he did some nice work that stood above most of the cats back then. Don't forget, flurries of notes weren't mandatory with fusion... look at Rick Laird and Lee Sklar, both guys who did their Fusion gigs well. With Verdine, his work with Lewis, Denise Williams' album, The Emotions' first big album, his production work with Level 42... I don't see anything that pointed to genuine limitations. More like choices.,








Having him out there during my formative years definitely helped make me a better musician.
:D
 
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#73
Reggiep said:
Still love The Kalimba Story till this day.
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Me too. Played it with my first real band back in the 1970's... and even had Kalimbas. Of course they didn't play them anywhere near as well as Maurice.

And the bass was killin' on that song. Verdine was king of the trills and could hit those suckers running from one side of the stage to the other, hit the mic for background vocals and get back to running.
:D
 

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