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What about Bill Wyman?

#21
I read somewhere that Bill not only played bass on MISS YOU
but also it was his baby vis a vis the conception and approach to this particular track.
He also had some quirky parts to other tunes - 19th nervous breakdown,Out Of Time (Hammond organ pedals)Ect . Also cool blues Red Rooster ,Love in Vain...An underated bassist IMO.
 
#22
There are many Stones tracks - and we probably don't know about all - where the bass was not played by Bill. Basically, from what I understood, when the bass lines had to be more than the most basic thing, they were recorded by either Keith Richards or Mick Taylor, and later by Ron Wood.

Basslines of almost half the Exile on main street, Goat's head soup and It's only rock'n'roll albums were not recorded by Bill. Feels like as much as the Stones' music was getting more elaborate, Bill seemed to be more and more out of the thing.

This doesn't make him a bad player for sure ; just VERY old school.

Some tracks that come to my mind (non-exhaustive list) and were not recorded by Bill : (I may commit mistakes, this is just from memory)


Cheers
Jay[/QUOTE]

Hello Jay,

Sounds like you really know the 'Stones' catalog extensively. I'll bet it is a good book that chronicles the 'Who played what on which song'! Where did you learn all these facts on Bill Wyman?

Thanks, :bassist:
 
#24
Jereth said:
''Editor:What amps do you use nowadays?

Bill:I've got two amps- a big for regular gigs and a small one for small gigs. But don't ask me what model and make they are.

Editor:You literally don't know what make of amp you use?

Bill:Well, I do, but I always forget the name... I think ones an Ampeg

Editor: Didn't you play SVT's with the Stones?

Bill: Whats an SVT? I know the boys used Fenders and I used a Boogie sometimes. Anyway, I left all that gear with the Stones when I left them.''

What's an SVT? Ok, how long has he been in the business?
Click to expand...
LOL when you're a bazillionaire Rolling Stone, you have people to remember that stuff for you! :D
 
#26
And keep in mind, on the '72 tour, not only was Bill using an SVT, but so were Keith and Mick Taylor. To Bill, the SVT isn't an iconic bass amp- it's just what the band played through on a couple of tours because it had the most wattage.

Anyway, I'm a Darryl Jones fan, but the Stones with him on bass (as good as he is) is just one more step towards the inevitable Stones Vegas review with a cryogenically frozen Ron Wood wheeled out for a few numbers. I'm not saying they should have stopped when Bill left (he's 8 years older than Jagger. This became a bore to him a long time ago), but that's one band that should have an English rock bass player.
 
#27
JayAmel said:
Basslines of almost half the Exile on main street, Goat's head soup and It's only rock'n'roll albums were not recorded by Bill. Feels like as much as the Stones' music was getting more elaborate, Bill seemed to be more and more out of the thing.
Click to expand...

Yeah-- Bill has mentioned in a number of interviews that he doesn't like playing lots of notes.

Just FWIW-- the original Satisfaction had the guitar start on the 5th. The Otis Redding version had it start on the root..... this subsequently confused Keef to no end.
 
#28
Alex E said:
Hello Jay,

Sounds like you really know the 'Stones' catalog extensively. I'll bet it is a good book that chronicles the 'Who played what on which song'! Where did you learn all these facts on Bill Wyman?

Thanks, :bassist:
Click to expand...

Well, a big part of this information is actually on the albums covers.
I must acknowledge I was a huge fan of the Stones back in this era.
 
#31
I always thought he was an odd bass player... kind of meandering through the tracks without much sense of form. Not really driving the music NOR playing good old, busy '60s-type English bass (like Bruce or Entwhistle). I agree, though, about his part on "Satisfaction." I've always guessed that the "guitar riff" was actually Keith's approximation of a Stax-style horn part; if you look at the whole that way, it makes perfect sense for Bill to be playing off Charlie the way he does. Still, it surprised me when I had to learn the song. ("What? He's not doubling the guitar riff?")
Supposedly, Keith played bass on "Sympathy for the Devil"-- one of my favorite Stones bass tracks.
Interestingly, Bill plays almost all the bass on the "London Howlin' Wolf Sessions" album (1971), and he's a superb blues player on there, playing totally credible Chicago-style shuffles, etc. So maybe that was really his forte.
 
#32
dougjwray said:
I always thought he was an odd bass player... kind of meandering through the tracks without much sense of form.
Click to expand...

Good way to put it. It is sometimes hard for me to distinguish an actual bass line - almost like random notes thrown together, but it always sounded good. I wonder what Charlie thought of his playing...? Might drive a drummer nuts (which is our collective goal, right?).
 
#33
From what I read somewhere long ago, Charlie listened to Keith, and then Bill played off of Charlie. (Bill usually couldn't even hear Keith from the other side of the stage at Madison Square Garden, or whatever.) This "staggered" effect led to the Stones' unique, loose feel.
 
#34
This tour Daryl has gotten to playing classic fenders and some hollowbodys and mainly playing with a pick instead of those modern jazz bass' fingerstyle like he used to, and he has added 3 vintage svt's with 8x10's on top of that meyer rig he's got. His playing is just getting better and better with that band, they have all been just getting better the past couple tours. Keith did play bass on sympathy and live with me as well, Charlie didn't play drums on the original recording of can't always get what you want, and mick played drums on a couple cuts from A Bigger Bang too, just check the liner notes on the cd's they will all say who played what. It seems to me like Bill Wyman picked a bad time to quit the band, since they are now on their 5th tour since then all of which have been far larger and had much better sales than anything they did previously, and they are still keeping up with the playing and putting out some new good music too.
 
#35
LiamCohl said:
It seems to me like Bill Wyman picked a bad time to quit the band, since they are now on their 5th tour since then all of which have been far larger and had much better sales than anything they did previously, and they are still keeping up with the playing and putting out some new good music too.
Click to expand...
You gotta admit, he gave it a goodly number of years. Maybe he just had his fill? Maybe he wanted to play with a few other people before it's too late? Maybe he was tired of being on the road? Who knows? Probably all that and more.
 
#36
I've been a Stones fan since the 60s when they came on to the scene.
They've always been careful to name their guests on album/cds. I'm sure if another bassist did parts on a song, they'd have credited him/her.
I read that another bassist claims to have written the part for Miss You with Keef in the studio while Wyman listened, then Wyman played the part himself.
Wyman played for the Stones for as long as he wanted.
He wasn't fired he retired.
I believe he was the oldest of the Stones besides Ian Stewart.
 

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