In lieu of all the RIP's and memories concerning Chris Squire after his passing, I'd just like to share this thought on what Squire gave us as bass guitarists.
Most significantly, Chris Squire approached the bass guitar as a musical instrument, he didn’t just see the bass as a part of the rhythm section that had this very clear and limited role that it must play. For Squire, the bass could be a rhythmic instrument, but it could also be a melodic instrument full of expression, and it could even be a harmonic instrument full of chords. It could be an instrument that provided texture to the song by changing the sound of the instrument to sound like just about anything using all the effects and processing devices that any guitarist might use. In short, the bass guitar could do anything that you wanted it to do, it was a complete musical instrument that was only limited by your imagination, and Squire had a lot of imagination.
Chris Squire showed that the bass could not only be the backbone of the rhythm of the song, it could completely drive and define the song, as he did with so many of his bass lines. Take a classic bass line like “Roundabout”, not only is that bass line just this really bizarre mixture of melody and rhythm that no bassist other than Squire would come up with, but that bass line completely makes that song. Take that bass line away and “Roundabout” becomes a completely different song.
And then there’s something like “The Fish”, his instrumental that consisted solely of overdubbed bass guitar parts, like a little symphony for bass guitar; showing in effect that this “lowly instrument” could do it all, and he flipping recorded that in 1971! No one had ever done anything like that on the bass before.
The man was a true pioneer of his instrument, and any bass player that picks up the bass and chooses to play something a little “out of the box” of what is expected from the instrument owes a little something to Chris Squire.
Most significantly, Chris Squire approached the bass guitar as a musical instrument, he didn’t just see the bass as a part of the rhythm section that had this very clear and limited role that it must play. For Squire, the bass could be a rhythmic instrument, but it could also be a melodic instrument full of expression, and it could even be a harmonic instrument full of chords. It could be an instrument that provided texture to the song by changing the sound of the instrument to sound like just about anything using all the effects and processing devices that any guitarist might use. In short, the bass guitar could do anything that you wanted it to do, it was a complete musical instrument that was only limited by your imagination, and Squire had a lot of imagination.
Chris Squire showed that the bass could not only be the backbone of the rhythm of the song, it could completely drive and define the song, as he did with so many of his bass lines. Take a classic bass line like “Roundabout”, not only is that bass line just this really bizarre mixture of melody and rhythm that no bassist other than Squire would come up with, but that bass line completely makes that song. Take that bass line away and “Roundabout” becomes a completely different song.
And then there’s something like “The Fish”, his instrumental that consisted solely of overdubbed bass guitar parts, like a little symphony for bass guitar; showing in effect that this “lowly instrument” could do it all, and he flipping recorded that in 1971! No one had ever done anything like that on the bass before.
The man was a true pioneer of his instrument, and any bass player that picks up the bass and chooses to play something a little “out of the box” of what is expected from the instrument owes a little something to Chris Squire.
you will be missed chris, by all of us.
