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When is steve harris showing his "incredible" speed?

#41
Matt Till said:
The whole speed thing is stupid... the faster a metal bassist is, the more respect he gets. He sounds good! Damn good! What you need to do when you're ripping out 1/32 notes at 150 BPM, is close your eyes and ask yourself "does this sound good?"
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+1

Besides, with fast metal I tend to listen/bang/dance to the drums (or keybords), because the guitars & bass tend to be boring blurs. (Melodic bands not taken in mind, talking about fast trash/black/death-metal here.)

In metal (and punk) the bass becomes interesting IMO if it's used for a 'slower' track with more groove (for example: bands like Finntroll and Flogging Molly use polka-licks, far from technical, but it does invite you to move).
 
#42
Suckbird said:
Has he ever done a bass solo?
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when maiden covered "my Generation" for a b side - i forget which one! - he performed the entire entwhistle solo in there.

Credit where it's due - he is the reason that so many of us play today. speed is not the be all and end all, but a tool in the arsenal. Where steve excels is through his arrangements, allowing each instrument to shine through whilst still providing a solid 'wall of sound' that has shaped the musical tastes and aspirations of at least one generation.

All this and he still performs as he did twenty years ago, if not more intensly, despite the fact that he has neck and shoulder problems meaning that he is often in pain.

Hats off to ya steve!!

UP THE IRONS!!
 
#45
The_Ryst said:
Steve Harris...does it matter how fast he is? He's one of the best and most tasteful metal bassists ever. Bottom line. He's SOLID, which is better then bursts of ridiculous speed. Come on guys, he's liek the core of one of the greatest bands ever.
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for real. he was galloping back in 1980, back when i was still tryin to walk (and some of you weren't even thought of).
the dude pioneered a genre, and that ain't shabby.
 
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#47
aceshigh92 said:
steve harris doesnt reall y play fast the fastest he plays is 175 bpms i do 200 on a bad day(3 finger technique) i do love his playing and he is one of my favorite bassists but he doesnt play nearly as fast as many power bassists who use their fingers.
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But he was doing it with 2 fingers before you were even born. I'm sure that if he sat around practicing with a metronome he could "do 200 on a bad day", but just because you can play fast doesn't mean that every song should be that fast. Talk to us after you have pioneered a musical style, brought bass to the forefront in that genre, sold millions of records, toured the world for 30 years and are still around doing it. Kids today need to learn to respect the players who made it possible for them to play like they do, not bash them for what they can't do.
 
#49
StanFan said:
i've heard him say he writes on the bass.
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and an acoustic bass at that!

I've always loved the bass break in Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. As a teenager I had blisters to remember trying to nail that!

Can anyone confirm that his two finger triplets techinque is using his first finger, middle finger and then the back (nail) of his middle finger - not quite the 'flamenco' playing of Geddy Lee, but not a million miles away from it. I read an recent article about GL doing (almost inventing) this double finger picking and immediately thought SH has been doing that for years!

Up the Irons!
 
#50
Basshammer said:
If Steve Harris is really playing everything with only two fingers(and this seems to be the case), then he's damn fast by any standard. And here's another thing that needs to be brought up: a lot of people can play faster than Steve, this may be true. But I don't know any that play as hard as he does at that speed with two fingers. Most of the really fast fusion bass players don't dig in at all, and in fact encourage light playing for speed. This is great, but I think that Steve's ultra hard attack is an example of a perfect metal bass sound, and many faster players simply could not do his parts properly. They couldn't match his attack.
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Couldn't have said it better! he attacks his bass. In Rime Of The Ancient Mariner there's a spot after the slow part where he burns off these Arpeggios, this part lasts for about 45 seconds before it comes back into the main part of the song. This guy has incredibly strong fingers and stamina to die for.
 
#53
Steve Harris has Influenced EVERYONE...face it he is up there right at the top and likely always will be. His Legacy is massive and will still be there long after we are all gone.
Speed Is nothing short of an embellishment tool that should only enhance good song writing, It took me years to understand this.....years I could have been gigging.
I'm sure Steve picked this up long before I did....It's not his playing or speed that's influenced me but his songwriting...

Maisie Harris said:
steve is my dad.....lol. Im Maisie Harris, his youngest
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Hmmmmmm
 
#56
A bass hero, and much more. Rock solid player, a style all his own, driving force of his band on- and offstage, only original member left, wrote the bulk of their material, inspired generations of bassists and fans. Not too shabby indeed.
 
#59
Basshammer said:
If Steve Harris is really playing everything with only two fingers(and this seems to be the case), then he's damn fast by any standard. And here's another thing that needs to be brought up: a lot of people can play faster than Steve, this may be true. But I don't know any that play as hard as he does at that speed with two fingers. Most of the really fast fusion bass players don't dig in at all, and in fact encourage light playing for speed. This is great, but I think that Steve's ultra hard attack is an example of a perfect metal bass sound, and many faster players simply could not do his parts properly. They couldn't match his attack.
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He doesn't attack hard, Niko said he twiggle the strings.
If you try it you see that it works.
 

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