Questions to musicians.

[hammerofthor]

Funnily enough I think most of Alex's ensemble playing is pretty basic.

[micgtr71]

I would spend every minute playing bass and listening to Yes and Rush. I would drop the needle and learn the line. I remember when PoW came out and I sat down with my bass and learned the whole album from tune to tune. Did that with HYF as well...ah, the days.

[Todem]

QUOTE (hammerofthor @ Jun 8 2011, 02:09 PM)

Funnily enough I think most of Alex's ensemble playing is pretty basic.

He has some doozy chords that are unique to him. No question. My goal was to truly nail these chords to a tee to get the exact sound and feel of his legendary open chords.

 

I love the S&A Blueray as they did a wonderful job doing camera shots of their playing the entire show. Finally I was able to catch some of those intersting positions where he is playing certain parts and I changed them up after 20 years!!!

 

Loved it.

 

Glad you found it pretty easy. I consider myself a very good rock guitarist and found some of his ensemble work quite challenging.

 

Red Sector A right off the top of my head as well as Afterimage were tough.

 

In fact Grace Under Pressure is a tough album to nail to a tee. He uses some insane chord structures that could be his own signature chords.

Edited June 8, 2011 by Todem

[phlaaps]

QUOTE (Todem @ Jun 8 2011, 02:31 PM)

QUOTE (hammerofthor @ Jun 8 2011, 02:09 PM) Funnily enough I think most of Alex's ensemble playing is pretty basic. He has some doozy chords that are unique to him. No question. My goal was to truly nail these chords to a tee to get the exact sound and feel of his legendary open chords.   I love the S&A Blueray as they did a wonderful job doing camera shots of their playing the entire show. Finally I was able to catch some of those intersting positions where he is playing certain parts and I changed them up after 20 years!!!   Loved it.   Glad you found it pretty easy. I consider myself a very good rock guitarist and found some of his ensemble work quite challenging.   Red Sector A right off the top of my head as well as Afterimage were tough.   In fact Grace Under Pressure is a tough album to nail to a tee. He uses some insane chord structures that could be his own signature chords. Could you give me an example of a Lifeson signature chord?

[ioc]

QUOTE (phlaaps @ Jun 8 2011, 03:17 PM)

QUOTE (Todem @ Jun 8 2011, 02:31 PM) QUOTE (hammerofthor @ Jun 8 2011, 02:09 PM) Funnily enough I think most of Alex's ensemble playing is pretty basic. He has some doozy chords that are unique to him. No question. My goal was to truly nail these chords to a tee to get the exact sound and feel of his legendary open chords.   I love the S&A Blueray as they did a wonderful job doing camera shots of their playing the entire show. Finally I was able to catch some of those intersting positions where he is playing certain parts and I changed them up after 20 years!!!   Loved it.   Glad you found it pretty easy. I consider myself a very good rock guitarist and found some of his ensemble work quite challenging.   Red Sector A right off the top of my head as well as Afterimage were tough.   In fact Grace Under Pressure is a tough album to nail to a tee. He uses some insane chord structures that could be his own signature chords. Could you give me an example of a Lifeson signature chord? --0------------- --0------------- --4------------- --2------------- --2------------- --0-------------

[1-0-0-1-0-0-1]

QUOTE (ioc @ Jun 8 2011, 04:50 PM)

QUOTE (phlaaps @ Jun 8 2011, 03:17 PM) QUOTE (Todem @ Jun 8 2011, 02:31 PM) QUOTE (hammerofthor @ Jun 8 2011, 02:09 PM) Funnily enough I think most of Alex's ensemble playing is pretty basic. He has some doozy chords that are unique to him. No question. My goal was to truly nail these chords to a tee to get the exact sound and feel of his legendary open chords.   I love the S&A Blueray as they did a wonderful job doing camera shots of their playing the entire show. Finally I was able to catch some of those intersting positions where he is playing certain parts and I changed them up after 20 years!!!   Loved it.   Glad you found it pretty easy. I consider myself a very good rock guitarist and found some of his ensemble work quite challenging.   Red Sector A right off the top of my head as well as Afterimage were tough.   In fact Grace Under Pressure is a tough album to nail to a tee. He uses some insane chord structures that could be his own signature chords. Could you give me an example of a Lifeson signature chord? --0------------- --0------------- --4------------- --2------------- --2------------- --0------------- Yep, that's his go-to open E chord.   Of course, there's the Hemispheres chord:   --0------------- --0------------- --3------------- --4------------- --4------------- --2-------------

[hammerofthor]

I'm just saying that most of his chords are pretty easy to finger, his use of open strings actually makes things easier to navigate. Its not like he's using jazz chords.

[ioc]

That's one thing I appreciate about his guitar work. He's not into virtuosity for it's own sake. He sees his place in a three piece band and does whatever it takes to serve the best interest of the song (even when he disagrees with it). That is what you call a professional, ladies and gentlemen. That role also kind of defines the Alex Lifeson sound. He tries to give the impression of more than one guitar by exploiting various open voicings.

[hammerofthor]

Of course its the way he uses them and the music he writes that is the most important thing.

[Todem]

QUOTE (hammerofthor @ Jun 8 2011, 05:12 PM)

I'm just saying that most of his chords are pretty easy to finger, his use of open strings actually makes things easier to navigate. Its not like he's using jazz chords.

Yeah his open chords are easy and awesome. But many songs from the 80's stuff especially on Grace Under Pressure have some complex progressions and unusual fretting.

[Mr. Krinkle]

The third chord in Tom Sawyer is pretty 'signature' Lifeson. Edited June 9, 2011 by Mr. Krinkle

[garyg7133]

One of the first Rush songs I attempted on bass was Xanadu. A tall order considering I had only had my bass for about 3 days. That was 19 years ago. I don't often play along w/Rush tunes, but we did the R30 Overture a couple of times. I actually think it sounds better than a lot of tunes I've played over the years.

[Gilbertk]

Well Geddy is the reason I picked up a bass in the first place. I had the common misconception in my head head that bass is easy, and I figured that if I could make the sounds Geddy makes... and it's easy??? Haha, I was sooooo wrong...

 

I learned Tom Sawyer not too long after I started teaching myself bass, but that was it. Everything else was beyond my skill. Of course now I'm still correcting myself and adding to Tom Sawyer... I'll never know all of the Geddy-isms in there, haha.

 

My real start into playing Rush came when I joined a band. The only band we all liked enough to cover was Rush. Having that pressure on me to learn the songs and not let the others down really drove me to push myself. I learned Limelight, Red Barchetta, Working Man, Xanadu, Leave that Thing Alone, Far Cry, and more since then. I also transcribed Caravan and BU2B by ear and I've tried to work in Geddy's techniques into my own playing.

 

I'd have to say my favorites to play.... gosh... everything I listed above! They each have their own feels and so they're all fun to play!