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Why no Geddy solo ever?


quantex
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Personally, I'm fine without an extended solo piece from Geddy. He already does a huge amount for Rush musically, in terms of vocals, bass lines, keyboard/synth parts, songwriting, and arrangement.

 

That being said, if Geddy chose to add a bass solo, that would be cool.

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QUOTE (ThinkingBig @ Sep 10 2012, 06:38 PM)

I can't stand when Michael Anthony or some other dork struts around the stage make noise on a bass guitar for 8 minutes.  When that happens, I wish I had something heavy and the accuracy of an outfielder.

A solo, didn't used to mean you're on the stage alone--keeping the audience entertained while your band mates take a piss.  A solo was typically when a musician in an orchestra stands up and plays a special section of the piece written specifically for his instrument.  Or in jazz circles, the musician improvises a few bars, putting his own personal touch on the bigger piece. In this traditional sense, Geddy solos quite a bit in many Rush songs.  The ones that jump out are Freewill and Tom Sawyer.  Before Alex goes into his ripping guitar bridge (solo), Geddy dazzles us with a bass solo.  Geddy's bass solo bridges to the guitar solo, buy setting up a rhythm and tempo for Alex to play off of. Geddy also solos in the traditional sense in YYZ and other instrumentals.

The bass guitar is not an instrument that lends itself to the rock and roll solo, one guy alone on a stage.  There are not enough tones and textures on a bass to create something as dynamic as a Neil Peart drum solo or an Eddie Van Halen Eruption type solo piece.

I have seen some pathetically bad solos from rock acts and hair bands that think their audience expects a solo from their lead guitarist.  If you think about it, in most hard rock and heavy metal songs, the guitarist plays a solo during the bridge section.  After hearing the guitarist solo in every song, why the hell would any musician think the audience wants to hear them make distorted noise while running from one side of the stage to other, putting his hand to his hear, pantomiming to the audience to scream louder if you like me!!  I guess it's some kind of holdover from the guitar hero days where everyone wanted to be Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen -- two musicians who reinvented the rock guitar IMO.  However, at the VH reunion in 2007, Eddie seemed to be going through the motions, still great, but not very passionate or excited about what he was doing.  IMO.

Anyway, Alex Lifeson played a short acoustic piece for the S&A and TM tours after the drum solo to calmly transition into what comes next.  Not really a solo, just a short original piece by a world class rock guitarist.  After seeing Metthais Jabs of the Scorpions waste 6 minutes of concert time making pointless noise void of musical quality, I appreciate Lerxst letting us into his head and giving us real a musical gift.

Neil is like the the Eddie Van Halen of drums. He reinvents the instrument and art of rock percussion, taking it to a new level beyond rhythm and time keeping.  People who think Neil is overrated don't really understand what's truly great about what he does.  And since I found out he doesn't count, what he does and how he doesn't, makes more sense to me.  Neil Peart's drumming, like Keith Moon and John Bonham, has a uniquely musical quality.  The drums are one with guitar and bass.  Tone, textures, and rhythms that compliment every lick and every lyric.  Every fill, cymbal, and rhythm is used in a incredibly inspired manner that creates drum parts 100% integral to the song.  Replace Neil's original drum parts with standard rock drumming, even by a talented drummer, and it would completely change the feel and dynamic of a RUSH song.  Neil's drum parts are so well conceived and so creative that the music becomes a single musical thought or idea, and not three rock musicians playing their parts while the drummer keeps time.

For example, One Little Victory.  The drum intro is fast and furious double bass, we're not sure where this is going, but then the guitar comes in, it all makes perfect sense.  So much so, it's hard to say which musical idea came first, the drum intro or the guitar.  Integral.

Neil's solos have a highly musical quality, telling a story, expressing emotion, full artistic percussion.  Contrast that with James Kottack of the Scorpions pounding on his set for 8 bars, then standing on his drum throne and putting his hands to his ears, pantomiming to the audience, "Come on, come on, don't you love what I'm doing?"  No, James.  We don't. 

Stewart Copland is the only other drummer in a music act I like that I think has that unique enough percussion voice to warrant a solo. Copland often solos in the more traditional mid-song manner.

Best post of September 2012.

 

There are too many good posts on this forum to give you anything more than the month, but:

 

 

goodpost.gif

Edited by drbirdsong
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QUOTE (Shreddy Lee @ Sep 10 2012, 05:40 PM)
"Bass solos annoy me"? I don't understand this. To those who have said that, are you also annoyed by guitar and drum solos? If not, what is so different about the bass? A good solo is a good solo.

I would LOVE to see Geddy play a piece where he just plays alone for a while, like Alex gets to do.

Yes until this tour I loathed Neils (I like the short ones on this tour especially the one before Red Sector A) solos i'm sure they are cool live but I always skip them, except the big band part, and Guitar solos especially annoy me!

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QUOTE (tangy @ Sep 10 2012, 12:09 PM)
best bass solo i have ever seen was Victor Wooten.

pretty sure most bass players rate VW higher than Ged though.

ged is my favorite bass player and a short solo would be cool with me.

Well yeah he is a much better technical player than Geddy, I know that for a fact, but he is much more of a solo bassist, and Geddy is a compositional bassist. He's never really had the kind of chops that lend itself to soloing. He doesnt play a lot of fast scales and whatnot, he's more of just a traditional rock style bassist, which isnt a knock against him, he just isnt that technical of a player to stand up there soloing for 5 minutes.

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QUOTE (trenken @ Sep 11 2012, 04:19 PM)
QUOTE (tangy @ Sep 10 2012, 12:09 PM)
best bass solo i have ever seen was Victor Wooten.

pretty sure most bass players rate VW higher than Ged though.

ged is my favorite bass player and a short solo would be cool with me.

Well yeah he is a much better technical player than Geddy, I know that for a fact, but he is much more of a solo bassist, and Geddy is a compositional bassist. He's never really had the kind of chops that lend itself to soloing. He doesnt play a lot of fast scales and whatnot, he's more of just a traditional rock style bassist, which isnt a knock against him, he just isnt that technical of a player to stand up there soloing for 5 minutes.

OMG I agree with Trenken. Give yourself a Rush hug buddy...member how to do it?

Right hand on left shoulder.

Left hand on right shoulder.

 

Now squeeze tightly laugh.gif

 

For a fool bass soloist check out a guy named Trip on YouTube.

 

 

2.gif

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I agree that bass solos are pretty boring depending on how good the player is at doing solosIt doesn't have the variety of sounds that say' a drumset has. A drumset is a group of different instruments that can make a trillion sound combinations, esp when there are melodic percussion and other instruments, like neils solo. That's my guess... biggrin.gif biggrin.gif

One more thing... I love the driven solo and yyz solos' and frankly just like short solos under a minute. I started out doing 15 minute solos live but try to keep it short and sweet now. Less is more. K.I.s.s. keep it simple stupid is what they say, and I believe in those sayings..

Edited by the masked drummer
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QUOTE (quantex @ Sep 10 2012, 12:46 PM)
Well...this was suposed to be the free formed tour with alot of branching out.

Why is it that Geddy never does a 5 min solo of some sort? Driven solos do not count.

Why wouldn't Driven count?

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He does the odd "mini-solo" but ya I agree. I'd love to see a full blown Les Claypool style solo!
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QUOTE (Alchemical @ Sep 12 2012, 09:09 AM)
QUOTE (losingit2k @ Sep 11 2012, 10:10 PM)
Now this is a solo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5omFFeLEXFE

1022.gif  drool1.gif  1022.gif

I raise you...RANDOM YOUTUBE BASSIST!

 

Seriously, this guy is friggin amazing.

WOW! I don't think this guy listen's to the 'you can't do that on a bass guitar' talk. Just wow! Impressive!!

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