Geddy and His Bass

[EagleMoon]

But, that brings up an important question.

 

Is Geddy a fisherman? Has anyone ever caught him with a fishing rod in his hand trying to catch some of Canada's finest fish?

 

Not him but there's a pic of his kids in a boat on a lake that's out there somewhere.

[Disk98]

Disk, I didn't know you could play bass.

Yeah, I'm okay, I guess. I'm no Geddy. Maybe I'll post a video sometime so you can all tell me how badly I suck.

 

Funny, I would've thought something like that would come up in one of my 3,000+ posts. :)

[callmejim]

2112- difficult to work out what's being played, not too hard to play when sorted.

La Villa- difficult to play, and that timing.

YYZ- difficult to play, and that timing.

[toymaker]

Instead of just naming the songs, can you tell what it is that makes it so hard to play?

 

Lorraine I can answer just from my own experience - I play bass, but I don't consider myself very good . . . There are two things that I find difficult about Lee's bass playing.

 

Hemispheres and YYZ both have a lot of "triplet feel" parts: Lee's playing bursts of three notes. Listen to around the 1:05 point of Hemispheres - that sort of fast dit-dit-doo, dit-dit-doo thing. I find that very difficult to play consistently, if at all. The main riff of YYZ is a fast flurry of notes that needs to be played very precisely; you can't let certain notes ring out or it doesn't sound right.

 

The other thing I don't have the endurance for is bass riffs that involve fairly serious stretches with the left (fretting hand). For example, the riff in Natural science has Lee fretting the fourth fret on the D string and the 7th fret on the A string - a span of over four inches. When I try to play that, I start to feel the strain in the tendons of my left hand. I know I'm not playing it with the right technique, but it's still a pretty serious stretch. In Digital Man, there are a couple of bass "licks" (long series of notes) that have similar stretches, and I'm not nearly proficient enough to play those.

 

What still amazes me is how good a bass player Lee was even on the first album. There's some very cool bass stuff on that record. Even the little riff that Lee and Lifeson play together in What You're Doing (at about 1:08) is pretty fast and difficult to play evenly.

 

Then of course there are some intricate parts that he plays while singing - the bass riff in Marathon (e.g. under "It's not how fast you can go"), the bass he's playing in Circumstances under "felt the gloom of empty rooms" etc.

 

I guess that's more than two things.

Edited December 20, 2015 by toymaker

[Blue Barchetta]

Why start a topic about Geddy's fish?

 

Why not?

You got a point when you look at most of the other threads started in the Rush section. At least a thread about Geddy's fish hasn't already been made over a thousand times.

 

Be grateful I didn't start a thread: Geddy and His Crabs ;)

As a keyboardist, I'm sure Geddy understands it's better to have a lobster on your piano than crabs on your organ!

[JARG]

Starts at about the 16:00 min mark

 

You can really hear The Ox's influence there.

[EagleMoon]

Starts at about the 16:00 min mark

 

You can really hear The Ox's influence there.

 

Big time.

[ctbadger]

But, that brings up an important question.

 

Is Geddy a fisherman? Has anyone ever caught him with a fishing rod in his hand trying to catch some of Canada's finest fish?

 

I think there's a picture out there of Ged and Les Claypool on a boat holding up a fish.

[ctbadger]

Why start a topic about Geddy's fish?

 

Why not?

You got a point when you look at most of the other threads started in the Rush section. At least a thread about Geddy's fish hasn't already been made over a thousand times.

 

Be grateful I didn't start a thread: Geddy and His Crabs ;)

As a keyboardist, I'm sure Geddy understands it's better to have a lobster on your piano than crabs on your organ!

 

I

Why start a topic about Geddy's fish?

 

Why not?

You got a point when you look at most of the other threads started in the Rush section. At least a thread about Geddy's fish hasn't already been made over a thousand times.

 

Be grateful I didn't start a thread: Geddy and His Crabs ;)

As a keyboardist, I'm sure Geddy understands it's better to have a lobster on your piano than crabs on your organ!

 

Reminds me of this bit on Robot Chicken featuring the ghost of Liberace:

[Lorraine]

Disk, I didn't know you could play bass.

Yeah, I'm okay, I guess. I'm no Geddy. Maybe I'll post a video sometime so you can all tell me how badly I suck.

 

Funny, I would've thought something like that would come up in one of my 3,000+ posts. :)

 

Young man, I can't even remember what I did yesterday let alone everything you have written in over 3,000 posts! :)

[Lorraine]

Instead of just naming the songs, can you tell what it is that makes it so hard to play?

 

Lorraine I can answer just from my own experience - I play bass, but I don't consider myself very good . . . There are two things that I find difficult about Lee's bass playing.

 

Hemispheres and YYZ both have a lot of "triplet feel" parts: Lee's playing bursts of three notes. Listen to around the 1:05 point of Hemispheres - that sort of fast dit-dit-doo, dit-dit-doo thing. I find that very difficult to play consistently, if at all. The main riff of YYZ is a fast flurry of notes that needs to be played very precisely; you can't let certain notes ring out or it doesn't sound right.

 

The other thing I don't have the endurance for is bass riffs that involve fairly serious stretches with the left (fretting hand). For example, the riff in Natural science has Lee fretting the fourth fret on the D string and the 7th fret on the A string - a span of over four inches. When I try to play that, I start to feel the strain in the tendons of my left hand. I know I'm not playing it with the right technique, but it's still a pretty serious stretch. In Digital Man, there are a couple of bass "licks" (long series of notes) that have similar stretches, and I'm not nearly proficient enough to play those.

 

What still amazes me is how good a bass player Lee was even on the first album. There's some very cool bass stuff on that record. Even the little riff that Lee and Lifeson play together in What You're Doing (at about 1:08) is pretty fast and difficult to play evenly.

 

Then of course there are some intricate parts that he plays while singing - the bass riff in Marathon (e.g. under "It's not how fast you can go"), the bass he's playing in Circumstances under "felt the gloom of empty rooms" etc.

 

I guess that's more than two things.

 

Thank you, toymaker. I don't need music theory to be able to listen to what you are describing. Thank you for pointing out the parts. I will listen to the songs.

 

Please tell me the exact part of Digital Man you are referring to.

[toymaker]

Instead of just naming the songs, can you tell what it is that makes it so hard to play?

 

Lorraine I can answer just from my own experience - I play bass, but I don't consider myself very good . . . There are two things that I find difficult about Lee's bass playing.

 

Hemispheres and YYZ both have a lot of "triplet feel" parts: Lee's playing bursts of three notes. Listen to around the 1:05 point of Hemispheres - that sort of fast dit-dit-doo, dit-dit-doo thing. I find that very difficult to play consistently, if at all. The main riff of YYZ is a fast flurry of notes that needs to be played very precisely; you can't let certain notes ring out or it doesn't sound right.

 

The other thing I don't have the endurance for is bass riffs that involve fairly serious stretches with the left (fretting hand). For example, the riff in Natural science has Lee fretting the fourth fret on the D string and the 7th fret on the A string - a span of over four inches. When I try to play that, I start to feel the strain in the tendons of my left hand. I know I'm not playing it with the right technique, but it's still a pretty serious stretch. In Digital Man, there are a couple of bass "licks" (long series of notes) that have similar stretches, and I'm not nearly proficient enough to play those.

 

What still amazes me is how good a bass player Lee was even on the first album. There's some very cool bass stuff on that record. Even the little riff that Lee and Lifeson play together in What You're Doing (at about 1:08) is pretty fast and difficult to play evenly.

 

Then of course there are some intricate parts that he plays while singing - the bass riff in Marathon (e.g. under "It's not how fast you can go"), the bass he's playing in Circumstances under "felt the gloom of empty rooms" etc.

 

I guess that's more than two things.

 

Thank you, toymaker. I don't need music theory to be able to listen to what you are describing. Thank you for pointing out the parts. I will listen to the songs.

 

Please tell me the exact part of Digital Man you are referring to.

 

I'm pretty sure it's one of the first little bass licks, from 0:12-0:16 or so. I find that brutally hard to play, but then I'm a bit of a chump as a bass player!

[Lorraine]

I admit to getting a huge resentment often when I encounter the Geddys of the world who have been given, not one, but multiple talents, while the rest of us can't even find one within ourselves.

[Lorraine]

Toymaker, you mention feeling the tendons in you hand stretch - remember in the Rio documentary when Geddy said he had stretched the tendons in his hand?

[Lorraine]

That's funny. The little cone that comes up for my VLC player has a Santa hat on. :lol:

[Catch The Mystery]

But, that brings up an important question.

 

Is Geddy a fisherman? Has anyone ever caught him with a fishing rod in his hand trying to catch some of Canada's finest fish?

 

I think there's a picture out there of Ged and Les Claypool on a boat holding up a fish.

 

And you can find that picture here: https://www.instagra...-by=geddyimages

[Lorraine]

I listened to Hemispheres and Digital Man. That's what I thought I heard in Kid Gloves that made me ask about the song, but I guess I was wrong.

[toymaker]

Toymaker, you mention feeling the tendons in you hand stretch - remember in the Rio documentary when Geddy said he had stretched the tendons in his hand?

 

Yes, I remember that bit. I think he was talking about his right hand?

 

If you make your left hand into a sort of claw - bend all the knuckles, but don't let the pads of your fingers touch your palm - and then stretch your pinky and your index finger away from each other a bit - that's the sort of tension that I feel when I try to play the main riff of Natural Science. I know that instead of stretching, I should be moving my whole hand back and forth between the two frets, but inevitably I end up stretching anyway. Then it starts to hurt.

So then I stop, shake my head and say, once again, that Lee guy is a monster on bass.

[Lorraine]

Toymaker, you mention feeling the tendons in you hand stretch - remember in the Rio documentary when Geddy said he had stretched the tendons in his hand?

 

Yes, I remember that bit. I think he was talking about his right hand?

 

If you make your left hand into a sort of claw - bend all the knuckles, but don't let the pads of your fingers touch your palm - and then stretch your pinky and your index finger away from each other a bit - that's the sort of tension that I feel when I try to play the main riff of Natural Science. I know that instead of stretching, I should be moving my whole hand back and forth between the two frets, but inevitably I end up stretching anyway. Then it starts to hurt.

So then I stop, shake my head and say, once again, that Lee guy is a monster on bass.

And he does it all without a pic! Do you use one?

 

I'm sure Geddy's fingers and hand are quite inured to his playing, but, still, at his age, you would think there would be some type of damage. Apparently, he has none though.

[pjbear05]

I used to dabble in bass, but never applied myself enough to it. There are some runs Ged does that are other worldly.

 

YYZ

Driven

Red Barchetta

Overture & Temples of Syrinx from 2112

Working Man (esp. DS Disc 3)

 

A lot has to do with playing technique, whatever works for the player. Bass God James Jamerson (Motown's Funk Brothers) got by with "the hook", plucking the strings of his P-Bass with just his curved forefinger, but it damn sure did the job.

[Disk98]

Disk, I didn't know you could play bass.

Yeah, I'm okay, I guess. I'm no Geddy. Maybe I'll post a video sometime so you can all tell me how badly I suck.

 

Funny, I would've thought something like that would come up in one of my 3,000+ posts. :)

 

Young man, I can't even remember what I did yesterday let alone everything you have written in over 3,000 posts! :)

:P Well, I guess you're going to fail the test. ;)

[Sticklight]

Studio:

YYZ

Turn The Page

Digital Man

Anthem

Malignant Narcissism

Show Don't Tell

La Villa Strangiato

 

Live:

Leave That Thing Alone (TM tour)

Where's My Thing? (RTB & CA tour)

Red Barchetta outro (TM tour)

Driven (Vapor Trails tour)

 

Amazing stuff.

[Lorraine]

Driven is one of my favorite Rush songs.

 

What parts of it are hard to play? As I said earlier, Geddy, in Rio, makes it look like a cinch. ;)

[toymaker]

I think Lee is plunking two strings at a time (D and G), making "bass chords," and alternating with the A string. It's pretty quick. I don't know if that's what folks mean when they say it's difficult.

[Lucas]

I think Lee is plunking two strings at a time (D and G), making "bass chords," and alternating with the A string. It's pretty quick. I don't know if that's what folks mean when they say it's difficult.

 

Geddy sounds awesome on the Rick in the 70s - esp on Natural Science

 

;)

 

 

 

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Edited December 22, 2015 by Lucas