Geddy and His Bass

[Verena]

Hello, this is my first post, but not really. I used to post here under the name (geddy one kenobi), but have mostly lurked since I don’t think I have too much to add. This post caught my eye, since the questions and answers all seem very engaging.

 

Lorraine, you asked a lot of good questions about Geddy’s playing and you wanted some input from bass players. Since I am a bass player, I’ll take a stab at it.

 

What are Geddy’s most intricate bass lines and why? I would not disagree with any of the songs or reasons why Geddy’s playing is so challenging thus far. I can only give my perspective, and maybe some of the other bass players may agree or disagree. In my eyes Geddy has incredible groove. That may sound controversial, since Rush is not a groove band, but a technical band. I think if you listen to Geddy, he has some major groove and he is instinctive all get out. Listen to Malnar. It is fast, but sick funky. As others have mentioned, he is lighting fast, and out of nowhere he just explodes, ie. the end jam of Leave that thing Alone (live). Another thing that Rush and Geddy do that is hard, is what I call the count songs. Cygnus, Far Cry, end of Jacob’s, and Caravan are good examples. In these songs Rush will sit on one note or play a pattern that is near impossible to count, and then play it flawlessly. LaVilla, Freewill, Turn the Page are all very hard, and technical, not to mention trying to find a guitar player and drummer who can keep up.

 

Geddy’s Style. Some of you mentioned how he does his right hand like a pick. The technique that he is employing I believe, is he is raking his index thumbnail across the strings (his noisy bastard) and it produces a trebly-pick like sound. Listen to the Pass and Main Monkey, he uses it big time in those songs. I think he calls himself the only flamingo bass player because of it. I took lessons for a while and my teacher tried to break me of it, but it is really cool if you can master it.

 

Songs I find hard. To me Rush songs are hard to play because they sound (and are) so complex, and one can get overwhelmed. I think that has been my mistake in trying to tackle Rush songs. I overthink it and give up. Someone mentioned Hemispheres and 2112. These songs have a ton of pieces, and it’s very hard for a guy like me play all of 2112. That song is not so technical, but it has so many parts to keep straight. I completely agree with the others that Rush’s timing is impossible. I don’t know how the guy sings and plays like he does.

 

Again, sorry to put so much in one post. I do hope it provides some flavor. I’m an average bass player. I play a lot of gospel and christian worship music at church on Sundays, but I challenge myself with Rush, my alltime favorite band and bass player.

I do like reading this post. Very instructive and detailed. Thanks for sharing your perceptions. :)

[Lorraine]

Hello, this is my first post, but not really. I used to post here under the name (geddy one kenobi), but have mostly lurked since I don’t think I have too much to add. This post caught my eye, since the questions and answers all seem very engaging.

 

Lorraine, you asked a lot of good questions about Geddy’s playing and you wanted some input from bass players. Since I am a bass player, I’ll take a stab at it.

 

What are Geddy’s most intricate bass lines and why? I would not disagree with any of the songs or reasons why Geddy’s playing is so challenging thus far. I can only give my perspective, and maybe some of the other bass players may agree or disagree. In my eyes Geddy has incredible groove. That may sound controversial, since Rush is not a groove band, but a technical band. I think if you listen to Geddy, he has some major groove and he is instinctive all get out. Listen to Malnar. It is fast, but sick funky. As others have mentioned, he is lighting fast, and out of nowhere he just explodes, ie. the end jam of Leave that thing Alone (live). Another thing that Rush and Geddy do that is hard, is what I call the count songs. Cygnus, Far Cry, end of Jacob’s, and Caravan are good examples. In these songs Rush will sit on one note or play a pattern that is near impossible to count, and then play it flawlessly. LaVilla, Freewill, Turn the Page are all very hard, and technical, not to mention trying to find a guitar player and drummer who can keep up.

 

Geddy’s Style. Some of you mentioned how he does his right hand like a pick. The technique that he is employing I believe, is he is raking his index thumbnail across the strings (his noisy bastard) and it produces a trebly-pick like sound. Listen to the Pass and Main Monkey, he uses it big time in those songs. I think he calls himself the only flamingo bass player because of it. I took lessons for a while and my teacher tried to break me of it, but it is really cool if you can master it.

 

Songs I find hard. To me Rush songs are hard to play because they sound (and are) so complex, and one can get overwhelmed. I think that has been my mistake in trying to tackle Rush songs. I overthink it and give up. Someone mentioned Hemispheres and 2112. These songs have a ton of pieces, and it’s very hard for a guy like me play all of 2112. That song is not so technical, but it has so many parts to keep straight. I completely agree with the others that Rush’s timing is impossible. I don’t know how the guy sings and plays like he does.

 

Again, sorry to put so much in one post. I do hope it provides some flavor. I’m an average bass player. I play a lot of gospel and christian worship music at church on Sundays, but I challenge myself with Rush, my alltime favorite band and bass player.

 

i so do appreciate your input, and I thank you for signing up again just to post your thoughts.

 

It is hard for someone like myself who is not musically inclined to fully appreciate the talent that makes Rush what it has been and is, so when you and others write about their challenging songs (pointing out the specific parts to me so that I can listen and maybe learn a little), I find it fascinating.

[Geddy Jazz]

My Favorite :geddy: Bass Player. Period.

[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.

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.

 

There are a couple of songs my band plays that I use a pick for, because I like the sort of more aggressive, funkier sort of sound it creates - you get very different sounds when you use the side of your thumb, the pads of one or more fingers, a fingernail, a piece of plastic, a coin, or when you snap the string or tap it. I think Levin used to tape something to his fingers that he could smack the bass strings with.

 

As for preventing damage, I am sure that there are stretches that you can do to limber up the tendons. I learned a couple, but I have to say I am not very disciplined. One stretch is to bend each finger down to touch the bottom part of your palm while keeping the other fingers as straight as you can. Another one involves going to the edge of a table and touching the top with your fingertips and then sort of bending forward to stretch them.

 

When I first started doing gigs, sometimes this weird thing would happen in the middle of a song where I would feel this strange, pulling tension in my left forearm, and my fingers would just stop working - my index finger would involuntarily bend down towards my palm and I would not be able to straighten it. I would have to finish the song with the remaining fingers just playing root notes (anything intricate was out of the question at that point), and then try to massage my arm back into playing shape in the 5 or 10 seconds I had between songs! The first time it happened, I thought my career as a musician was over.

[New Digital Man]

Geddy has always had a somewhat clumsy style of playing that mainly involves him primarily using his index finger and only using his middle if it's really necessary unlike most fingerstyle bass players who alternate between the two so he has one finger doing almost all the work, why he plays like this I've no idea! This is why he got some tendonitis in that finger a few years back, I don't think he has had any other problems that we know of! The more common area for fingerstyle players to get a rsi is in the right wrist if they have poor technique and are putting undue stress on it!

[Lorraine]

Geddy has always had a somewhat clumsy style of playing that mainly involves him primarily using his index finger and only using his middle if it's really necessary unlike most fingerstyle bass players who alternate between the two so he has one finger doing almost all the work, why he plays like this I've no idea! This is why he got some tendonitis in that finger a few years back, I don't think he has had any other problems that we know of! The more common area for fingerstyle players to get a rsi is in the right wrist if they have poor technique and are putting undue stress on it!

 

I find it amazing as well that Geddy has no finger/wrist/elbow/shoulder issues. He must have good genes.

[Geddyleecruz]

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.

 

There are a couple of songs my band plays that I use a pick for, because I like the sort of more aggressive, funkier sort of sound it creates - you get very different sounds when you use the side of your thumb, the pads of one or more fingers, a fingernail, a piece of plastic, a coin, or when you snap the string or tap it. I think Levin used to tape something to his fingers that he could smack the bass strings with.

 

As for preventing damage, I am sure that there are stretches that you can do to limber up the tendons. I learned a couple, but I have to say I am not very disciplined. One stretch is to bend each finger down to touch the bottom part of your palm while keeping the other fingers as straight as you can. Another one involves going to the edge of a table and touching the top with your fingertips and then sort of bending forward to stretch them.

 

When I first started doing gigs, sometimes this weird thing would happen in the middle of a song where I would feel this strange, pulling tension in my left forearm, and my fingers would just stop working - my index finger would involuntarily bend down towards my palm and I would not be able to straighten it. I would have to finish the song with the remaining fingers just playing root notes (anything intricate was out of the question at that point), and then try to massage my arm back into playing shape in the 5 or 10 seconds I had between songs! The first time it happened, I thought my career as a musician was over.

 

 

I have always respected players who can use a pick. My hat is off to you. For some reason I do not do well with a pick. I don't slap very well either. As for stretches, Natural Science (NS) is the perfect song to practice with. Many blues lines feature that 4 fret stretch, so NS is a great song to work on that with. I have heard that many of the funk and jazz players take a challenging part and practice it for hours until it feels natural. Like Geddy, those guys really inspire me.

[EagleMoon]

I started playing with a pick and have always preferred the tone I get that way for the most part. Of course it depends on what kind of music you play or what kind of tone you're after.

[Lorraine]

Can anyone here play the bass to Love Lies Bleeding In My Heart by Elton John? It sounds simple and fun, but it probably isn't. Does anyone know who played the bass on the Yellow Brick Road album? Never mind. I'll google it before JARG gets after me. ;) ;)(Answer: Dee Murray)

 

Any pianists here?

Edited December 29, 2015 by Lorraine

[EagleMoon]

Can anyone here play the bass to Love Lies Bleeding In My Heart by Elton John? It sounds simple and fun, but it probably isn't. Does anyone know who played the bass on the Yellow Brick Road album? Never mind. I'll google it before JARG gets after me. ;) ;)(Answer: Dee Murray)

 

Any pianists here?

 

Yeah I can play it and no it's not hard. It was the first song I ever learned on bass back when I was a teenager. Dee Murray played bass in this one like he did on previous albums. Last one he was on before Elton changed his band around.

Edited December 29, 2015 by EagleMoon

[JARG]

Can anyone here play the bass to Love Lies Bleeding In My Heart by Elton John? It sounds simple and fun, but it probably isn't.

 

You need to know a little bit of blues "walking bass", a little bit of country bass, put in some galloping phrases, and you're golden.

Edited December 29, 2015 by JARG