Bassist pommie6/29/2023 ![]() On my Jazz basses, I’ve had a 250kHz push-pull pot by DiMarzio installed, because when you pull the pot up it goes from series to parallel - in other words, you suddenly have an overall volume for the bass instead of individual volumes per pickup. “I actually gave Geddy a mod tip for his Fender Jazz which he didn’t know about. I actually gave Geddy Lee a mod tip for his Fender Jazz which he didn’t know about I saw Geddy again later, just before he went on stage, and he’d watched ELO and said ‘My God, you guys sounded incredible’ - which, for me, was really nice because he’s one of my biggest heroes.” Did you see Geddy play Roundabout with Yes at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last year? I was there, with ELO! So I got to hang out with Geddy and Alex Lifeson for half an hour backstage and chat. Back in the 80s, Geddy used an Ashly preamp, and I’ve just bought one - for $150! It’s absolutely fantastic. What they do appeals to me more, for some reason. “One of my huge heroes is Geddy Lee I tend to like bassists who sing. I use that with a drop-D tuning in ‘Rhythm Of Love’ and ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’.” I’ve just bought an old 80s Warwick Streamer as well I had one of those in the 90s, and I should never have sold it. “I take two Rickys out on the road with me, and in 2016 I took my five-string Music Man out as well. I saw King Crimson play a couple of years ago, and Tony Levin was using one - and I thought ‘If it’s good enough for Tony, it’s good enough for me!’” So there’s a lot of effects in my Yes gig, and a lot of them go out in stereo, too. Then I use a patch with an envelope filter on it for the solo in The Fish, and another with a chorus and a repeat echo on it, to set up one of the riffs. “I use a chorus and a harmoniser on Changes, because Chris had a bass that was tuned half in octaves and half in fifths. The effects in the Kemper are amazing I use a flanger in the song Cinema, which has a really big regeneration in it so it sounds like an aeroplane landing.” I’m an EBS endorser, but because I knew I was going to be using a lot of effects, like Chris did, I didn’t want a huge bank of pedals. I bought my Kempers because I wanted great amp tones for my studio. ![]() The guitarist in Headspace, Pete Rinaldi, uses a Fractal and he loves it he wouldn’t use anything else. “The Kemper has more of the classic amp tones, as I understand it, and the way it’s laid out is more intuitive because it looks like an old amp itself. Kemper Profiler versus Fractal Axe-FX - discuss. The Marshall Super Bass 100 amp was the mainstay of Chris’s sound, and there’s one of those in the Kemper.” You can emulate a version of his tone, though, so I’m using Rickenbackers and Kemper Profilers. His Rickenbacker was unique too, because he had it all shaved away to make it thinner than most Rickys. He used to hold the pick close to the fleshy part of his thumb, so he’d get a harmonic out of every note. “You can never quite achieve Chris’s sound, because he had a unique way of playing. How do you approach Chris Squire’s bass tone?Ĭhris Squire would hold the pick close to the fleshy part of his thumb, so he’d get a harmonic out of every note I never had to work out how to play it, or even how to hold it, even though it was upside-down because I’m left-handed.” I got really into Roundabout and learned it, but - and I know this sounds weird - I didn’t actually learn it as such, because I could play the bass as soon as I picked it up. I remember thinking, ‘Where’s that Yes record that he keeps playing?’ and putting The Fragile on. “My brother had a bass guitar, and I used to pick it up and have a thrash around on it when he was at work. (Image credit: Steve Thorne/Getty) Fractal and Fragile If you slice me in two, I’m prog all the way through.” ![]() I’d be in bed trying to go to sleep, because I had school the next morning, but I could hear it coming from the next room. They’d listen to Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Bebop Deluxe, Genesis, Yes… all different kinds of music. “I’ve got two older brothers, and they were always playing all sorts of interesting music. Roundabout and Heart Of The Sunrise are the first two bass-lines I ever learned.” He was the first bass player whose work I really sat down and listened to. Chris Squire of Yes was always my biggest hero, and to be able to play these songs with Jon Anderson and Trevor Rabin is a dream come true. I’m not complaining about it - it’s great. Playing in huge venues with legendary bands is the upside, presumably? Of course, as a professional musician you never want to say no to work, because you don’t know when the next time you’ll get a chance to say yes is going to be.” “There comes a point, as you get a bit older, when you realise that you miss your slippers, haha! I miss my family as well, so I could do with a year when it’s not quite so full on.
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