Geddy Interview & Demonstration

[nattiep]

Now I wonder. After 26 years of ignoring the 4001 he's gone back to it for a "classic" song. Now will that shut people up or will it fuel the fire? I think he'll stick with the Fender, and if he does he needs to tweak his studio sound big time. Way too generic.

[squirebass]

I'll never get what he sees in a '70s era Fender Jazz bass. I really like and have great respect for the Fender Jazz bass(I've owned a few Js and Ps in my time), but the WORST bass I ever played was a Jazz bass made in the early 70s that was given to me for a period of a couple of months when I was first learning to play the bass(back in 1973). I couldn't understand why I preferred a japanese bass that I'd payed fifty bucks for, I thought I had bad technique because I didn't prefer the Jazz. Most of the '70s Jazz basses I've played since were really thick and chunky in the neck and played like real clunkers! I've played some '62s that were really nice with thin necks and I have a fretless Jazz from Japan that plays well and has a nice neck, but Geddy musta found one that had been heavily modified, maybe the previous owner took a belt sander to the back of the neck or something....

[ram]

I guess that falls into the 'different strokes for different folks' bucket. Once I found it, I have always liked my '74 4001 neck - and now my '93 4004L neck. But I know some really good players who love thick meaty necks... whatever works for ya' I guess.

[wayang]

To me, a busy bass player is one who gigs more than once a month...

If you ain't busy, get busy!

[henry5]

Geddy said in an interview that the neck on his Jazz is really thin.... but I agree with Tom. I generally don't like J necks at all, but millions swear by them, so what do I know? Each to his own.

[geddeeee]

I prefer the Precision neck. But the best and fastest is the Rick. Thick or thin!!!

[nattiep]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WRl62UAhexU
Better angle.

[squirebass]

Boy, I just read Geddeee's comments about Squire vs. Geddy Lee and did roust a great, flatulent harrumphing noise outta me!!! Balderdash and sheer drivel, bah humbug! I guess all of you know, that with my handlename being what it is on this great forum, I MUST jump in and defend Mr. Squire from this totally baseless balderdash! Seriously tho, what amazes me about the two of them is that they have some really amazing similarities about their sound, but their APPROACH to the instrument is completely different... Squire just works the whole pick thing so effortlessly, going back and forth around that horseshoe, playing behind it, plucking stings in front of it and actually on the neck, while Geddy gets those infectious licks out of his fingers and nails, a totally different feel completely. When I was younger I could play Geddy's stuff so much better than I could Squire's, because I learned to play bass with two alternating fingers, and I really didn't master the picking technique of Squire until much later. Now I can play Squire's stuff so much better than I can Geddy stuff, because I use a pick to play guitar so much now, and I have lost my fingerstyle way of playing a bass to some degree. I think it says a lot about the 4001/4003 bass that it can be played in two such different ways, and both ways work so well and are so intoxicating(for me anyway). I first saw Rush at the Music Hall in Houston in 1975(2112 had just been released, maybe this was early '76) and when we went to our seats, there was a huge mixer sitting on top of them so we had to get the usher to assign us other seats. I remember that show was awesome, Rush took us on a looong trip that evening and they were loud, proud and on fire that night... I WISH Geddy would drag out the 4001 again!