Geezer

bassman2k · Post by **bassman2k** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:30 pm

It seems like the more upbeat RIC players get all the attention. What do you guys think about the darker side of the spectrum, such as Geezer Butler. I think he is one of the great fathers of bass playing. He had an excellent tone in the early days; used a very wide variety of basses, including RICs. Here's a video of him with one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbxfe7DMxVo

marc61 · Post by **marc61** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 6:31 pm

That's cool stuff. I was just thinking earlier as I was listening to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple as well, how tight their respective rhythm sections were.

rikk · Post by **rikk** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 4:08 am

Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple sold this bass to Geezer.

byu · Post by **byu** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 5:26 am

Yeah, the story is that Geezer forgot his usual bass and his use of the Ric here was a one time event. It just happened to be the show they filmed. It's amazing that this bass did time in 2 quintessential '70s hard rock bands.

jps · Post by **jps** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:19 am

Why can't I get it to play? All it does is spin it's wheels trying to load the video!

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:48 am

Same happens for me Jeffrey, but I'm pretty sure I've seen this video several times already.

bassman2k · Post by **bassman2k** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:19 pm

Does he ever play RICs on recordings? I know he used P-basses a lot, but sometimes he got a mean sound that resembles a 4001.

byu · Post by **byu** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:21 pm

The only studio recording I'm aware of is a Ric fretless on Never Say Die. Not the title track, but one of the other tracks which I forget now. This from a Bass Player Magazine interview from a few years ago.

incubus2432 · Post by **incubus2432** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:01 am

Geezer is one of my main influences. Plenty of great lines throughout his career.

prog_rockin_metal_man · Sun Aug 12, 2007 2:53 am

Yeah same here...Geezer is a big influence on me too. He pretty much invented heavy metal bass playing and he was a great player to boot.

jps · Post by **jps** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:02 pm

I finally got to see it! Great, I was a huge fan of them in my formative years on bass.

incubus2432 · Post by **incubus2432** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:40 pm

I never figured you for a Black Sabbath type a fella Jeff.....

jps · Post by **jps** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:26 pm

jps · Post by **jps** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:15 pm

That was back in the day when I had hair!

pekka · Post by **pekka** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 1:02 pm

IIRC the fretless Rick was used on "Johnny Blade".

Geezer favoured John Birch basses during 1973-1978 and played an 8-string John Birch a lot on "Sabotage" and "Technical Ecstasy" tours.