Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Okay... can anyone give me tabs to that bass solo for Freewill. Im learning it and im real lost. And i dont have any of it wrote down its all just in my head. I gotta get this little part thats giving me a hard time down by like tuesday. So yeah... If you have tabs to it that you know are Correct... or even close please send em to me. Thank you!

Oh... i didnt think about it. He never plays it 100% the same way. So just the recorded verson. I guessing they pretty much only used one.... hell i dont know.

The best advise I can give you is to improvise, it's such a complex solo that if you can play the off notes at least structurally sound it will sound fine. I've tried to learn that solo for years and finally resigned myself to just make it sound good....meaning not being as busy as Geddy but keeping the timing and hitting the noticable notes as needed...filling in where appropriate. It's a tough song to play when the guitar solo goes on.

I learned it years ago but never tabbed it out. Try the Rush Tablature Project.

http://www.cygnusproductions.com/rtp/

Well... you said YEARS so i dont feel so bad now... i havent even been playing for YEARS. This is really the only time i had anything give me a hard time. I really shouldnt have even tryd this lol but thanks scott.

It is not terribly difficult. The timing is challenging but I would not call it complex.

Ted. Iv been playing for about a year and a half.... this is difficult lol.

Some of Geddy's bass solos he simply plays the same part he was playing all along ... it becomes a solo because the guitar stops for a minute ... I think that is what is going on with Freewill ... by the way the studio version of Freewill has a most excellent bass tone ... he played it on a ric of course ...

Back then Geddy used a lot of the same musical devices over and over again. Once you learn a few of them, you will find that it is not hard to pick off Rush bass lines when you need them. You will need to work on your hand strength though. Geddy plays hard. It can be real work playing Rush tunes. Be sure to practice using all 4 fingers on your fretting hand. A lot of begining bass players never use their little fingers or don't use them enough. This style has worked for some accomplished bassists but it takes away musical possibilities in the long run. Start slowly. That is, play a difficult section slowly many times before trying to run it at speed. A lot of players try to jump in at full speed right away and get frustrated or produce a sloppy rendition.

The bass break in Freewill is definately unique to that part of the song. It even has it's own cadence Dm - F - Bb The verse is more like F - C - F -C. It is more complicated than that but that is the general idea.

Geddy's technique is really strange, admittedly by him. He does a lot of "back and forth" playing with his fingers...like playing triplets on a string but he does that almost like playing chords. He has said that his fingernails are really hard from playing that way, he uses his fingernails like a pick essentially.

I have seen Rush 13 times over the years and have never seen him use his pinky...I may be wrong. He uses his index and middle fingers for most of his technique as far as I remember, especially in the past, pre Signals....now I see him strumming a lot like chords especially on the newer stuff. He's just amazing.

I just men the whole thing... even when the guitar kicks in. I got the 1st part of it. And i got my form down. I take lessons and that was one of the guys things. So i use my pinky alot. I just use whatever way is gonna make it easiest. It hasnt hurt my hands yet tho. Im use to useing them all and i play alot so my hands are kinda strong. I guess.

You are right Scott, Geddy does not use his pinky very often.

Jacob, take it slow, and work on a seperate phrase at a time, then join two together, work on that, then a third, and so on. Smaller pieces give you something to work on and see progress as you learn.

If you don't already have one get a metronome, or a basic drum program for you PC, practice your timing, and intonation, you can never do this kind of thing too much.

More you do this type of thing the better developed your internal "Tick" becomes, and the better you can hold down a beat, don't trust the drummers, they just like to bang things really loud !!!

Well I thought about going at it the more "correct" way but.... It just makes it harder. Its easier just leaving the pinky out i guess. I dont really think im using it on this part. But i mean the whole last comment thing was just saying that I can if i need to i guess. I dont know.