Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Since reading the Geddy Lee & Rush – Still Got It? thread, I took some time to reflect on the influence Geddy Lee has had on my bass playing. Upon reflection, his influence is HUGE! Since I have nothing but time these days, I went through every Rush studio album and listed which songs were most influential to me. Some of the songs are very “Technical” in nature and some are more “Melodic.” No matter what, each of the songs below rocked my world when I first listened to them and subsequently learned the bass part. I suggest that every bass player – no matter what level of playing competency – should listen to each of these songs if for no other reason than “Bass Line Appreciation.”

Here we go….

Rush – In The Mood, Finding My Way

Fly By Night – Making Memories, In The End

Caress Of Steel – Lakeside Park, I Think I’m Going Bald

2112 – Lessons, 2112 Overture

A Farewell To Kings – Xanadu, A Farewell To Kings, Cinderella Man

Hemispheres – Circumstances, La Villa Strangiato

Permanent Waves – Jacob’s Ladder, Natural Science

Moving Pictures – The Camera Eye, Vital Signs, YYZ, Red Barchetta

Signals – The Analog Kid, Digital Man

Grace Under Pressure – The Body Electric, The Enemy Within, Kid Gloves

Power Windows – Marathon, Grand Designs, The Big Money

Hold Your Fire – Turn The Page, Time Stand Still, Force Ten

Presto – Hand Over Fist, Show Don’t Tell

Roll The Bones – You Bet Your Life, Roll The Bones, Where’s My Thing

Counterparts – Stick It Out, Double Agent

Test For Echo – Driven, Half The World, Test For Echo

Vapor Trails – Peaceable Kingdom, One Little Victory

Snakes & Arrows – Malignant Narcissism, The Way The Wind Blows


Alright people, talk amongst yourselves……

Cool thread!

I've always had a soft-spot for 'Anthem' - bass part really RAWKS!!

Gotta throw Freewill in there.

FretlessOnly wrote:Gotta throw Freewill in there.

+1!

All of caress of steel. I learned that whole record front to back . when i was 15.I still love it to this day.

Mr. Meaty wrote:All of caress of steel. I learned that whole record front to back . when i was 15.I still love it to this day.

One of my favorite bass lines on that album is in the mellow chorus and break sections of "The Fountain Of Lamneth".

I know . Its a masterpiece .

rickenbrother wrote:

FretlessOnly wrote:Gotta throw Freewill in there.

+1!

Still would not make my list for bass influence - even the better Exit Stage Left version. It's a great song and a good bass part - but not so much a stretch to play. The time signature changes are fun to count. 7/4 is always fun to play. (e.g. Pink Floyd's Money) The guitar part is much more difficult IMHO.

4003 wrote:It's a great song and a good bass part - but not so much a stretch to play.

If you've nailed the bass part during the guitar solo, then props to you. If not, then you may need to re-think your comment. While the verse and chorus are fairly easy, and the bass solo itself isn't all that difficult, the lines for the next minute or so of the guitar solo are, to me, equal in difficulty to anything Geddy's done. Except perhaps for that really funky four seconds in the latter parts of La Villa Strangiato.

Either way, IMO, that minute or so in Free Will is more difficult, and to me, more inspiring, than many of the other tunes you cited. Vive la difference I suppose.

FretlessOnly wrote:IMO, that minute or so in Free Will is more difficult, and to me, more inspiring, than many of the other tunes you cited. Vive la difference I suppose.

+1!

I've always loved that break, and it's a classic example of Geddy's "double-pluck and land" technique (for lack of any better way to describe it), where he quickly plucks the higher string twice and lands on the string below it with the second finger used ("puk-ka-dum" is the best onomatopoeia I can think of for it). He does it all over "YYZ" (he'd have to in order to play those riffs at that speed, and I think he's throwing the ring finger in too to get the riffs to groove properly), and the main bass riff in "Territories" from Power Windows is a classic example as well.

The really great thing about that break (like most of Geddy's greatest moments) is that, more importantly than simply being technically challenging, it's primarily extremely groovy. It's all about the syncopation and the way he plays off of Neil Peart's preferred drum fill accents and choices. Good stuff, Maynard....

I like just about everything they've done but these few popped into my head:

Anthem - love the energy and strightforward boldness of it.
Cygnus X-1 - love the sound of the bass especially in the intro.
Natural Science
YYZ
Countdown - love the growly sound of the bass
Kid Gloves
The Big Money

Rush being one third Geddy and therefore awesome, I suppose there could be a seemingly endless succession of 'you missed out such-and-such!'. Well, you missed out By Tor ... and the Snowdog! It's that version on All the World's a Stage, with the upfront recording sound and the Rickenbacker growl turned up to, oh, 11 or 12 probably, that a younger Becky worked so hard to play.

In that version of By Tor, and in the Exit...Stage Left rendition of Xanadu, and in High Water from Hold Your Fire, we hear another of Geddy's characteristic moves, where he rapidly plays (for the sake of argument) a A# on the D string at fret 8, B on fret 9, E on the G string at fret 9, B on fret 9 and a D on the G string at fret 7. He seems quite good at playing notes across the strings in quick succession.

Maybe I should add that Finding My Way, somewhat fittingly, was the very first Rush bassline that I learned to play.

"Vive la différence" is absolutely correct. The point of my thread was to show what Geddy parts shook the foundation of my bass playing and made me stretch in some way to become a better player. Everyone's "foundation" is different. But, the one thing that all of us can agree on is that Geddy Lee is one hell of a bass player!

Can I throw in a vote for Tom Sawyer'?

Reminds me of the great bit in South Park where 'Lil' Rush' destroy the song, and Cartman changes the lyric, and destroys the keyboard part - hillarious!

On a Rush tip - one sholdn't forget the lyric in Pavement's 'Stereo' -

'What about the voice of Geddy Lee
How does he sing so high?
I wonder if he speaks
Like an ordinary guy'.!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnrM4UjaQmY

spongebob wrote:'What about the voice of Geddy Lee
How does he sing so high?
I wonder if he speaks
Like an ordinary guy'.!

There was an article about Rush in a mid '70's Circus magazine, in which the writer of the article joked that if Geddy's Pitch was any higher, Rush's audience would consist mainly of dogs and extra-terrestrials!

When I met Geddy, he spoke like an ordinary guy.