rockandrollgarage.com
The 2 bassists Geddy Lee said were essential for melody
One of the most important elements in a song is certainly the melody and the Canadian band Rush, whose classic line-up consisted of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, created many remarkable ones, making them one of the most influential bands of the past decades.
Although the bass guitar tends to be overlooked when considering the role of instruments in a melody, it is quite important. Geddy Lee once mentioned two bassists who were essential in highlighting the instrument’s importance in Rock and Roll melodies.
The 2 bassists Geddy Lee said were essential for melody
James Jamerson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQKUXUmG6ss&list=RDKqtELR5GyfI&index=2
"The unsung role of the bass is to support the melodies in a kind of subconscious way. If you listen to the old Motown stuff, the old James Jamerson things where he was playing, you find yourself humming those songs and more often than not, you find yourself humming the bass part, even though you don't realize it and even though there's things built on top of it. So as a melodic instrument, I think the bass is a little miss or at least underappreciated," he said in an interview for the Jaco Pastorious documentary "Jaco" (2014).
Geddy mentioned the late bassist James Jamerson multiple times over the years as one of his favorite ones. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2020, he recalled that when he was a kid, he used to work at his mom's variety store. It was a 45-minute drive from his home to the store every day and back. According to him, Pop radio was always playing in the car and he would be often air-drumming on the dashboard.
The radio was also on at the story and those were the places where he first heard Motown and James Jamerson. "That really dominated the airwaves in those days. There were all these great songs that were subconsciously influencing me, in a strange way. If you listen to the music of Rush, where do you come to James Jamerson and Motown music? (Laughs) But nonetheless, all the early bands I played in, we played all these great Motown songs, because that’s what was going on."
Geddy Lee continued:
"If wanted to play in a little neighborhood band, you played, 'Hold On, I’m Comin’', and great Wilson Pickett songs, and Sam and Dave. Anyway, it wasn’t until much later I realized the common denominator for a lot of these artists was James Jamerson, and how important his lines were to making those songs move, and how important the melody was in those bass parts. So that was a great revelation to me, when I finally put a face to all those various songs," Geddy Lee said.
Talking with Vulture, Geddy Lee revealed that the bass part during chorus of Rush's song "The Anarchist" is his "subtle tribute" to James Jamerson. That track was part of the band's final album "Clockwork Angels", released in 2012. As the musician said, Jamerson was one of the most important artists from the releases of the Motown Records.
He was a session musician and was part of many hits released by artists under that label in the 1960s and early 1970s. Jamerson was not credited on those records when they were first released but later gained recognition for his incredible basslines. He played on 23 Billboard Hot 100 number-on hits. Some of them are "You Can't Hurry Love" (The Supremes), "My Girl" (The Temptations) and"Dancing In The Street" (Martha and the Vandellas).
Paul McCartney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5PEGCvzAQU&list=RDY5PEGCvzAQU&start_radio=1
"Paul McCartney, great example. If you look at the early Beatles stuff and especially the more adventurous Beatles stuff, the bass has a really profound effect on the way the melody is shaped. I like to think that's true in our music too," Geddy Lee said in the "Jaco" documentary. The Rush frontman also believes that McCartney is overlooked as a bass player, because people usually tends to remember him more as a songwriter.
“(McCartney) gets overlooked as a bassist. But as a pop bassist goes, he’s such a melodic player. And you’re talking about a guy who wasn’t originally the bass player for the band. He adapted, of course. He picked it up. I just find his story really interesting, as a bass player. So he comes at the instrument from a much more melodic place. You really hear that in a lot of Beatle music.”
Geddy Lee continued:
“If you listen to ‘Taxman,’ or if you listen to ‘Come Together,’ and a range of music in between, that bass part is always so round. It’s always so bouncy and melodic. I think that’s really no small part of the infectious nature of Beatles songs. It really added a great element to those songs. I think he was sort of subconsciously working his way into my psyche as a bass player. Although the style of music that I played wasn’t The Beatles style of music, I did have great respect for them," he told Rolling Stone in 2020.
Curiously, Paul McCartney mentioned James Jamerson many times during his career as one of his biggest influences. “(My bass playing) became a bit more skillful, yeah. I wouldn’t personally credit myself (for being responsible for the evolution of the role of bass in music), but thanks for that. But part of it, I think James Jamerson, him and me. I’d share the credit there. I was nicking a lot off him. Funnily enough, I’d always liked bass.”
“My dad, as I say, was a musician and I remember he would give me little sort of lessons. Not actual sit-down lessons, but when there was something on the radio, he’d say hear that low? That’s the bass. I remember him actually pointing out what a bass was, and he’d do little lessons in harmony,” Paul McCartney told Reverb in 2018.
What Paul McCartney told Geddy about Rush
Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson had the chance to spend some time and talk to McCartney during the rehearsals for the Taylor Hawkins tribute show. “Dave (Grohl) was so sweet. He comes up to us at rehearsal and he goes, ‘Paul McCartney’s up next to rehearse, and he’s outside, and he said to me, ‘Dave, I’ve never met anyone from Rush before.’ And I said, ‘I’ve never met him! Bring him in, please.’ And he came in. He’s just a very lovely man. A very positive person.”
“No (He didn't know Rush), but I got the sense he knew who we were and had heard about us. He had never listened to us. So at the show, he was there. He watched the set. I think he was really curious because people probably had mentioned us to him.”
Geddy Lee continued:
“But after the show, he was incredible. He was so warm and embracing and positive. He came and sat and drank with us. We all got plastered together. He was very emphatic, talking about, ‘You know what Ringo always says: ‘It’s what we do.’ And I said, ‘Talk to Al, because he’s the stubborn one.’ And so he was lecturing Al about how great it is to tour. ‘You have to do it, man. You have to get back out there, man.'”
“And Alex said something like, ‘I’ll do it, if you’ll be our manager’. ‘I’ll manage you, mate!’ It was really fun, really funny, but he had a point. That’s the way he looks at life. He’s ageless because he really, truly believes he was born to do this. That’s what you do. And you just do it. You don’t question it. And I think we all sometimes forget that,” Geddy Lee told Rolling Stone, while he was promoting his autobiography “My Effin Life” in 2024.The post The 2 bassists Geddy Lee said were essential for melody appeared first on Rock and Roll Garage.
New Posts (Home)
ChatBox
Popular Posts 
Game Zone
Top PodCasts
