Pete Academy

I've not contributed to this thread before, but as a bass salesman, is this shop as bad as it's really made out?

I can play that part with ghost notes, but I felt it was cheating. It's a great bass line.

I'm working on getting this line fluent and up to speed. Tricky bugger. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jng_yZUc4F0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jng_yZUc4F0[/url]

This has developed into an interesting thread. Playing in a tribute band, I try to get nail the lines as accurately as possible. But over the years I've tried to inject a bit of my own personality and feel into the Steely Dan bass parts. As I mentioned previously, Chuck Rainey's slap part on Peg is hard to replicate, mainly due to his style and the fact that the bass didn't sound 'zingy' when slapped. You can see why Becker and Fagen failed to spot him slapping. For me, my version of Kid Charlemagne is also an approximation, as I believe Rainey's amazing part is impossible to replicate accurately. Bootsy's Sex Machine is also an example of this. However, there are certain songs where I have studied the original note for note, as the part is so perfect and just has to be played to the record. Greenflower Street and IGY come to mind. In fact, virtually every bass part on The Nightfly is absolute perfection, and IMO should be performed (not necessarily played) as is recorded. I also think that the part on Gaslighting Abbie warrants this. An example of a bass part that I've changed slightly over the years is Ricki Don't Lose That Number. Apart from the intro, the main song isn't something the average listener would pick up on. To me, the main importance of most songs is to maintain the overall feel, which is something I try to achieve. But I just agree with JTUK that certain songs need to be performed live as they were written. And Rhythm Stick is one of them. Ramble over.

[quote name='greyparrot' post='1070344' date='Dec 27 2010, 06:36 PM']thats strange that my you tube version of peg brought up your advert! its only been on 2 days and had 250+ hits. Now if i was in your band i would not be slapping it all the way through as i did on my vid, but i dont think i would copy it note 4 note eighter because steely dan would not copy it note for note! i have heard loads of steely dan vids by steely dan.......everyone different. U must let me know when your in essex, would love to see it ;-)[/quote] A good take on it.

[quote name='greyparrot' post='1070324' date='Dec 27 2010, 06:13 PM']oh ta can i ask i just noticed your comment on my peg cover it brought up that ad, ru in that band/ just saw the siggy ![/quote] Yes mate, guilty as charged. Going back to that track, nobody can play it like Chuck Rainey. His slap style is subtle, which is probably why Becker and Fagen never sussed he was using that technique. That track has never been out of our set, but I still regard my version as an approximation. The lick preceding the second verse is genius.

I think it depends on the particular song and the listener. If the bassline IS the song. ie. Good Times or Peaches etc, then I would expect the bassist to respect that and play it as recorded when performing it live. I think Grey Parrot is a great player and knows his stuff, but Rhythm Stick is dominated by that bass part. Just my opinion, folks.

When I first ordered my Tobias Classic 5 I chose quilted maple, which has always been my favourite wood. They didn't have one, so they sent one with a lacewood top, was which really extraordinary, like lizard skin. I'm always preferred rosewood fingerboards but I'm becoming a fan of maple.

[quote name='greyparrot' post='1070191' date='Dec 27 2010, 03:31 PM']haha well i tend to disagree here. Me personally gig loads of covers and do i copy a bass line note for note, never, i just learn the chords and play what i feel, unless of course i was in a tribute, which i was in a shadows tribute many moons ago, ( i have dance on on my you tube great shadows song)and had to learn all the bass parts note for note. But for general gigs and weddings, no one really knows, and if there is a bass nerd out there, thats fine, they can think what they like :-) but its my views as an individual. :-)[/quote] That's interesting. So if you were to play 'Good Times' by Chic you would busk it? Just curious.

Great playing on 'Wake Me Up' and 'Club Tropicana'.

Another thing I recall is speaking to someone who had two anniversaries - one in burl walnut and one in quilted maple - and one of the basses had a split in the wood, or something like that. I remember him saying that he phoned Alembic and asked to be put through to the repair department, only to be told that Alembic hadn't got one. 'Well, you'd better open one, then!' he replied. What surprises me about the 20th Anniversaries is that despite the limited number made, they don't seem to have gone up in value very much. They were two grand then, and are worth about that now, I think.

Nobody seems to stock them since Gibson bought them out. I had one for 15 years. Great basses.

[quote name='StevePearceBass' post='1069639' date='Dec 26 2010, 03:59 PM']Not me Pete.......[/quote] Oops, sorry.

[quote name='StevePearceBass' post='1069328' date='Dec 25 2010, 08:32 PM']Hi everyone, I've caught up with Basschat a bit late!.......It was, indeed, me on the Saturday Night Fever TV show...A 1976 Fiesta red Precision and a really cheap, plastic little Chinese-made Behringer bass phaser pedal made the bass sound on 'You should be Dancin'....It's really noisy but I love its grunginess...In fact I bought two in case one broke!.....Steve Pearce.[/quote] Steve, was that you who played on the 'Best Disco In Town' concert with Shalamar, Chic, Kid Creole, etc?

I like it.

In 1989 I bought my dream bass, an Alembic 20th Anniversary, one of 200 worldwide.. It was from the Bass Centre in London and took ages to get. When I plugged it in I noticed the pickups were microphonic, and on one gig the bass actually had feedback. In those days I had to call or fax their factory in the States. I ended up speaking to an advisor for the company, who told me that there had been a batch of faulty pickups. Faulty pickups on a bass of that quality and expense? Why hadn't it been spotted in quality control? I ended up taking it to the Bass Centre - a fair distance from Stoke - only to have their engineer put foam under the pickups, which was no use at all. To cut a long and frustating story short, it took almost 18 months to get replacement pickups. On one of the many occasions I rang the factory, I actually had the female owner of Alembic complain about my frequent calls. I don't think Stanley Clarke would have had that told to him. In a nutshell, it was a beautiful instrument, and sounded lovely and hi-fi (although I could never get a burpy back pickup sound from it), and I still regret selling it ( I bought my Tobias Classic 5 with the proceeds). However, to spend so much money and have such poor backup was extremely disappointing.

[quote name='greyparrot' post='1069336' date='Dec 25 2010, 08:47 PM']hey how did you do that mate??? if i embed the vids what does that mean? i think Chuck Rainy played the bass part on the album track with s.dan! How did you do that put the vid there? thats so cool? Thanks Rich.[/quote] Becker and Fagen didn't want Rainey to slap the chorus, so Rainey turned his back so they couldn't see him doing so.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1069156' date='Dec 25 2010, 09:14 AM']As I watched the start of your video, up popped a Google advert for ... Nearly Dan In Concert. [/quote] Google Ads. They work.

[quote name='molan' post='1068768' date='Dec 24 2010, 02:39 PM']I'm loving this little number by Prince's girlfriend - the bass just seems to propel the song along. . . She's not bad looking either. . . [/quote] Totally agree on all counts. Love the snare sound, too.

[quote name='J.R.Bass' post='1065605' date='Dec 21 2010, 01:03 PM'] Love this[/quote] Who's playing bass on this?

[quote name='1oopus' post='1054856' date='Dec 11 2010, 12:13 PM']Hope noboyd would complain for reviving this thread - just discovered it, being enjoying so much and wanted to give my small contribution Sade can melt your heart if she wants too - or groove hard [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StP0_zbDIMo&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StP0_zbDIMo...feature=related[/url] His name (used to be?) Prince and he's indeed funky [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8E-Emy1n6w"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8E-Emy1n6w[/url] here's stevie: he turns a cheesy pop synth hit into a live burner [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPhaRYI5KGE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPhaRYI5KGE[/url] Joss Stone - kinda of a mainstream act, but this's a nice slow one. Pretty girl too [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50pb2h7Midk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50pb2h7Midk[/url][/quote] Great choices.

When I was about 3 I had a little toy piano that I plonked on. Before I was 10 I had: A small keyboard and a toy record player with multi-coloured discs with songs such as 'Turkey In The Straw' and 'Wouldn't It Be Lovely' (I played these records to death). My mum taught me to play the harmonica. Then we had a borrowed record player with a Herb Alpert album (which is why I love latin music) and a few singles, including 'Ride A White Swan' by T-Rex and 'Revolution' by the Beatles. What were your early musical memories?

[quote name='poptart' post='1067196' date='Dec 22 2010, 08:42 PM']Pete Agreed - the snow is REALLY not helping! I have customers in from Cheshire, Bristol, London etc in the last couple of days - they are heroes for braving the weather! Mark[/quote] Yep, the weather's not helped.

[quote name='poptart' post='1067193' date='Dec 22 2010, 08:38 PM']Well - Pete seems to have plenty of plumtyness going in with his Redhead friend above ^^^^^^^ It's a dead heat in the Zeplin race [/quote]

As a fellow retailer, I know what it's like this time of the year, especially if you're on your own. As Mark's first Roscoe customer I can vouch for his customer service. Second to none.