Billy Sheehan.

[bubinga5]

Some fantastic bass playing from this guy. I so dig his groove playing, don't like his tone on that Yamaha at all. Some of the guitar and bass doesn't work Imo. But when he plays that groove with Mike Gage, and the guitarist isn't getting in the way. good lord. ! I think underneath the flash Billy is a fantastic groove bassist. 

 

[visog]

Massive thumbs up from me... Billy showing in can hang on a jazz standard (Favourite Thins) whilst bringing retaining his massive tone...

P.S. Prepare for Bilbo to chime in with he doesn't swing etc.

[bassjim]

Great player and all round top bloke but....I too don't like that scratchy distorted tone. It sounds like the speakers in the cab are flipped to me even though it is what he's deliberately going for. It probably sounds better in the room plus he's made a career out of it so that's me told but it doesn't put that Yamaha on my wish list.

Once I'm past that I do like what he does here.

 

[Daz39]

He does do some nice fusion work on the Niacin albums. I agree - the tone can get a bit too much; and sometimes the tapping goes beyond tasteful, but he is a very skilled player and must be an awesome player to work with.

[mattbass6]

This is just fantastic   I could happily sit there in small, intimate venue, supping some beer and enjoy this spectacle. More please, more 

[Dropzone]

Yep seen him play with Mr Big and others, he just blew me away with how easy he makes it look.

 

[pbasspecial]

I guess 50+ years of continuous playing will do that for you!

Had the pleasure of spending time with him at the Winery Dogcamp back in 2015. 

Top, top bloke!

[Bilbo]

It's a kind of thing. It's almost impossible to swing with a tone like that and the drummer isn't helping but it's not without merit. It's the wrong gear as much as anything :-D 

[pbasspecial]

The 'problem' with Billy Sheehan is that he probably feels people expect him to sound exactly like Billy Sheehan all the time.  

IIRC I remember Marcus Miller saying that the sign of a great musician is to have their own signature sound.  Billy certainly has that.  Brand management to some degree I guess.

[Bilbo]

If you put 'brand management' before the music, you are part of the problem. I do not, however, think that BS is making a bid for Jazz credibility!

[HazBeen]

Billy, been a fan since the mid-80s. Yes, mega skilled/mega flash at times, but the guy can do it all and can truly be viewed as a bassist who paved the way for many others and was instrumental (like Entwistle/Squire etc) in elevating the bass from a "shut up and stand in the corner" instrument to what it is today. Mad respect for the guy, although I do not believe in flying saucers and thetans.... or whatever you call them.

[visog]

4 hours ago, Bilbo said:

It's a kind of thing. It's almost impossible to swing with a tone like that and the drummer isn't helping but it's not without merit. It's the wrong gear as much as anything :-D 

Blimey! High praise indeed - 'not without merit' is downright effusive!

Interesting comment about tone and its relation to swing - is it BS' growl obscuring the emphasis of the beat?

[EliasMooseblaster]

4 hours ago, Bilbo said:

It's a kind of thing. It's almost impossible to swing with a tone like that and the drummer isn't helping but it's not without merit. It's the wrong gear as much as anything :-D 

I feel like the drummer might be the weakest link of the three. He's almost playing as if it's a rock number in 6/8.

Sheehan's playing is impressive, but the overplaying in the wrong places, combined with the drumming, just makes it feel like the whole thing's desperately trying to race past the beat.

I rather like what the guitarist is doing, mind.

[Conan]

4 hours ago, pbasspecial said:

IIRC I remember Marcus Miller saying that the sign of a great musician is to have their own signature sound.  Billy certainly has that. 

I think that, to a certain extent,  it depends on how many different genres they involve themselves in. Miller and Sheehan have not really strayed far outside their chosen (and fairly specific) genres. Compare that to someone like Pino for example who has played with lots of acts over the years. Although his fretless work is pretty easily identifiable, his playing on fretted basses is less so. And does he always sound like Pino? In style maybe, but not in tone I wouldn't say. Same goes for people like Bobby Vega and numerous others that I can't be bothered to think of...! 

[Conan]

The OP is (to my ears) a bizarre clash of styles. But somehow it kind of works!  At least the first four minutes or so does. The wheels come off a bit after that and they sound like three music students trying to out-womble each other...

[Ric5]

I like Billy's playing ... he does sometimes play too many notes and use too many effects .... but that is part of his appeal and charm 

[Ric5]

 

[bassjim]

16 minutes ago, Ric5 said:

 

flipping excellent. never listened to the winery dogs before. instant fan.

[NJE]

I nearly posted that winery dogs video earlier but for a slightly different reason. There is no doubting that Mr Sheehan can rip it up and is a phenomenal bass player and seems like a top all round guy, actually I met him once and he was a lovely chap, forgot that...

Anyway I am in the minority it seems, but I think part of being a great musician is recognising when to manipulate your sound to create something that sits well with the song. The Winery Dogs video, for me in my humble and insignificant opinion, is an example of how his signature sound, shouldn't just be dumped into every musical situation and ruins an amazing song and performance. in this case its all of the harmonics and fret noise, its not even about the level of distortion.

[Bilbo]

3 hours ago, visog said:

Blimey! High praise indeed - 'not without merit' is downright effusive!

Interesting comment about tone and its relation to swing - is it BS' growl obscuring the emphasis of the beat?

I have some very personal theories about the relationship between tone and swing that I discuss in my Paul Chambers biography. In short,  imagine what Kind of Blue would have sounded like with BS's tone heard here. Not wrong but starkly different. 

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Bilbo said:

I have some very personal theories about the relationship between tone and swing that I discuss in my Paul Chambers biography...

My memory being as it is, I'll have to read it again to find out..! 

...

[steantval]

9 hours ago, Ric5 said:

 

Yuk, give me the Elvin Bishop original anytime.

[Cato]

He's a  better player than I'll ever be, but I'll never like his ripped speaker tone.

[Chris2112]

Billy is a top groove player and he always has been. He has always espoused that you must nail the groove first and the rest is just ornamentation. 

I've seen him live a few times with Steve Vai and that tone of his, in the live arena, is absolutely fearsome. It drives the band with a tremendous cadence. It always sounds good to my ear on record but no record could really replicate the sheer punch of Billy's tone in the live setting. I've seen Vai's band with Philip Bynoe playing the bass and I rather missed Billy's input on that occasion. 

[Slappindabass]

All sounds like twiddly diddly nonsesnse to me. Obviously skillful but I feel the music suffers when people go ott, feel the same about Hendrix. Twiddly nonsense that at points just becomes one noise.