Laurence Canty - Discussion, Memories, Potential Mega-thread

[Matthew Canty]

Edit: 25/09/2024

 

For anyone visiting this thread now, I just want to inform you that Laurence passed away on 17th December 2023. I made a post on this thread at that time which can be found here: 

 

End Edit

 

Hello everyone,

 

My name is Matt and my dad is Laurence Canty. I have so many beautiful memories from the little pubs of Lancaster (UK) where he played with the local trad' jazz bands. Eventually he started his own band here in Lancaster called Quay Change. They peddled "modern?" jazz to the local area - weddings, university balls, and such like etc.

 

He is perhaps best-known for his book Electric Bass Guitar, The Complete Guide which has had various titles and versions since it's inception around 1974. There was also a significant stint as lecturer(?) of bass guitar at Goldsmiths. He took over this post from Mo Foster! He taught me how to play bass guitar from about 12 years old. I remember long lessons spent on the correct pressure to apply to the strings. 

 

Unfortunately, he has mid-to-late Dementia. He still remembers significant amounts of his life however he suffers delusions and logic completely escapes him. He is in an a sad situation but the fact he can remember his life makes it all the more important that I gather stories sooner rather than later.

 

I am looking for anyone who may know anything about him. You may have been his private pupil. You may have found his book and found it to be advantageous? You may have played gigs with him in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s or 10s and have something you remember about him?

 

I am ultimately looking for the bass communities' experience of my dad. I'd love to see stories, photographs, videos or simply a memory of the way he was way back when.

 

I'll be seeing him tomorrow. We'll probably talk about coffee and music, as we always do.

 

Edited September 25 by Matthew Canty
Improve wording

[Raymondo]

I'm afraid I can't help with memories of your Dad but I wish you all the best in your endeavours;  Dementia is a horrible illness.

 

 

[Steve Browning]

I can only echo Raymondos sentiments. Good luck in your quest and I sincerely hope it can bring some relief to your dad and the family. 

[Guest]

Wasn’t Laurence a regular contributor to Making Music magazine? IIRC it was a free, A4-sized mag that used to be distributed in music shops in the 80s and 90s. It was a fair while ago but I remember he had a good writing style.

[Matthew Canty]

43 minutes ago, FDC484950 said:

Wasn’t Laurence a regular contributor to Making Music magazine? IIRC it was a free, A4-sized mag that used to be distributed in music shops in the 80s and 90s. It was a fair while ago but I remember he had a good writing style.

Yes, I’ve found some bits and pieces about that, mainly letters. I’m sure that I’ll eventually find copies of the magazine somewhere too.

[4000]

3 hours ago, Raymondo said:

I'm afraid I can't help with memories of your Dad but I wish you all the best in your endeavours;  Dementia is a horrible illness.

 

 

I second this. Wishing you both all the best. 
 

I do however have a copy upstairs of “What Bass” by your dad and Tony Bacon, which I used to refer to a lot in the old days. I found some of the stuff in it very helpful, certainly pre-Internet. The section on fretless and fingerboard radius actually helped me identify what it was I preferred about certain fretted basses and the Problem Solving section helped my early forays into setup immeasurably. Tell your dad thanks from me. 

As an aside, my band plays Lancaster quite often. 

[Matthew Canty]

8 minutes ago, 4000 said:

I second this. Wishing you both all the best. 
 

I do however have a copy upstairs of “What Bass” by your dad and Tony Bacon, which I used to refer to a lot in the old days. I found some of the stuff in it very helpful, certainly pre-Internet. The section on fretless and fingerboard radius actually helped me identify what it was I preferred about certain fretted basses and the Problem Solving section helped my early forays into setup immeasurably. Tell your dad thanks from me. 

As an aside, my band plays Lancaster quite often. 

Give me a shout next time your playing. I live in London at the moment but relocating later this year.

 

Making Music (previous commenter) is written on the spine of What Bass, didn’t realise there was a connection there.

 

I be passing on regards when I see him later.

[lowdown]

Sorry to hear about your dad and wish you and him all the best. A terrible illness.

I do remember attending his lectures over at Goldsmiths (early 80's?). His book, 'EBG, The complete Guide', was a book that myself and a few other Bassists I knew owned at the time.

The book was a good resource back then.

 

My younger brother (RIP) knew him quite well, he was in a group of pupils who your dad tutored on Saturday mornings at Goldsmiths (mid 80's I think) and thought very highly of him.

I do remember depping in various function bands back in those days that your dad also worked/depped in.

[Thunderbird]

4 hours ago, Raymondo said:

I'm afraid I can't help with memories of your Dad but I wish you all the best in your endeavours;  Dementia is a horrible illness.

 

 

I can't put it any better than this wishing you all the best 

[naxos10]

Sorry I am not able to help with any information but the best of luck to you in your quest Matthew and my best wishes for your dad.

[BassBod]

Sorry that I can't offer any help, as I don't think I ever met your Dad.  I do however recognise his name instantly, as someone who contributed a lot to the world of Bass here in the UK, long before this internet thing took off and made everything (good and not so) available to all.  My very best wishes to you and your family, it's a hard thing to go through.  I hope the community here can be of some help to you all.

[louisthebass]

Your dad's book was the first bass book I ever bought; a lot of the content was way beyond me at the time, but I learned the very basics of technique from it. I gave it away to somebody a few years later, but "re-bought" the updated version back in the late 90's (I think). I also remember reading your dad's column in "Making Music" magazine back in the day, and always found it very well written and informative.

 

Sorry to hear that he's in poor health, but your dad's books have helped me along the way with my playing over the years. Best wishes to you both.

 

[wulf]

I've not spent much time on this forum for a while but I've been a regular on Scott's Bass Lessons, where I recently started a thread reminiscing about the books we started on. How to Play Bass Guitar wasn't my very first one and, I have to confess, I never actually owned a copy but I might have bought it if I'd found one in those pre-Internet shopping days. However, I had it out of the local library several times.

 

My recollection is that mentioned something about classical music based exercises, like etudes and (I think) specifically playing Bach's cello music. I probably first read the book round about 1987 and it inspired me to study some of Bach's cello suites when I was doing GCSE music and using one of the pieces (admittedly the easiest one I could find!) as part of my successful performance exam. It is a book I remember fondly from my early playing years and although I can't recall everything about it, I owe your Dad a debt of gratitude for that one thing which influenced me and has stuck with me.

 

Wulf

[Matthew Canty]

1 hour ago, louisthebass said:

Your dad's book was the first bass book I ever bought; a lot of the content was way beyond me at the time, but I learned the very basics of technique from it. I gave it away to somebody a few years later, but "re-bought" the updated version back in the late 90's (I think). I also remember reading your dad's column in "Making Music" magazine back in the day, and always found it very well written and informative.

 

Sorry to hear that he's in poor health, but your dad's books have helped me along the way with my playing over the years. Best wishes to you both.

 

Thanks for sharing this. Over the next few months/years as I dig through everything I will make sure to keep a hold of Making Music pieces. I'll publish them again online, hopefully no one will mind all these years on! He actually has an even new version of the book, but I am working on how that should progress.

[Matthew Canty]

27 minutes ago, wulf said:

I've not spent much time on this forum for a while but I've been a regular on Scott's Bass Lessons, where I recently started a thread reminiscing about the books we started on. How to Play Bass Guitar wasn't my very first one and, I have to confess, I never actually owned a copy but I might have bought it if I'd found one in those pre-Internet shopping days. However, I had it out of the local library several times.

 

My recollection is that mentioned something about classical music based exercises, like etudes and (I think) specifically playing Bach's cello music. I probably first read the book round about 1987 and it inspired me to study some of Bach's cello suites when I was doing GCSE music and using one of the pieces (admittedly the easiest one I could find!) as part of my successful performance exam. It is a book I remember fondly from my early playing years and although I can't recall everything about it, I owe your Dad a debt of gratitude for that one thing which influenced me and has stuck with me.

 

Wulf

It's nice to hear someone else who has picked up the Bach! I've spent many years playing them. He was known for playing one of them as his "sound check" of the bass at every gig he played - only the first chord. I am currently studying one which I never got round to learning. I play through the other three regularly though and have recently found new appreciation for playing them with the help of Kenny Werner's Effortless Mastery.

[Misdee]

I had the  Complete Guide book, although to be honest with you I could never get to grips with learning how to read music, so I had limited access to the information contained within it. That is my fault though, not your dad's. I can still remember my 14 year old self sitting in my bedroom trying to glean what I could from the pages. I remember buying a metronome and an A440 tuning fork like the book told me I needed to, now I think about it.

 

I often wonder what kids learning the bass nowadays would do if they had to go back to live in the world before You Tube. Maybe they would be less scathing of old men like me still trying to properly understand the cycle of fifths.

 

I am truly sorry to hear that your dad is unwell. Sending my very best wishes to you both. Have a smashing day with your dad. 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Misdee

[Matthew Canty]

10 hours ago, Misdee said:

I had the  Complete Guide book, although to be honest with you I could never get to grips with learning how to read music, so I had limited access to the information contained within it. That is my fault though, not your dad's. I can still remember my 14 year old self sitting in my bedroom trying to glean what I could from the pages. I remember buying a metronome and an A440 tuning fork like the book told me I needed to, now I think about it.

 

I often wonder what kids learning the bass nowadays would do if they had to go back to live in the world before You Tube. Maybe they would be less scathing of old men like me still trying to properly understand the cycle of fifths.

 

I am truly sorry to hear that your dad is unwell. Sending my very best wishes to you both. Have a smashing day with your dad. 

Honestly I had so many lesson back as a teenager from him. It felt like we did the rhythm exercises for ETERNITY. 
 

I’ll admit the tuning fork is probably no longer essential! However I do use it to keep his basses in tune.

 

They have so much information nowadays and it must be wonderful to have video reference. I do plan on revisiting some of the book’s main features in video form. Idea still forming and would not be any sort of total republication. YouTube is saturated.

[louisthebass]

On 10/02/2022 at 21:33, Matthew Canty said:

Thanks for sharing this. Over the next few months/years as I dig through everything I will make sure to keep a hold of Making Music pieces. I'll publish them again online, hopefully no one will mind all these years on! He actually has an even new version of the book, but I am working on how that should progress.

I might be wrong on this (maybe some BC'ers who are in the legal profession could confirm), but I would've thought it would be ok to publish your dad's "Making Music" columns as his work would be his own copyright?

[ossyrocks]

Your Dad has come up in conversation a couple of times in just the past couple of weeks. I was talking to an old bass player buddy of mine about tutors in Lancaster and he mentioned your Dad. He’d had a few lessons years ago and recommended him.

A few days later I was talking to Gary Thistlethwaite in Promenade Music, Morecambe, and he talked about him too, and explained about his poor health. Gary may have some tales for you, he was very complimentary about your Dad.

 

Rob

[Matthew Canty]

4 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

Your Dad has come up in conversation a couple of times in just the past couple of weeks. I was talking to an old bass player buddy of mine about tutors in Lancaster and he mentioned your Dad. He’d had a few lessons years ago and recommended him.

A few days later I was talking to Gary Thistlethwaite in Promenade Music, Morecambe, and he talked about him too, and explained about his poor health. Gary may have some tales for you, he was very complimentary about your Dad.

 

Rob

Yep I know Gary well. I bought one of my first JV Precisions from him over 15 years ago. Lots of dealing been done in Promenade.

 

Been a few years since he tutored in Lancaster. I think it’d have been good if The Music Spot had established a little earlier.

[Matthew Canty]

1 hour ago, louisthebass said:

I might be wrong on this (maybe some BC'ers who are in the legal profession could confirm), but I would've thought it would be ok to publish your dad's "Making Music" columns as his work would be his own copyright?

It will be published under his name so I suspect you are probably right. I’m looking forward to finding them now.

 

I found an interview on cassette with Colin Greenwood last night, which he claims became a Making Music article.

[Reggaebass]

Good luck with your search  Matthew, what a wonderful thing to do 🙂

[PTB]

Apologies for being late to this…….

 

I had private lessons with Laurence at his flat in Highgate (I think) around 1988/89. After a few weeks, he told me he couldn’t do the time slot any more because he was about to start teaching a bass course at Goldsmiths. I immediately signed up and learned loads. He was a great teacher and the whole class had great respect for him and enjoyed the course. 
 

One evening he called me to say he’d given my name to a drummer who was looking for a bass player. I was astonished as I certainly wasn’t top of the class. That led to an audition that started 32 years of gigs and lasting friendships. 
 

I’m very grateful for meeting him early in my bass journey.  Pass on my thanks & best wishes please. 

[toneknob]

how do!

My favourite Laurence Canty story from the basschat archives: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/193152-the-power-of-basschat/#comment-1884147

Also, Colin mentions Laurence in the Bass Magazine interview from the first edition of Bass Magazine https://bassmagazine.com/artists/colin-greenwood-how-to-disappear-completely

 

I've got both What Bass (third edition) and Electric Bass Guitar, The Complete Guide - More What Bass memories to follow but what sticks in my mind is how to set up a Boss Octave pedal for optimum Pino sound. The Complete Guide - the rhythm patterns, aieee

 

[Matthew Canty]

8 hours ago, PTB said:

Apologies for being late to this…….

 

I had private lessons with Laurence at his flat in Highgate (I think) around 1988/89. After a few weeks, he told me he couldn’t do the time slot any more because he was about to start teaching a bass course at Goldsmiths. I immediately signed up and learned loads. He was a great teacher and the whole class had great respect for him and enjoyed the course. 
 

One evening he called me to say he’d given my name to a drummer who was looking for a bass player. I was astonished as I certainly wasn’t top of the class. That led to an audition that started 32 years of gigs and lasting friendships. 
 

I’m very grateful for meeting him early in my bass journey.  Pass on my thanks & best wishes please. 

 

Woah! That's quite a stint. I'm glad for you as well, what a great opportunity.