Rush, like other progressive rock bands, really never depended on a bass line to hold a groove since in it’s truest sense there wasn’t one that drove the song. In some cases the guitar was pushing the song along with the drums and Geddy was playing fills on the bass. A lot of his playing seems to attach itself in a more melodic way.
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Are we talking about the same Rush?
Let me dig a little deeper to my favorite Rush track, “Cygnus X-1”.
Okay, it’s got a super long intro but then… 100% pure bass riff.
Here’s an interesting entry. The ticking clock in the beginning is played on a bass.
The role of the bass is to serve the song.
Crazy inventive playing but in this case it does serve the song when he’s creating the framework for a groove the guitar uses to play against. It works in this context and as you say he’s obviously very talented and didn’t get to this level overnight. I liked watching him but have never aspired to that level of playing.
There are still many videos of James Jamerson and Duck Dunn style “grooves” out there and they’re were many of us began our journeys playing bass. IMHO learning to “Walk in Four” around a 12 bar blues progression is something every bassist should learn and be able to do because it helps establish the fundamentals of how the bass is used in ensemble.
They may seem ultra simple at first but they are also to be varied and expanded upon with extensions of a scale so the player becomes more familiar with the entire fret board. Once again IMHO we should all learn to “walk” before we attempt to run.
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the role of bass is to make art.
the role of art is to make you feel.
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We may define what I call playing a bass line built around a “groove” much differently. In fact I’m certain we do especially in these examples.
Geddy doubles Alex’s guitar riffs a lot here and in many Rush tunes. In other instances he’s simply adding the root of the chord Alex plays to underlay it and add low register depth. He does that a lot. “Limelight” is another tune where he’s following the guitar riff and that riff is what propels the song to match his vocals.
Spirit of Radio I hear as more straight rock so his bass line there departs from simply copying a guitar riff or power chord. So it’s not as if he never plays a more “groove” oriented bass line. It’s more like doubling what Alex does and playing around his vocal lines is something I identify with Geddy’s style. But it does vary at times.
For me “groove” playing is more like what we hear from guys like Jamerson, Duck Dunn, Bob Babbitt, Jeremy Jermott and others whose genre is mostly r&b/soul playing where the bass line is carrying the song along it’s path. They sound simple but they have a specific rhythm and timing to them that are paramount to maintaining the groove and pushing the tune along. It’s the pocket they create that allows the other instruments and the vocalist to work within and in many cases the wider the pocket the better but it still requires impeccable timing. It’s much the same with Funk. No matter how busy the bass line gets there’s always a groove.
Does that make sense?
It is interesting since prior to this I’ve always assumed it was percussion. But a tic tac bass line played with a pick on muted strings could do it just as easily I guess. It helps to have studio effects and mixing as well.
But as we get into the verses of the song we can hear very clearly how Waters bass line sets up a “groove” that propels the song against what the guitar and keyboard are doing. His syncopation fits perfectly and the timing is spot on. It well conceived and well played.
yeah I think that all of you are spot on when it comes to bands like Primus and Rush and that was kind of the point I was going for. it doesn’t always have to be straightforward to work. there’s more than one way to skin a cat.
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Helps to have Alan Parsons as your engineer for sure.
I believe the strings are fretted against the pickup poles and plucked by the bridge.
To me this is an example of thinking outside the box.
As far as your other post, Pappa was a Rolling Stone is a perfect groove example of a minimalist bass line. More is not always better
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One band I was in for a very long time played Papa Was a Rolling Stone but we did a little more uptempo version patterned off of how David Lindley did it with El Rayo-X. It was somewhere in between The Temps and El Rayo-X in order to make it danceable.
Not only did I need to sing over that bass line and it’s syncopation but also develop a way to play it that pushed the entire tune to a little different tempo and feel by adding a couple more notes to make it more of a “rolling feel”. It was a real challenge.
Alan Parsons is a genius producer. Much like with the Beatles as time progressed and they experimented more it goes to show just how important the right producer is to the sound and style of any group. That’s why they get paid what they do.
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Yeah, I just don’t get much out of his channel for reasons like this. It could be a joke I guess (i.e. “welp no I guess you can’t, Charles”) but all in all - this does little for me. It’s impressive and I like listening to his music sometimes but the main channel content isn’t my thing.
Alan Parsons worked on Abbey Road and Let it Be. He was like 19 at the time. Genius for sure.
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I believe most music is or should be about “feel”.
One reason I somewhat detest playing on my own is that it lacks the feedback I get from performing with others live. It’s also why we wear headphones in the studio so we’re playing to a full track of what others are playing. We need that feedback.
When I’m singing is all about “feel”. I already know the notes I plan to sing and the lyrics are the “story” I have to tell. I want to not just tell it but “sell it” with some passion that makes people want to sit up and listen to the story. I can’t do that without the “feel” I get from performing it with others.
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As bassists playing with others we’ve probably all been there before. It can be a real strain when we need to hold onto that groove we’ve created. I’ve done it with eye contact and head movement when I could but they gotta be lookin’ at you in order for it to work. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
Vocalist misses their cue or a soloist does the same and you can either signal to take it around to the next entry point or like you experienced it becomes a train wreck.
Year ago while playing in a casuals band with a female vocalist we did the song “Fame”. It was a popular up tempo song and she performed it well. Going into the chorus just before we all hit an accent on the word “fame” there’s a slight rest for half a count. Our drummer must have been marching to his own beat because he’d come out of a roll and miss it entirely wrecking the entire groove on my line. He could never adjust after it so I had to. It was annoying as all hell.
All part of the pleasures and pain of being a performing musician I guess. 
And it’s also incredibly interesting to hear how it’s varied in ways that still serve the song. I’ve not listened to much Primus but I’ve been listening to Rush for years. Hearing Geddy’s approach to bass was like hearing Mark Knopfler’s approach to guitar for the very first time. It was like what the f is he doing?
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Exactly. The reason I do a whole lot of teaching around simple bass lines like I’d use for 12 bar blues or 1/4/5 r&b/soul stuff is to demonstrate how easily they can be varied a bit as to both notes and feel to create interest while still maintaining a groove.
In similar way whole notes can be used for entire measures to keep away from repetitious quarter note playing. By their nature “groove lines” are often very repetitious so it’s up to the bassist to be creative and learn ways to make them less so. JMHO
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I’m pretty certain it’s a joke. I think he’s pretty aware of hist playing and style. He is British, and thus sarcastic and self effacing.
Heck check out his recent online bass battle with Danny Sapko:
I actually preferred Sapko’s playing here. Less technical flash, but better tone and feel. Heck, even when it came to tapping, Sapko proved he was competent at it and clearly just doesn’t use those techniques much because they don’t serve what he plays.
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Sapko, on the other hand, is awesome 
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100%, plus he has humour!
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Totally agree, he’s clearly extremely talented but I also don’t get anything from his channel other than initially impressed, then sometimes left a little annoyed.
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