Hamer 8 string in action

[Alanko]

The more I watch that Rockpile video the more I feel a little sorry for them. They seem formed along earlier 'pub rock' lines so, after punk picked up and took over, they seem a bit tired looking. Four English blokes making music that has a vague American edge to it (which would annoy the punks) but perhaps not hard enough or technical enough for a rock audience.

I agree that Greg Lake was a remarkable player. Definitely one of the fastest and most precise pick players, choosing to use a tone that would have revealed every mistake, flaw and fluff. I'm not a big fan of that ultra-scooped Alembic tone, but I can always tell when it is him! He also had quite an unorthodox role in the band (do you need a bassist with Keith's synth battery?), but made himself heard!

[uwe]

Ironically, I found his bass playing always perfunctory, technically perfect, but perfunctory! I hear nothing daring, happy-go-lucky and inspired like in Chris Squire's sonic Ric attacks in it. To me, Lake put all emotion in his voice (and his acoustic guitar playing), but not in his bass playing which was more of an afterthought to him. He was not "naturally over-busy, yet groovy" like Geddy Lee either, I always thought that his bass parts sounded like Keith Emerson wrote them out for him. A bit dead really.

I listen to a lot of ELP lately, but nothing Lake ever did on bass puts a grin on my face. He does what the overtly complex music requires and fills the space Emerson (50%) and Palmer (35%) left for him competently. That's not knocking him, I think that was kind of their mutual musical agreement right from the start, Lake (a guitarist at heart) did not join them to play bass, he played bass because the other two thought they needed a bass player for their trio concept.

I also hear none of the playfulness in Lake's playing that is so evident in what Jack Bruce does here (in a piece of music not entirely dissimilar to what ELP did):



But I'm not saying that he is not an excellent technical player!

[Dave W]

The more I watch that Rockpile video the more I feel a little sorry for them. They seem formed along earlier 'pub rock' lines so, after punk picked up and took over, they seem a bit tired looking. Four English blokes making music that has a vague American edge to it (which would annoy the punks) but perhaps not hard enough or technical enough for a rock audience.

When I read Top 10 Dave Edmunds Songs from earlier this year, this sentence jumped out at me: "Edmunds' roots date to the first wave of rock 'n' rollers like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers, and that's the place he's called home most often." That's why I like him so much, and if you understand that, it may help to understand his music better.

[chromium]

One of my favorites:




Lowe's partly to blame for my Hamer fetish.  A well deserved obsession, if I do say 

[Dave W]

Great video, Joe, hadn't seen that one. 

[uwe]

One of my favorites:

Oh man, Herr Lowe got lucky he didn't get sued, what a blatant swipe!

[D.M.N.]

As far as best recorded 8-string sounds, I'd have to go with Achilles Last Stand, Spanish Castle Magic and You Got Me Floating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t4KLOm7pO0&ab_channel=LedZeppelin-Topic


And here's the isolated bass for You Got Me Floatin':

[clankenstein]

And here's the isolated bass for You Got Me Floatin':

Wow. Thanks.

[Highlander]

Am I the only one here that's seen them...?

[gearHed289]

Wow. Thanks.

+1

Who played that Hendrix bass track?

[Basvarken]

My guess is Jimi Hendrix himself.

[clankenstein]

Could be.Bit there seems to be some spill on there from guitar and drums so it may have been done live.

[westen44]

As far as I know, Noel Redding did play the bass to "You Got Me Floatin'".  But Hendrix went back and rerecorded portions of the bass lines to "Spanish Castle Magic" and the final song on the Axis album--"Bold as Love."  This is at least according to John McDermott.  I think there are others, though, who disagree with this and claim Noel Redding played bass on the whole album. 

[Pekka]

And it goes to show that you don't really "hear" the double-octave characteristic of an 8 string bass (just like you don't "hear" it in almost all Cheap Trick songs) unless you dial in an extreme sound or play it with a lot of distortion/effects. To my ears, the best 8 string bass sound captured on a popular recording is still this one here:



In fairness: Probably aided to a large part by the fact that with ELP there was no guitar to get in the way of that 8-string sound! You can hear that Lake essentially "strums" that Alembic like an acoustic guitar for percussive effect (which sounds nice).

Greg was great but I hate his squeaky clean eight string tone. John Entwistle had a much better sound with Alembic basses.

The reason you don't hear the 12-string bass on almost all Cheap Trick songs is because it isn't there. When it is, it is usually heard quite easily. For example "Gonna Raise Hell" (an 8-string) or lots of tracks on their excellent 1997 release "Cheap Trick". Or this:

(God I hate those synthetic horns. Ruins a great song).

I agree that the octave string bass is best when it has space or when it has a massive sound like Petersson and Entwistle had on stage, not to mention Doug Pinnick whose tone with the 4-string is almost the same. I've been doing duo gigs with a singer/guitarist who plays an acoustic with occasional effects. 12-string bass is a perfect tool for that setting.

[uwe]

Yeah, that sounds like 8 string, also a little clumsy as 8-string often does (if you play rhythmic with it), you are just not as nimble with it even as an experienced bass player.

You dislike the synthetic horns, I disdain the totally wanton key changes (I heard three in the song, none of them good, smart or elegant)! It's something I largely blame Nielsen for. That and playing minor key solos where he should be playing major keys. He wouldn't have lasted long with a Southern Rock band.