Glenn Hughes at 17 ...

[uwe]

And just 42 years later ...

[Basvarken]

He obviously hadn't discovered his ability to squeal like a pig yet.

[mc2NY]

Now THAT's a band! Thanks, enjoyed that. Great vocals, great players, no annoyng whammy bars

Hey...this reminded me of something, watching Hughes singing and using a pick/down strokes.

WHY is it that it seems easier to sing and play bass while doing downstrokes/pick?

I CAN sing and play fingerstyle but for some reason it has always felt easier the other way.

My thought has always been that you pull up on fingerstyle in the opposite direction of your foot tapping out the rhythm but pick/downstrokes are in the same direction...and maybe the opposite direction thing takes more subliminal concentration while singing?

[Pilgrim]

My thought has always been that you pull up on fingerstyle in the opposite direction of your foot tapping out the rhythm but pick/downstrokes are in the same direction...and maybe the opposite direction thing takes more subliminal concentration while singing?

I drive my guitar players nuts because I pick upwards.  It feels more natural to me because when I pluck the string, I'm moving upwards.

[gweimer]

If you want an exercise in timing, watch any old footage of Chris Squire.  I saw him live twice, and was really close for the Relayer tour.  He plays in one rhythm, sings in a second, and then moves to a third rhythm.  The guy just astounded me the whole show.

[gearHed289]

That was cool!

I think I have an easier time singing while playing fingerstyle.

I do a lot up upstrokes with a pick too. But, I learned the importance of sometimes following the guitarists' downstrokes when I was in an industrial/metal band back at the turn of the century.  When I was a teen copping Squire's stuff, I found that fast, double-picked runs across the strings was way easier starting on an upstroke. And yeah, his singing and playing skills are ridiculous. Lovely to watch! When he's on, he's ON.

[TBird1958]

Whoa!  How about Hell Yeah!




Love how they worked "Won't get fooled again" into the end, I gotta find a song for us to do that with. 

[uwe]

I played with upstrokes initially on bass - without a thought, it came naturally to me and I had a thicker sound with it. I only began alternate stroking ... naw that will only raise comments here, up- and downstrokes after I realized that there were limits in achieving the necessary speed for many licks. If I do it today, it feels weird.

Glenn, like many late sixties and seventies players, probably chose a pick to be heard better plus it was a request of many record producers of the time who found that a pick-played bass recorded more easily and distinctly. With today's technology that is of course a thing of the past.

The most recent incident I can remember is Black Sabbath's Eternal Idol from the late eighties where producer Jeff Glixman had the original bassist's (the Anthrax guitarist's little brother, Dan Spitz, a finger player) playing removed from the recording and brought in a pick player - Bob Daisley - to do the job uncredited.  

I saw Squire only recently - loudest bassist I have ever heard in any band, louder than Lemmy. Make no mistake who is Mr Yes here. He's great and entertaining to watch, but also quite a bit sloppy live. He is not overly disturbed if he misses a note or two or speeds up in his licks. But it's all done with great panache.

[uwe]

Did anybody notice a youthful Dave Holland (later on with Judas Priest and then Wicked Uncle Ernie with a drum pupil = prison) and an equally youthful Merl Galley (RIP, later on with Whitesnake) in that 69 vid?    Trapeze were a strange mix at the time, not knowing whether to be pop or rock, westcoast psychedelic or Brit bluesish with a funk streak. Somewhere between the Moody Blues (their label owners at the time) and Free.

They went from this

charmingly quaint English sixties flower power pop

(hilarious how Glenn Hughes' "backing" vocals overtake and overshadow the then lead vocalist's pop voice in the chorus at 1:00!)



to this

poor man's Free



to this

funk creeps in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMJCVb3LlSU&feature=related

to this

full-fledged blue-eyed soul



within three albums in three years!

[gweimer]

My favorite Trapeze song, and the one that sold me on Hughes, isn't anywhere on YouTube that I can find.  "Feeling So Much Better Now" was a song that really struck a chord with me.

[uwe]

With those shriekish falsetto vocals in the chorus?  You are indeed a brave man.

[gweimer]

With those shriekish falsetto vocals in the chorus?  You are indeed a brave man.

Meh...consider it training for the ever increasing nightmare that marriage became.   

[Highlander]

Strides one or two sizes too small usually improve the falsetto... (cough-cough) 

[nofi]

i'll listen to trapeze over a highly overated free any day. would anyone even care about free without andy frasier.

[lowend1]

i'll listen to trapeze over a highly overated free any day. would anyone even care about free without andy frasier.

Really? If Rodgers ain't your cup of tea, that's fine - but to reduce him to an afterthought? Fraser was a big part of the Free sound to be sure - however, he was hardly successful after the fact.