Gene Simmons on how Geddy Lee “didn’t understand” the basics of bass
The gap in musicianship between American hard rockers Kiss and Canadian progressive rockers Rush seems gigantic. Concepts like key changes, augmented chords, or anything beyond their riff-rock wheelhouse seem like it wouldn’t even fly with Kiss. Meanwhile, Rush has composed full suites of complex compositions, including multi-part epics like ‘2112’ and ‘Cygnus X-1 Books I & II’.
While they seemingly came from entirely different planets, the members of Kiss and Rush shared the stage on a number of occasions throughout the mid-1970s. The two bands often toured together in their earliest years as two struggling rock acts looking to break through to more mainstream audiences. Rush even parodied Kiss‘ ‘Goin’ Blind’ with their Caress of Steel cut ‘I Think I’m Going Bald’.
“We were touring a lot with Kiss in those days, and they had a song called ‘Goin’ Blind’. So we were talking the piss out of that title by just coming up with this,” Geddy Lee recalled in 2004. “Pratt [a nickname for Neil Peart] came up with this line, ‘I think I’m going bald,’ because Alex [Lifeson] is always worried about losing his hair, even when he was not losing his hair. So he would try all kinds of ingredients to put on his scalp.”
Few people would seriously try to debate the bass skills of Lee versus those of Gene Simmons. That’s not to say that Simmons couldn’t play ‘YYZ’… it’s just that Simmons probably can’t play ‘YYZ’. Natural ability and the understanding of basic theory are two different things, however, as Simmons found out during a jam he was having with Lee while on tour in the 1970s.
“One night back at the hotel or backstage someplace [when the bands were touring together], Geddy and I were sitting down, trading licks, and I said, ‘Do you want to do a blues scale? You go first, and then I’ll continue the chord pattern,’ and he said, ‘I don’t know what you mean,'” Simmons claimed to Ultimate Guitar in 2021. “At least from what I recall, Geddy didn’t understand what a blues scale was or what ‘1, 4, 5’ meant.”
By Simmons’ recollection, Lee was such a novice that he didn’t even know where the notes on the bass were. “So I go, ‘Well, okay then, you hit a G, either octave or low,’ and he said, ‘Which one is that?'” Simmons added. “Geddy played purely by ear. Now, of course, later on, he learned what the notes were and stuff like that.“
It seems like a bit of a tall tale, especially from someone as loose with the truth as Simmons is. Lee started as a guitar player, so the chances that he wouldn’t at least know what a G chord was, or where the G note was, seems preposterous. But maybe, just maybe, Simmons is telling the truth this time.
