The bassist Rush’s Geddy Lee said “could do anything”
From a technical perspective, Rush was faultless. Geddy Lee, Neil Peart, and Alex Lifeson were all individually among the most gifted at their own instruments in the world, but together, they were even stronger. They pushed progressive rock into new territory, built on the foundations of their unparalleled musical aptitude.
Like the rest of his bandmates, Lee is a master of his craft, which, in his case, is the bass guitar. The musical wizardry that Lee exhibited on beloved Rush classics such as ‘Anthem’, ‘La Villa Strangiato’, ‘YYZ‘, and ‘New World Man’ made him a bassist appreciated all over the globe. While the bass isn’t the most glamorous role in a rock band, it’s pivotal and sets the foundations for everybody else to thrive.
Although Rush no longer exists following Peart’s death in 2020, music remains a passion that takes up a significant portion of his mind at any given time. Rather than becoming jaded with age, Lee is still as excitable as he once was about the instrument. Apart from his well-documented love of baseball, talking about his favourite bassists is his second favourite topic to discuss.
Paul McCartney once remarked, “Nobody wants to play bass, or nobody did in those days.” While this was said semi-jokingly by McCartney, it applies to Lee, who had no plans to be a bassist, and like McCartney, he initially had ambitions to become a guitarist. “Back in my day, nobody chose to be the bass player,” he once told Rolling Stone. “You were always a guitarist, and somebody said, ‘Well, we need a bass player,’ so they had a vote and you became the bass player. That’s how I became a bass player: I was voted in.”
From that point, Lee found his calling in life, and although his becoming a bassist was a happy accident, he fell in love with the instrument. Lee had a natural gift and worked hard to improve himself as a technician. It’s not only Lee and McCartney who learned the bass because it was their only entry into a band, but the same also applies to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea.
Few people have impressed Lee more as a bassist than Flea, who he believes has achieved all-time great status. Flea wasn’t voted into a band like Lee; instead, it was his school friend, Hillel Slovak, who encouraged Flea to pick up the four-stringed instrument and join his group Anthym. Although Flea did have a musical background, he never considered playing the bass. However, it turned out to be the most excellent decision he ever made. He was born to play the instrument, as he’s demonstrated throughout his career with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. While they are one of rock’s most divisive groups, Flea is objectively one of the most talented living bassists.
“He is a monster player,” Lee once said about the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist. “Flea is one of the great, you know, contemporary bass players. His influences are so Funk driven. Yet, he can do anything.”
The Rush founder continued: “On ‘Give It Away’ he is just like the bass in ‘Come Together’, like the bass in so many great pop songs. He is providing an alternate rhythm for the drums and an alternate melody. Also he is working at the bottom of the neck and the top of the neck. He is going back and forth between. Which I always love as a bass player. That’s a perfect example of that.”
Additionally, Lee believes Flea caused a shift in how the bass is played, telling Rolling Stone: “Flea blows my mind. I mean, when you talk about a generation of bass players that started slapping… there’s so many. I guess it grew a little bit out of jazz, a little bit out of R&B. I remember for a time, that’s all you heard.”
While their styles differ, Flea and Lee have cemented their names on the Mount Rushmore of rock bassists. They are two figures that every aspiring bassist should meticulously study and learn the attributes that make them uniquely exceptional at their craft.
