Ahem... I have a few things (people) to address here. First off, Motorbreath: Jason simply played bass on "To Live is to Die", he didn't write it. The entire song is composed of several riffs from many of Cliff's notebooks, which is where the lyrics were found. Secondly, to the idea that Jason was better or even all that good: his bass playing was just enough to fit the track, never much more than a dumbed down single string translation of James' guitar riffs. His best original work was My Friend of Misery, which is more or less the same riff as Anesthesia, the song of which should be discussed (trust me, it's got the same notes in the intro, but Anesthesia's are played faster and run together). While not a technical bass player, i.e. quite able to play the bass but choosing lead guitar as my forte, I still listen in awe every time I hear this song, or anything off Kill, Ride, or Master. For Whom the Bell Tolls is a great example of excellent bass that goes underappreciated; during that part around 1:00 where the guitar starts playing the "dun dun dun dun" (E|3 2 1 0), you can notice the bass playing the same riff... with the E and A strings, hence a bass power chord. Does Flea do that? (Note: Flea's good at what he does, slap bass, but Cliff brought guitar sensibility to the bass.)
Ahem... I have a few things (people) to address here. First off, Motorbreath: Jason simply played bass on "To Live is to Die", he didn't write it. The entire song is composed of several riffs from many of Cliff's notebooks, which is where the lyrics were found. Secondly, to the idea that Jason was better or even all that good: his bass playing was just enough to fit the track, never much more than a dumbed down single string translation of James' guitar riffs. His best original work was My Friend of Misery, which is more or less the same riff as Anesthesia, the song of which should be discussed (trust me, it's got the same notes in the intro, but Anesthesia's are played faster and run together). While not a technical bass player, i.e. quite able to play the bass but choosing lead guitar as my forte, I still listen in awe every time I hear this song, or anything off Kill, Ride, or Master. For Whom the Bell Tolls is a great example of excellent bass that goes underappreciated; during that part around 1:00 where the guitar starts playing the "dun dun dun dun" (E|3 2 1 0), you can notice the bass playing the same riff... with the E and A strings, hence a bass power chord. Does Flea do that? (Note: Flea's good at what he does, slap bass, but Cliff brought guitar sensibility to the bass.)
Props to you. Cliff is a lead-style bassist. Lemmy from Motorhead is a guitar-inspired bassist too. Only he plays rhythm-guitar bass style player.
Props to you. Cliff is a lead-style bassist. Lemmy from Motorhead is a guitar-inspired bassist too. Only he plays rhythm-guitar bass style player.