Top 3 tips for a NOOB learning Rush's "Anthem"

[Armchair Bronco]

Somehow, I managed to convince my 14-year-old son to take up the bass again. He used to play Nirvana covers with his younger brother about 4 years ago.

 

Anyway, I got him started learning Rush's "Anthem" from 1975, and he's hooked. Loves the song and the challenge of learning a fairly difficult bass part.

 

What are 3 or 4 tips he should keep in mind while he's learning his chops?

 

This version of some random guy on YouTube is pretty good (I'm going to use this guy as inspiration):

 

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[degroove]

For a second, I thought that was you! For anything, break each few second riffs down. Figure out the stuff that repeats. Drill those into brain. Then get those faster fills one at a time. That is my basic approach to any music. Good Luck.

[Armchair Bronco]

For a second, I thought that was you! For anything, break each few second riffs down. Figure out the stuff that repeats. Drill those into brain. Then get those faster fills one at a time. That is my basic approach to any music. Good Luck.

 

Thanks for the feedback. We've been using Guitar Pro Tabs on the iPad to break down the song as you've suggested. The opening riff is one of the hardest in the song, but my kid's stubborn and wants to learn the song front-to-back in linear fashion -- no jumping around!

 

I've edited the OP to make it clear that it isn't me playing the bass! Sorry for the confusion.

[JohnMCA72]

That song has a lot of odd time signature changes. I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner.

[wades_keys]

Stop using tab.

 

Start using notes.

 

Then from notes, scale degrees.

 

/END

Sidebar: I wasted 15 years of my life on tablature, and all it ever did for me was teach me how and where to flap my fingers around on the neck. There was no joy in that after a while, beyond the: "Omg, I can move my fingers faster than I thought I could".

 

Get him INSIDE the music: inside of what Geddy was thinking when he WROTE the tune. You do that by breaking down the scale used, knowing the notes on the neck.

 

For example, Geddy likes to slide up from the fifth to the sixth a lot. He does that in YYZ and in many other tunes. So instead of thinking, "fret 5, slide to fret 7", think in terms of "this is the fifth, and sixth is always a whole step up from that (major scale)". Now he has knowledge, and not just some jive fret numbers.

 

Then he'll be able to play "note for note" if he wants, but he'll be able to "extend", improvise and fake, creating new stuff, as well.

 

Make sure he knows the pentatonic scale NOT BY PATTERN, but by INTERVAL. This is huge and really opened up my playing. Again, not "Fret 5 to fret 8" (first two notes of A pentatonic), but rather: "The I note followed by a minor third". See, now he knows something to relate back to the fingerings. And with that knowledge comes power. So now I can, for example, change the sound to major by merely raising that minor third a half step. Not technical or something to brag about, but real knowledge that can be used in real time while playing. That kind of thing. Good luck man. Show him all the pattterns: octaves, major 3rds, and make sure he knows the mixolydian mode (major scale with a flat 7).

[wades_keys]

Okay, just got finished shedding some Geddy. Man, it is some physical stuff and demanding on the plucking hand.

 

So let me ask you this. How good is his fingerstyle? Because I think if you try and force an unrefined technique onto Geddy Lee the result won't be good. I'm betting he started out with or played more than a fair amount of pickstyle (Nirvana!) so the following is kinda geared towards that, because I started out with pick (guitar) too.

 

Some tips for getting that "rake" that he likes to do: Have him practice 16th notes FAST on each open string, and teach him to listen for volume discrepancies and noise, and correct those. Extra motion on the picking arm is usually bad, affecting the consistency of the pluck. Have him take time to study the actual physical positions of plucking wrist and fingers and emulate that before he goes ANY FURTHER. This is critical or his fingerstyle playing will never ever be truly quality, rock solid and punchy/consistent. Trust me. Been there. Learned the hard way.

 

I might post a video of me playing part of YYZ because it shows the "rake" move I'm talking about that many, many bassists can't really do right, in terms of the consistency of the pluck itself, not the left hand action. Geddy actually has a very unconvential and hard plucking style that I would not recommend to emulate. LOL

 

Definitely have him watch at least a LITTLE Jaco, and pay attention to the plucking hand. THAT's the optimal and most tonally consistent approach there is: ignore the fact that he used tone settings that were trebly and just trust me that the CONSISTENCY you can get with keeping every part of that hand motionless is golden and something I'm still striving to get better at. The thing is for a rocker it can look kinda geeky. Tell him to either get over it or stick with the guitar arm and use a pick. Bottom line is the attack has to be consistent or it will never ever sound truly "solid", and notes will tend to jump in and out of the mix.....later

[Flatball]

[witty remark]

Noob and Rush shouldn't be in the same sentence.

[/witty remark]