Orrick Ewing - Lead Bass Guitarist

[Bookkeeper's Son]

Apparently this guy's been around for a long time, but he's new to me. I've never heard bass played this way, and the guy is rather good. Maybe the music is a little too "Kenny G", but Ewing's playing is worth a listen. Here's the show I caught earlier tonight:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3BJLEGXEoI

[marnold]

Kind of interesting to see a bass player's band with . . . another bass player. I wonder what kind of tuning/strings he's using on that. It sounds far too high to be any "normal" string gauge/tuning.

Update: After a little research I found that his Spector is strung with piccolo bass strings (.018-.050). Typically those are tuned an octave higher--making it basically the bottom four strings on a guitar. By way of comparison, I've got .045-.105 on my bass, a fairly typical gauge. Basically, he needs a bass player because he can't truly play the bass parts on that guitar. I wonder what the tension would be like with all of that extra scale length.

[NWBasser]

Two bass players is nothing too new. Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten both use backup players.

Stanley also pioneered the piccolo tuning.

Now I have to check out the video!

[NWBasser]

How about three bass players!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj5f7gRLVFQ&feature=g-vrec

This guy can really bring it. I saw Spyro Gyra a couple of months ago and quite blown away by Scott Ambush.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmiK9skef3s


I haven't heard of Orrick Ewing until now. That's a great video!:AOK

Thanks for sharing that bass player's treat!

[marnold]

How about three bass players!

Pity none of those guys can play a lick :)

It was interesting seeing their different slapping techniques, even if it did get a bit cacophonous.