After reading some of the coments I must say some things : -There's no right or wrong way of playing bass. Billy Sheehan has his own style and sound. He has been playing all around the world since early 80's with several bands and artists .so if the thing he does works for him.. who cares? -If someone has doubts about Billy's musical skills , please take a look to his second solo record. -Sheehan is a bass player but, more than this, he's a rock musician. What do you expect? A Jaco Pastorius cover in a hard rock show? -People who goes to a Sheehan show want to see Sheehan playing the way he does.
The first two minutes of his solo are just him rocking out, like he is known for. But starting from 2:18, the rest of his solo is a demonstration of why he is one of the best bass players alive. Melody, finger dexterity, speed, accuracy, and his own chorus filled, distorted expression. Billy Sheehan is phenomonal
I'm glad I saw your comment - because I had already disengaged. Yes he is fast, but where was the music, the feeling, the expression? Well, as you say, it starts at 2:18, and lasts for a while.
it's not a mess it's an arrangement of speed, skill and scales with accurate playing the man has what most bass players strive for! it took time and dedication to get this good!
This guy is so unreal it's friggin scary...definitely takes playing bass into a whole different realm and influenced thousands of others to look outside the box and be different..Love his style of playing..
The height if immaturity is coming to RU-vid, watching a legend di his thang, and only commenting about how many players are better. Its a concert. A solo. It's not a goddamned competition.
+Mikael Salander You are not right, melody, harmony and rhythm are basics, and they don't need to be all three at a time. For example in this improvisation solo - there is melody, mostly i can read it , most of it are scales, but still melody. And there is harmony when he plays chords or taping with two hands. And in many places there is a rhytm too. So it's music. Many people think if it doesn't sound catchy than it's not music, you're wrong.
The amount of different techniques on display here is just fucking insane, the man’s a walking encyclopedia of ways of playing the bass. Fucking insane
@@ettorereventon2667 Lemme tell you why that is, and why this performance is fucking insane. The bass is known for being played with two fingers when fingerstyle. Then there's slapping and tapping. The rest are chords, melodics, double stops and so on. Billy Sheehan basically said 'heh, cute' and plays fingerstyle with three or four fingers. HOW CAN YOU PLAY WITH THREE OR FOUR FINGERS??! He controls his bass's feedback like the master he is and makes it a statement, a warcry, while he makes it sing with two-hand tapping. The rest of us can 'play' bass, but Billy *understands* it.
@@mrduck6720 he doesn’t play the bass as an instrument. That bass is part of his freaking body, just like his fingers are. It’s like what victor wooten says: he plays the bass just like he speaks English. Music is his language, the bass is his mouth
I may get absolutely roasted for this...but if I listen with my eyes closed I would totally believe this is Cliff Burton, the tone, the speed and precision, completely and totally admirable by all extent. Billy is an absolute monster and legend, much love.
I will say I don’t think Cliff was quite to Billy’s level, almost, but not quite . Cliff also died at 24 years old, during his time as a musician his playing was not only evolving but improving as well, its a fucking shame we never got to see hime even 5 years older, let alone 20 or 30 years older. Its so sad. What i’m saying is that Cliff would have inevitably gotten to a point to rival Billy, but he just never got there. One set back Cliff would have though is that he couldn’t use his right ring finger to play due to a fishing accident when he was younger, so he would have that working against him. I think the biggest shame is that we never got to hear him play Orion live. I guess instrumentals didn’t do as well live cause they didn’t play Ktulu for a long time either
We lived in a time when we got to see Billy Sheehan, Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones and Cliff Burton all alive and playing the bass, with Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page on the guitar. Believe me when I tell you, there will NEVER be another generation where so much once in a lifetime talent was all alive and playing at the same time.
It really pisses me off that people say that he is just playing really fast and making noise, he is extremely talented and has vast amounts of musical knowledge, I can understand why someone might not like this but you cannot deny this guy is good. EDIT: weird coming back and seeing comments I left over five years ago. I don’t remember caring about Billy Sheehan this much. Retrospectively, this is honestly pretty unmusical as impressive as it is technically. The harmonics and tapping parts are pretty cool though
In my head, he's categorized alongside Steve Vai as "one of the guys whose music I don't exactly have an opinion on, but are just really fun to watch."
It’s just like a guitar solo on bass. It’s still musical, and even as a guitar player this is unbelievable. I don’t play bass so I can’t get my fingers to do stuff like that, hell nah. So that coupled with what he’s doing with his fretting hand, it’s honestly unbelievable.
@@jacurururur8848 it’s a bit of both cuz he goes from crazy speed, to a bit slow beautiful tapping. It really goes to show that bass can be an expressive instrument.
@@nar____ theres only a few parts with any decent melody, but most of the slower parts are unremarkable. like whats with the note choice at 4:35? that sounds like garbage
mike walter OH sorry! ARE YOU FAMOUS?, OHH NNO!!! MIKE WALTER, YOU ARE NOT! SO PLEASE SHUT UP! HE IS THE BEST HARD ROCK BASSIST! HE IS THE BASSIST OF THE MILENIUM! SO SORRY MAN! PLEASE THERE IS THE DOOR , MR, JAZZ SCALES!
mike walter I don't see what my little dick has to do with music but ok. I guess big penis with balls the size of tangerines carriers like loved by the sun then? Hahahaha holy shit
I used to see him live back in the early seventies with his hometown band in Buffalo NY.......TALAS!!!! He was amazing back then and has progressed greatly over the years, happy to see he has done so well.
As a guitar player of 35 years, I attempt playing the most VERY basics of bass when I record a song. I mean, I own a couple bass guitars, but I know I'm terrible, and would never insult a bass player by calling myself as such. Hearing/watching someone who DOES play bass well is just memorizing for me. I love the sound of bass, and love to attempt playing it. Big props to all the bass guitar players out there. Much respect.
I always remember thinking he's so much better than Mr. Big. I guess it's proof how a true, great musician, knows what not to play, as well as he knows what to play (and when).
The man is shredding on a bass, finger style, clearly just being a show off for its own sake, and it’s fucking KILLER. Anyone who looks at this and gives it criticism for being “not real bass playing” can fucking blow me. There are no rules in music, Sheehan is having the time of his life here, and it shows.
He has a great creativity and a cool sound with a fascinating chorus. Met him in 2011 at Tc Electronic booth (at that time he was a Tc endorser) during a a demo of mine in Italy, he is also a very simple person, friendly and very focused on the new tendences. Billy you are a great inspiration!
I have watched and listened to this many times over the last three and a half years, and for the first time now I'm checking it out at 0.75 speed (a You Tube feature--see the top). I have been more amazed than ever at the speed and capability of the playing. I guess I'll check it out at 0.5 speed next.
I love all the people who think they need to teach Billy Sheehan the very basics of playing the bass in the comment section. I mean... it's not like the guy played bass all his life and has been around for 30 years kickin ass on stage. I wonder what those people in the comment section have contributed to the music industry to justify such statements...
That's easy, it's just a bunch of mentally prebuscent assholes who think they know anything about music, and think their opinion is a statement. Can't appreciate skill or have the hearing to comprehend what is going on. There are many factors that play on it, and between these, there's also jealousy.
this guy is truly a huge inspiration for me. makes it look so easy and cool. and paired with paul gilbert, what a duo. god damn. I used to use his pearce BC-1 preamp for the longest time for all my bass tones. loved that thing
Just cause you picked up bass cause it was "easier" than guitar, doesn't mean people, professional musicians, should limit themselves to make you comfortable in your own definition and guidelines of music. Music is subjectively enjoyable, and it is objectively wrong to call any piece "bad". This dude achieves amazing bass licks and great entertainment, (in my opinion, slow down) and I will always be open to experimenting with my bass to come up with new, inventive, and interesting ways/techniques to express myself on new levels with music. Constructive criticism is one thing, being boring and jaded is another.
How the fuck does no one mention Sheehan on the best bass players list while fucking Flea and Cliff Burton are a must mention. It makes it so much harder to find legends like Sheehan.
+Wayne King you are so right. Billy is a great player but all technical & no soul. Reminds me of all those shredders from the 80's were everything was a pentatonic scale played at warp speed or some kind of classical music played with surgical precision. I have the Talus albums but really stopped listening & following him when he was with David Lee Roth's solo project & in an interview in guitar player magazine put down John Entwhistle, Chris Squire & Geddy Lee for being sloppy bass players & if they would learn to tighten up their fingers they could be good players. That's did it for me.
I have heard him play live with Steve Vai, he can play with soul as well as shred. Vai's style of playing and Sheehan's bass playing complement each other, and Vai is one of the most melodic guitar players around. Egos aside, Sheehan is up there with Tony Levin, Jack Bruce and Les Claypool in technical masters of the bass. I think he deserves more recognition, this guy is the Yngwie of bass playing(loves to shred but can also be very melodic.
Well, you can take a look at Erlend Casperen, take a look on yt, you will see art there, well, if they don't mention Billy in one list it's because they don't like him, and you should lnow that there is no better musican in any way, just different.
+Dingo D. Manhunter dingo my friend you must fuck all these top ten list and make sure you go out and find out about people like I do Just a tip right there :)
Met him last year after a small club show in NH. Very nice and approachable guy. Most of the night was just great groove playing. He plays the same way whether he is playing for a few hundred people or 20k. A real musician’s musician. Thanks Billy, please come back and see us again soon.
I met this guy at a small bass clinic in Michigan and he was such a nice guy and eager to show techniques and share his love for music he was just such a wonderful musician and human being
And that's my friends is called bass shredding...i went in a steve vai's concert with him in the bass,at the end he pushed the bass towards the crowd in the front ,telling them to slap it...it was cool man
Look at that crowd ! Super groups ! What a monster outs amount of talent !! Billy is definitely a shredder but also a master of holding down the pocket and making a great song . And a great singer…
After reading a lot of these comments, I am DISGUSTED to call myself a bass player. Who the hell are you people to tell others that there's one specific way to play a bass and every other way is wrong? Who the FUCK do you people think you are? I suppose that means there's only one way to play guitar too. I guess every guitarist on the planet should just clone themselves and become jazz players that sit back on chords the whole god damn time. Music is a subjective form of ART. There is not one specific way to do ART either. Saying there's only one way to play bass is like saying cubism or minimalism aren't allowed to exist because its different from DaVinci. So I guess that means that every artist on the planet should just be another DaVinci, and those who can't should just drop out. If there weren't multiple styles of doing something, the human race would never advance and we'd be stuck in the same exact spot in history until we all get wiped out when the sun blows up in a few billion years. I don't know about you people, but I don't want to be stuck playing chord roots or walking arpeggios until the sun supernovas.
I don't know who these people THINK they are, but they are the Bass Groove Taliban who are not welcome to comment on this video per the instructions above.
Welcome to the Taliban, P. Taylor. Hint: Cubism is a genre, while bass is an instrument. A better analogy would be "paintbrushes have specific qualities that allow an artist to create absurdism, and so does bass."
Billy and Chris Squire are my wish who I could hold my own to which I never will be as good as either of them. And then there comes a kid Charles Berthoud that can make us all bow down and want to quit playing because his ability is truly earned and immortal. No matter how much one can practice Charles and a guy named Davy are honestly unreal and so amazing to watch. Being old school I will never lose any respect for the many players of our day however a new day has arrived. Live long and well Mr. BIG! You are very respected.I 👍✌️
I saw him years ago at a bass expo with Greg Bissonette on drums and Steve Bailey and Victor Wooten. He hands down stole the show. It was his showmanship and ability to get so many different sounds out of the bass that set him apart.
Little do these haters know that Billy Sheehan was rocking out like this even before Cliff Burton and was even inspiring guitarists like Paul Gilbert back in the late 70s and early 80s. He also inspired 2 entire generations of Japanese Bassists and is one of the most important figures in J Metal boom of 90s and 2000s..
I remember watching this many years back when I started bass, have grown up so much in my music since then. I enjoy doing the three finger technique and practicing it. Of course not as fast as Mr. Sheehan... but... someday.
When I started bass I couldn't stand Billy, he was just a show off.. But the more I learn and play the more I see how great he is, and listening to his basslines in songs shows me that although he can do this, he always writes the perfect line, fast or slow, showing off when there's room and when the time is right, but always serving the song first. One of the greats for sure.
Few play at Billy's level. No one should feel bad about it. We're talking rare skills. Been playing since 1967 and I am glad for what little I do know. I will always be a work in progress. Appreciate your skill level, use it in the songs you play, the bands you play in. Attend to your own ministry, I strive to be the best William J. Mendes I can be (ME)...I can't be anyone else. I am thankful for this virtuoso's music, it inspires me.
Had the pleasure of opening for Mr Big years ago. Being a fellow bassist we hung for a bit at the end of the night and shot the poop. One of the nicest guys you will ever meet in the biz..
