Jack Lawrence - the big bopper of bluesy bass

Jack Lawrence. The bassist for The Raconteurs, the newly-formed Dead Weather, and the Greenhornes. Many would say that Jack Lawrence is piggy-backing on the success of Jack White, who didn't even need a bassist in the White Stripes. But if you were to ask Jack White if he could replace Lawrence, the answer would be no.








the following video shows Lawrence playing with the Raconteurs live on the Jools Holland show. his timbre is real good...very meaty and strong, without having to rely to strongly on effects for a presence on stage. it's also refreshing to see Lawrence utilizing rickenbacker...the 4003 model, i believe. Fender has been so popular among bassists for so long, it's nice to see such a successful bassist breaking the norm.

jpj is a-ok

John Paul Jones, the bassist of Led Zeppelin, is considered to be one of the best. In my opinion, of all the original great bassists, he pulls in 3rd, behind Jack Bruce and John Entwistle. However, it's inarguable that JPJ's impact has been huge. in the following video, you'll see a recent performance of JPJ (he's in his '60s now), playing a 10 string bass. Which is like a 12 string guitar - it's effectively a 5 string, but each string has a high octave double string. this harmonizes the sound more, and....though i wouldn't ordinarily choose these words.....allows it to sound more like a guitar. the intro is done on bass, and the solo is a bass solo....although many would argue that if they were to just hear it. Anyway, it's a fantastic example of bass as a lead instrument, from a fantastic bassist.

bass culture

i just ordered a book called "Bass Culture: The John Entwistle Bass Collection." entwistle (the bassist from the WHO) had one of the most extensive collections of bass guitars ever. he collected guitars also, but of course, most of them are basses.

he had some of the standards....




some of the strange ones...








and some of the rarest.....






but they're all awesome.