I've been recording bass for twenty years - it's always nasty, noisy & sometimes a little sloppy when solo'd. Once you add the band into the mix it's magic
It's definitely Steve, I cant believe there's a discussion about this??. That sound is just freakin amazing. He doesnt play sloppy, he plays it perfectly. The sloppy sound is mainly from the bass itself, anyone who played on a P-bass knows what Im talking about. It's hard to make it sound perfectly clean when you are sliding around and hitting the string so hard as he does. Btw, it's supposed to sound like that!! GO STEVE!
I read this comment first many years ago, and I was a bit skeptical. Thought it was just an Iron Maiden fan. Since actually learning bass and using it to record for a few years now, I come back to this comment with a huge slice of humble pie. Your comment was absolutely spot on. It's been a decade, I hope you're well and still playing bass!
@@zakrahman479 Thanks for the reply man, I'm glad to hear you are playin some bass, keep up the good work! It's been a decade already? Haha damn, time sure flies. Take care and cheers mate!
That is Steve for sure! My biggest influence and the reason I play bass today! If you could listen to any bass track on any of your favorite rock records you will hear all the glitches and imperfections that blend perfectly with the band! It is just one more aspect of what makes a record sound the way it sounds, and give a player his signature sound!!
Yeah, Rotosound flats have that lovely fretboard clank! Though Steve actually plucks really gently comparitively, but the angle of his finger picking is what causes the clank. Steve is an unrivalled at what he does
String slapping againced the frets with his gritty tone comes off to the listener as energy when placed in the mix. Listen to some of Geddy lee's lines solo's. Lots of string and fret "clack" and it works. It's what they're going for. That gnarly intense bass sound and feel. imo
Trying to learn this song on bass at the moment. Will be of invaluable assistance to me, absolutely priceless, - thank you so much for posting this. Cheers.
Agreed any bass player thats done some recording know an isolated bass always sound like crap unless you suck and your playing is buried in effects, I think this shows how REAL a musician he is, just goes in and nails it, no effects, punches, maybe a little compression is evident when he's riding that low E, but otherwise totally kick ass
Been playing this bass line for years, and the part coming out of the solo section 4:12:C D bass run with drums...I always thought he was playing this blazing fill, but through this you can hear he's doing something really simple it just sounds like it's fast because its doubled by the snare drum
I think that most people are going to expect what they personally heard in a song...but when stripped down to the bare tracks most any musician has that human element that is masked in the final mix. I believe this is Steve Harris.
Probably my favourite Steve Harris bassline. That D-F-G progression in the chorus is beautiful. Only bad thing about listening to bass master tracks on RUclips is that you'll always get some dickless fretboard gymnast coming in and blathering on about John Myung or Stu Hamm or Les Claypool or some other passion-free music-as-athletics dickfart. When will you technique-obsessed virgins learn? It's FEEL that matters in music, not technical virtuosity This is why, let's say, Cliff Burton's original bassline for Master of Puppets, while not as technically impressive as Les Claypool's slapped version, knocks it into a cocked hat as far as fitting the song goes. Same with Steve Harris' basslines. If any of those sterile, tutored, musicianship-for-musicianship's-sake pricks like Myung etc tried to play this bassline, it wouldn't sound half as good no matter how note-perfect it was, simply because they can't match Steve's FEEL.
Gregg Mather Les Claypool "Passion-free" What the fuck man. Steve Harris is what made me pick up a bass, but I also love Les's stuff including Primus. That man is nothing but passion for what he does, just like Stevey Harris.
He doesn't... He lightly hits his strings, he even said so in interviews. He just "tickles the strings" and if anyone else were to play through his rig they would likely blow the speaker because they'll pick too hard. He has very low action.
@jollywood999 you would need flatwound strings with gauges .50-.110 (heavy) thats what steve uses.... be carefull though some basses necks cant handel it.... u should be fine with a P-bass
His strings make stuff like this easier to play. More tension and a smoother surface are great for fast finger picking and runs. He rarely bends because that's difficult to do with these strings. He uses those strings for a reason.
these isolated tracks really do show the playing warts & all which is a good thing. I'd hate to think that my musical heros were machine like perfectionists. Steve Harris is & will always be just a cockney geezer who also happens to be a fucking great bass player!
@gui1977 listen to it in context of the song. its not a bass solo. his playing lends heaviness in addition to being hummable and unique enough to be counted as a third/fourth guitar. . again its not steve harris and 5 other dudes. its iron maiden, and this is the best for maiden.
The higher tension makes it possible to attach more lightly with the right hand, to be able to gain in speed and endurance, but that makes it more difficult on the left hand. Also since I used flat gauge already, I don't think you get more right hand speed out of them. That's more a way for Steve Harris, who likes a very bright sound, to reduce left hand noises from sliding fingers on the strings.
Overall it's very solid considering he doesn't cheat on the string gauge like many fast players. There are little technicall mistake here and there, but that's almost unavoidable because the bass is physically challenging for the hands with such gauges. With lighter gauges you can sound cleaner, but the bass will sound less powerfull. And anyway in the mix we can't hear that so it's irrevelant.
As a bass player who's been a pro player for 25 years, I can tell you that most "signature" stuff is what players agree to promote in exchange for free strings and gear. The Geddy Lee sig bass is $700, but a used, beat up Jazz is $1500 - $2000. But more than that, I can't imagine an EQ setting on a bass rig that would give that much bell-like attack on flatwounds, which sound like roundwounds with a pair of wet socks woven through them. Maybe he uses flatwounds live to save his fingertips?
Hey FilipUNIBO, i would really REALLY appreciate if you could upload the Bass only version of The Duelist. Also Somewhere in Time, by far my favorite Maiden album.
In order for a recording studio to keep up wth demands of the industry they must keep up to date with all the latest technology, DAT machines are a thing of the past and so is reel to reel recording, Pro Tools is now an industry standard, a studio engineer has to iron out the imperfections regardless of the fact that imperfections are what make music feel human. If an Engineer releases a poorly mixed album his or her reputation goes down the shitter.
Like many others have said, this is why I picked up the bass back in the 80's. Sadly I am no where even close to being able to play 99.9999% of Steve Harris' licks! But at least it makes me want to keep on playing.
keep trying you'll get there. i highly recommend to look up a book that has bach stuff transcibed to bass. yes i said Bach as in the broque era organ/piano/harpsicord player. not sure if they still publish it but i used to have this book that was all Bach stuff on bass guitar .. super hard shit to do on bass ., but even doing it in slow mode really helped develope my chops. i 60+ IM songs myself after 25+ years of playing. personally i find people need to quite worrying about playing like steve. take some influence and inspiration from his playing sure , but no two musicans play exactly the same. focus on playing your own way good regardless of rather or not you incorporate this or that's player's techniques into your playing..
ese ruido brilloso tipo latoso-chasqueado son las valvulas del cabesal sopencos sin decir que le pega con fuerza a las cuerdas/ osea lo recaga a palos como solo Steve Harrys sabe hacerlo.gloria al gran Steve Harrys.
I believe it. I've read up on his interviews and stuff. Aggressive playing has nothing whatsoever to do with it, however. That's just turning the treble up and lightly tapping the strings against the frets. Entwistle made that technique famous. But yes, apparently, Harris does indeed play flatwounds. Crazy.
it's not the trebble he is turning up(though his is up to about mid point ). more reccent years he changed amps but back in the 80"s he used GK's and uped the high and low mids both (GK has 2 mid knobs) , with treble about at the mid point. it's this boost to the mid range that really makes the A,D and G strings pop out in the mix. he's also squashing the string to fret slaps with a lot of compression , so the fret slap sounds more like a clang than a pitched snap.
Thank you, but are you sure about those strings? Remember that Steve even has his signature Rotosound Sh77 Flatwound strings that he's been using for many, many years.
well yeah i guess many years at this point . but they (rotosound) didn't do his sig strings till about 1999. before that i was using the set that harris used , roto sound heavy gauge flat wounds (has the same gauge as his sig series just not the pretty string ends to match his bass colors) . they still make that standard set, but oddly enough it cost 5 bucks more than steve's sig series. but the sets are virtually identical.
Actually this is not sloppy at all. In fact, it's tight as hell. The impression of sloppiness comes from the noise of the strings clanging against the frets - all due to Steve's playing technique and low action on the bass itself. And of course, the thick Rotosound flatwounds. If that ain't enough of an explanation then remember, that the bass lines tend to sound sloppy without the drum track supporting it.
I find it amusing how you all think that just because Steve is famous his playing is supposed to be absolutely flawless. Nobody is perfect, and this supposed "messiness" has contributed to Iron Maidens sound for the past 30+ years.
The tone sounds like Harris. I'm surprised at his right hand, sounds a tad heavier than most guys - or maybe he also plays light strings and/or has very low action on his basses. Other guys may have a more even/cleaner pizicatto technique, but then again, 'perfect' technique is not what music is all about.
C'mon man, lighten up. If you can't recognize how any reader would think that you're mistakenly thinking he plays with a plectrum - 'everything is super sensitive to his finger attack' would have left no room for thought. My bad; switch to decaff or something...
He's no John Paul Jones/Geezer Butler/John Entwistle/Geddy Lee/John Deacon/Les Claypool but he's right up there for sure. Definitely the creative mind behind the music for Maiden.
![2 Minutes To Midnight (Guitars Only) [Studio Version]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TYR294TQpKA/mqdefault.jpg)
![2 Minutes To Midnight (Guitars Only) [Studio Version]](/img/tr.png)
![2 Minutes To Midnight (Drums Only) [Studio Version]](/img/1.gif)
I've been recording bass for twenty years - it's always nasty, noisy & sometimes a little sloppy when solo'd. Once you add the band into the mix it's magic
It's definitely Steve, I cant believe there's a discussion about this??. That sound is just freakin amazing. He doesnt play sloppy, he plays it perfectly. The sloppy sound is mainly from the bass itself, anyone who played on a P-bass knows what Im talking about. It's hard to make it sound perfectly clean when you are sliding around and hitting the string so hard as he does. Btw, it's supposed to sound like that!! GO STEVE!
Morbid696 P bass, flatwound strings, percussive style of playing, major talent. And of course the Seymour Duncan pickups. He’s one of a kind
I read this comment first many years ago, and I was a bit skeptical. Thought it was just an Iron Maiden fan. Since actually learning bass and using it to record for a few years now, I come back to this comment with a huge slice of humble pie. Your comment was absolutely spot on. It's been a decade, I hope you're well and still playing bass!
@@zakrahman479 Thanks for the reply man, I'm glad to hear you are playin some bass, keep up the good work! It's been a decade already? Haha damn, time sure flies. Take care and cheers mate!
Very true! Those imperfections are what make the p bass sound great imo.
nothing "beedle-beedles" when you finger it like a P-bass!
That is Steve for sure! My biggest influence and the reason I play bass today! If you could listen to any bass track on any of your favorite rock records you will hear all the glitches and imperfections that blend perfectly with the band! It is just one more aspect of what makes a record sound the way it sounds, and give a player his signature sound!!
Love the clanky sound and dem fills!
Yeah, Rotosound flats have that lovely fretboard clank!
Though Steve actually plucks really gently comparitively, but the angle of his finger picking is what causes the clank. Steve is an unrivalled at what he does
String slapping againced the frets with his gritty tone comes off to the listener as energy when placed in the mix. Listen to some of Geddy lee's lines solo's. Lots of string and fret "clack" and it works. It's what they're going for. That gnarly intense bass sound and feel. imo
Trying to learn this song on bass at the moment. Will be of invaluable assistance to me, absolutely priceless, - thank you so much for posting this. Cheers.
How did it go mate? Did you figure it out? I've never tried learning anything from that album. It's my seconds favourite recording of theirs.
Agreed any bass player thats done some recording know an isolated bass always sound like crap unless you suck and your playing is buried in effects, I think this shows how REAL a musician he is, just goes in and nails it, no effects, punches, maybe a little compression is evident when he's riding that low E, but otherwise totally kick ass
Been playing this bass line for years, and the part coming out of the solo section 4:12:C D bass run with drums...I always thought he was playing this blazing fill, but through this you can hear he's doing something really simple it just sounds like it's fast because its doubled by the snare drum
If this is sloppy id love to be sloppy too
I think that most people are going to expect what they personally heard in a song...but when stripped down to the bare tracks most any musician has that human element that is masked in the final mix. I believe this is Steve Harris.
Probably my favourite Steve Harris bassline. That D-F-G progression in the chorus is beautiful.
Only bad thing about listening to bass master tracks on RUclips is that you'll always get some dickless fretboard gymnast coming in and blathering on about John Myung or Stu Hamm or Les Claypool or some other passion-free music-as-athletics dickfart.
When will you technique-obsessed virgins learn? It's FEEL that matters in music, not technical virtuosity This is why, let's say, Cliff Burton's original bassline for Master of Puppets, while not as technically impressive as Les Claypool's slapped version, knocks it into a cocked hat as far as fitting the song goes.
Same with Steve Harris' basslines. If any of those sterile, tutored, musicianship-for-musicianship's-sake pricks like Myung etc tried to play this bassline, it wouldn't sound half as good no matter how note-perfect it was, simply because they can't match Steve's FEEL.
I agree 100% hit the nail on the head.
I agree!
Gregg Mather Les Claypool "Passion-free" What the fuck man. Steve Harris is what made me pick up a bass, but I also love Les's stuff including Primus. That man is nothing but passion for what he does, just like Stevey Harris.
SharpeyeHodgey Sorry man, Primus sounds like children's music to me. And not in the good Mark Mothersbaugh way.
People are entitled to their own opinions! :D
He doesn't hit the strings hard, he just has his treble almost dimed. He actually plays very lightly.
Listen to this just makes me remember why Steve Harris is already a bass legend. What a great bass line.
STEVE HARRIS IS A BASS GOD NO ONE ELSE IS BETTER.
@Zio Pindaro or maybe it's just his opinion??
Geddy Lee? Les claypool?
Naaaah yall dickless..... steves tje best
He doesn't... He lightly hits his strings, he even said so in interviews. He just "tickles the strings" and if anyone else were to play through his rig they would likely blow the speaker because they'll pick too hard. He has very low action.
i love that clicky sound :D
Claim this is sloppy? You just wish you were in Maiden.
I prefer the term “perfectly imperfect”
Just as all good music is
I listened to this on 1.5x speed and didn’t realize it at first 😂
I was like, “hmm... that’s a lot busier than I remember it”😂
Oh ok. You turned up the speed on a song you already knew. FFS where do these w@nkers come from
Made me actually laugh out loud Hahaa I had to listen to it at 1.5 after reading and yea….dudes fuckin floppin around lol
@jollywood999 you would need flatwound strings with gauges .50-.110 (heavy) thats what steve uses.... be carefull though some basses necks cant handel it.... u should be fine with a P-bass
Oh what I would kill for that tone.
I want a p-bass fender after hearing this
I got one for that. You need to get one. :p
I have one too
Seymour Duncan SPB-4 Steve Harris Signature P-Bass Pickup
His strings make stuff like this easier to play. More tension and a smoother surface are great for fast finger picking and runs. He rarely bends because that's difficult to do with these strings. He uses those strings for a reason.
I think in the 80s, Steve used 0.45 gauge flats. I think Rotosound didn't produce 0.50 at that time
these isolated tracks really do show the playing warts & all which is a good thing. I'd hate to think that my musical heros were machine like perfectionists. Steve Harris is & will always be just a cockney geezer who also happens to be a fucking great bass player!
es terrible difícil sacarse a este bajo qlo demasiados licks
se escucha muy raro sin los demás instrumentos, pero ese bajo es espectacular :D
@gui1977 listen to it in context of the song. its not a bass solo. his playing lends heaviness in addition to being hummable and unique enough to be counted as a third/fourth guitar. . again its not steve harris and 5 other dudes. its iron maiden, and this is the best for maiden.
The higher tension makes it possible to attach more lightly with the right hand, to be able to gain in speed and endurance, but that makes it more difficult on the left hand.
Also since I used flat gauge already, I don't think you get more right hand speed out of them.
That's more a way for Steve Harris, who likes a very bright sound, to reduce left hand noises from sliding fingers on the strings.
Overall it's very solid considering he doesn't cheat on the string gauge like many fast players.
There are little technicall mistake here and there, but that's almost unavoidable because the bass is physically challenging for the hands with such gauges.
With lighter gauges you can sound cleaner, but the bass will sound less powerfull.
And anyway in the mix we can't hear that so it's irrevelant.
As a bass player who's been a pro player for 25 years, I can tell you that most "signature" stuff is what players agree to promote in exchange for free strings and gear. The Geddy Lee sig bass is $700, but a used, beat up Jazz is $1500 - $2000. But more than that, I can't imagine an EQ setting on a bass rig that would give that much bell-like attack on flatwounds, which sound like roundwounds with a pair of wet socks woven through them. Maybe he uses flatwounds live to save his fingertips?
Hey FilipUNIBO, i would really REALLY appreciate if you could upload the Bass only version of The Duelist. Also Somewhere in Time, by far my favorite Maiden album.
steve is the best !!!
do you have the isolated bass lines for The rime of the ancient mariner by any chance?
Very nice. I prefer at times listening bass only.
@FrozenSparky That's his fingers pulling on the rotosound strings :D
Sweet !
its amazing !!
Steve Harris best HM bassist ever
agreed
Analog = Alive
Digital = Dead
In order for a recording studio to keep up wth demands of the industry they must keep up to date with all the latest technology, DAT machines are a thing of the past and so is reel to reel recording, Pro Tools is now an industry standard, a studio engineer has to iron out the imperfections regardless of the fact that imperfections are what make music feel human. If an Engineer releases a poorly mixed album his or her reputation goes down the shitter.
@midnightoilers it's ripped from Guitar Hero or Rock Band
Hey man, nice work! ;) How did ya do that without lossless? Or you found it somewhere? Nice anyway :)
dude , I love you \m/
Like many others have said, this is why I picked up the bass back in the 80's. Sadly I am no where even close to being able to play 99.9999% of Steve Harris' licks! But at least it makes me want to keep on playing.
keep trying you'll get there. i highly recommend to look up a book that has bach stuff transcibed to bass. yes i said Bach as in the broque era organ/piano/harpsicord player. not sure if they still publish it but i used to have this book that was all Bach stuff on bass guitar .. super hard shit to do on bass ., but even doing it in slow mode really helped develope my chops.
i 60+ IM songs myself after 25+ years of playing. personally i find people need to quite worrying about playing like steve. take some influence and inspiration from his playing sure , but no two musicans play exactly the same. focus on playing your own way good regardless of rather or not you incorporate this or that's player's techniques into your playing..
how does he make flat wounds sound like that?
You're absolutely right, across the board. 'Cept those are roundwounds, not flatwounds.
Ese steve ...
Sigue creciendo!
:D
100 % CORRECT !!
oh my goD
And that children.... is how you play bass.
sick stuff btw
those flatwounds he uses is the clank you hear..that's his sound!!
ese ruido brilloso tipo latoso-chasqueado son las valvulas del cabesal sopencos sin decir que le pega con fuerza a las cuerdas/ osea lo recaga a palos como solo Steve Harrys sabe hacerlo.gloria al gran Steve Harrys.
1:01 to 1:05 BEST PART! Thumbs up if you like it
@Craigonbass
its steve harris and steve harris
is not precise because he never had bass lessons
but he still rocks harder than an other bass player!
@christschinwon damn well said !
@SahrThundermane Yep, i'm with you.... this comes from the time before pro tools. This take sounds amazing with the drums:)
When did I say he did? Is it not possible to pick with your fingers?
bass + drums = win
nice
STEVIE BABY
I believe it. I've read up on his interviews and stuff. Aggressive playing has nothing whatsoever to do with it, however. That's just turning the treble up and lightly tapping the strings against the frets. Entwistle made that technique famous. But yes, apparently, Harris does indeed play flatwounds. Crazy.
it's not the trebble he is turning up(though his is up to about mid point ). more reccent years he changed amps but back in the 80"s he used GK's and uped the high and low mids both (GK has 2 mid knobs) , with treble about at the mid point. it's this boost to the mid range that really makes the A,D and G strings pop out in the mix. he's also squashing the string to fret slaps with a lot of compression , so the fret slap sounds more like a clang than a pitched snap.
@@DenverStarkey useful info, thank you
My favorite bass players are of course this guy but also Cliff Burton, Jason Newstead, and Cannnibal Corpse's Alex Webster.
How flatwounds could ring like that?
i can't really tell if it's steve or not... but it does sound somewhat messy... idk...
this is a good bass player... cliff burton was never nearly as good as the true metal bass god; STEVE HARRIS!!
@Dwight Charles Bass is about holding it all together, provide a solid bass, and keeping the groove. Solos are at the bottom of the list.
@MrDaddyjay69 Sounds exactly like my old 70's p with flatwounds on.
how do you get just the bass track?
Thank you, but are you sure about those strings? Remember that Steve even has his signature Rotosound Sh77 Flatwound strings that he's been using for many, many years.
well yeah i guess many years at this point . but they (rotosound) didn't do his sig strings till about 1999. before that i was using the set that harris used , roto sound heavy gauge flat wounds (has the same gauge as his sig series just not the pretty string ends to match his bass colors) . they still make that standard set, but oddly enough it cost 5 bucks more than steve's sig series. but the sets are virtually identical.
Amen.Im sick of todays tech dorks without any creativity.
Does anyone knows if he record straight to the board or via amp back then?
Sounds like amp recording to me.
@Darkazar52 This is his tone :D :D
Steve uses Overdrive? Powerslave tone is a bit "dirty" compared to Piece of Mind or The Number of The Beast bass tones
Piece of Mind is totally dirty. Just listen to The Trooper.
@@mrcoatsworth429 the trooper is from tnotb
@@bethharrxs4577 No, it's absolutely not.
I dont think he used overdrive for PS. Definitely a lot of compression and scooped mids. Now on 7th Son I definitely think he used a tiny bit of OD
@mxsterchief Steve=god
Actually this is not sloppy at all. In fact, it's tight as hell. The impression of sloppiness comes from the noise of the strings clanging against the frets - all due to Steve's playing technique and low action on the bass itself. And of course, the thick Rotosound flatwounds. If that ain't enough of an explanation then remember, that the bass lines tend to sound sloppy without the drum track supporting it.
you're delusional-this is sloppy
I switched to flats and instantly it felt so much easier on my right hand, with much less drag. Could play much much faster after the switch.
steve harris doesn't have a sig line of strings for shits and gigs though... those were the strings he put together a couple of decades ago
God that sounds amazing, hopefully I can play that well one day
I find it amusing how you all think that just because Steve is famous his playing is supposed to be absolutely flawless. Nobody is perfect, and this supposed "messiness" has contributed to Iron Maidens sound for the past 30+ years.
The tone sounds like Harris. I'm surprised at his right hand, sounds a tad heavier than most guys - or maybe he also plays light strings and/or has very low action on his basses. Other guys may have a more even/cleaner pizicatto technique, but then again, 'perfect' technique is not what music is all about.
Seymour Duncan SPB-4 Steve Harris Signature P-Bass Pickup
fuck yeah
It is not a competition, you can enjoy both of them, you are very confused....
why this video have 12 dislike????' bassman of Justin Bieber multiaccount?
The best for far, Steve. Like Lemmy
u guys know that Harris is the melodic master of maiden?
What kind of strings?
you can buy his signature strings
UP THE IRONS!!!!!!!!!
YOU lighten up bra. You were the one who took issue in the first place. Do you think I'm agitated or something? It's text dude.
He's on his own trip. Doesn't play to the drums like most players.
brightest flats ever
So just because you're picking with fingers, it's not called pick attack anymore? Of course it is.
Of course is harris... remember that is not the original sound because you cant crop it 100%
believe it or not... you are wrong, he is just THAT aggressive of a player
Sounds like hammers but as precise as the hands of a surgeon.
C'mon man, lighten up. If you can't recognize how any reader would think that you're mistakenly thinking he plays with a plectrum - 'everything is super sensitive to his finger attack' would have left no room for thought. My bad; switch to decaff or something...
He doesn't/never has used a pick.
His fingers are his picks.
ahuevooooo es que la chaviza solo oyee, mas no escucha
pero bien dicho men!
of course, he's playng.. i can see his hands lol
1:03
He's no John Paul Jones/Geezer Butler/John Entwistle/Geddy Lee/John Deacon/Les Claypool but he's right up there for sure. Definitely the creative mind behind the music for Maiden.
🥴