Dude, you’re the only other person that plays this song EXACTLY how Geezer Butler played it! (Especially early in his career) He nailed the tone! You nailed the notes. You nailed his technique perfectly; the way he used to pluck! His hand was extremely (actually over) close to the fretboard. You also have your bass at the right height put, more importantly, you are holding your bass on the perfect angle 📐 (the front-facing up) as Geezer did! I’m confused as to why you don’t have more views &👍’s up?!?!?! I play bass and this is BY FAR the BEST tone & you used Geezer’s technique perfectly! (He loved his pentatonic scale) You emulate & have that very unique Geezer tone better than me! Lol, let’s face it, Terrence Michael Joseph “Geezer” Butler is a unique player period! Lol, he plays pretty much the opposite of how I play lol and I love him for that! I carry my bass much, much higher. To give you a visual; I keep the centre of my bass over my Solar plexus. Honestly, it took me about a year to learn how to pluck like Geezer! The notes & all that stuff weren’t the problems, because I would play the entire song not for not and it didn’t sound like Geezer? It wasn’t until I watched a RUclips video of Black Sabbath playing Scandinavia? I’m not sure where it was? It was in Europe somewhere? Does Scandinavia just come to mind for some reason? It was not the UK or in the States, it’s definitely in Europe or Scandinavia? It’s in black & white. When I saw just how hard & deep Geezer was striking the bass strings! I got that awesome feeling you get when you’re a beginner and you start to learn how to play scales and then when you can play an entire song from start to finish (it doesn’t matter how simple it is) is an amazing feeling!
Thanks Ken! I was really happy with the tone I got here. I really feel that a big part of the Geezer sound is where you pluck the strings. In terms of 'hitting all the right notes' and 'playing it exactly how Geezer played it', I'm not so sure - I'm just freestyling in the solo sections in the middle and at the end. When I listen back to this now I feel like it's not my best - I feel like the timing could be better in places (I have a tendency to push forward on the beat a lot), and I feel like some of my improvisations under the outro melody riff could be better. But, I'm saying this after having had a lot of practice with the song as it's one that features in the set of my covers band on a regular basis now! It's my favourite song to play in our set :D
@@Longy_b NICE! Yeah I noticed that, but to be honest? I know you just needed to play it more. You had all they important parts worked out! Good luck :)
Awesome licks! I think what sets Sabbath apart from so many copy cats, is the mass amount of Funk, Butler put into the sound, and is a crucial element missing from a lot of Metal today.
haha. I know they're sennheiser, not sure on the model, I'll take your word for it on that! They're not bad though - quite good in terms of sound quality, but not the most comfortable. They sit more 'on' the ear, rather than 'around' the ears - which would probably make them more comfortable. I've had them for years though and they've done me well!
They’re a lot cheaper than Rickenbackers that’s for sure, 😅 Especially if you go for a Mexican made one like mine. I was never that fussed about p basses when I started playing bass but they’re probably the most recorded basses in history and you can use them for just about any genre! I’d deffs recommend every bassist owns a p bass of some kind You can probably get a similar tone to this on any bass with a neck pickup though to be honest, as long as you pluck near the neck
Have a look at one of my other comment replies to someone else who asked the same question- I post all the gear/plug-ins i used I think a big part of the Geezer tone is to 1) play a p bass and 2) pluck hard near the fret board
My signal chain for this one was: bass > tuner > BOSS line selector (channel A = unaffected), channel B has the Sansamp VT bass DI (can't remember the settings!) > then they both go out through the MXR bass compressor and into my interface. You can see a quick snapshot of my pedal board in my Audioslave Cochise cover before the last chorus. Then in Cubase I used the Line 6 PODfarm plugins and used the bass amp sim that's based on the Acoustic 360 head with a 1 x 18 cab (slight boost in the low/high mids). A small amount of tweaking with the EQ (low and high pass filters, slight boost at 155 Hz and 1.1K Hz) and that's it! I think a big part of the tone comes from hitting the strings fairly hard by the end of the fretboard. I was really happy with the tone on this one!
Jack Thomson I think Geezer would have likely used flat wounds on his p bass back in the day. So an old set of round wounds, plucked hard close to the fretboard on a P Bass will certainly get you close! I really feel like it’s the aggressive plucking by the fretboard that gets you the geezer butler sound
@@Longy_b yeah definitely. He's my personal favourite!! I'm Learning the bass now and lone him! Any tips on what sort of stuff to start on when learning? Cheers!!
Jack Thomson I’d say just try and learn whatever songs you like listening to! The bigger the mix of genres the better. You’re more likely to practice if you enjoy what you’re learning. I am self taught and basically taught myself by looking up tabs of the songs I was into at the time, which for me was things like Nirvana, QOTSA, a lot of RHCP, Muse, RATM... and then the list just grows as your tastes adapt - and then so does your technique and ability on the bass 😄. If you’re into Black Sabbath, I’d say have a go at some of the songs on Paranoid or Master Of Reality; quite a few of these are fairly easy to get down 🤘.
As a lot of people seem to ask this question, I have now copied and pasted my original response to this question that is buried in the comments below and put it in the video description. I hope that helps 🤘😁🤘
Is that a Mexican or US p bass? edit: I saw someone ask the exact same question on your most recent vid, sorry 😅. I figured it may have been a Mexican made one. How good would you say they are new out of the box? At that price point, I’ve bought basses by reputable brands and they can come with poor quality control issues but I’m curious about Fender’s Mexican basses. Really the only problem I ever have with non US basses are sort of lazily done fretwork.
I got this p bass in 2017 from Wunjo basses in London and had no issues with it. It was setup better than my sterling stingray which was about 50% more expensive than this fender 😅. I’m not sure how much the shop had a part to play in that. They did instal a black pick guard and black knobs for me for no additional charge, but I don’t know if they did any more setting up beyond that (the bass came with a white pick guard and silver knobs).
@@Longy_b ah ok. Yea I have a USA stingray, wasn’t cheap but it’s very high quality. I have an Ibanez and a Spector player, both Indonesia made, good basses but the US one is just superior in every way. But now I kinda also want a Mexican p bass if they’re really that nice
@@trigger796 I tried a USA p bass and a MIM p bass when I bought this one, I honestly preferred the MIM one, it’s hard to put my finger on exactly why. There certainly isn’t enough of a difference to justify the price difference. I think it’s ~£1000 extra for a USA one! You could get two decent basses for the price of one USA model 😅 I also feel that a p bass is such a simple bass to pay almost £2K for! It’s one pickup, passive, and has two controls! I’d say that if anyone is that worried about the ‘quality’ of the bridge, pickups and tuners… you’d probably still save money by going MIM and buying upgrades for whatever parts you like
For me: it wasn't Jaco Pastorius, not James Jamerson or Geddy Lee (I still don’t particularly like Geddy’s tone, to be 100% honest with you). Don’t get me wrong, I TOTALLY admire his playing skills! I do think he’s one of the better Rock singers! No, it wasn’t any of the Jazz, Blues and or Motown GREATS. But now that I'm all grown up & a Weekend Warrior. I TRULY enjoy listening to Jazz Lol, Jaco lol that guy had more God-given talent in his pinky than I have in my entire body & after playing on and off again for 32 years lol What made me pick the bass, while everyone else in the 80s wanted to be Eddie Van Halen? I wanted to be Geezer Butler or Sir John Paul Jones. They were my heroes and the guys I wanted to be! Their still my favourite two players EVER and always be regardless of genre and or level of difficulty? I “like” playing complicated stuff, but I LOVE moderate stuff! Now, I can play both, but there’s nothing I love more than JUST jamming and improvising without having to think about it & it’s all feelings & emotions! We’re playing very complicated stuff? I have to read the charts and work out and practice my part. & That would be fine if being a session musician was the way I paid my bills, it’s not, I’m a Historian. I have ZERO complaints! Music is my first love and history is my second love. So it all worked out :) Hey, best of luck to you, and your band and wish you nothing but happiness and success! Peace! Keep on Rockin’ 🤘🏻When in doubt? Always remember “Playing bass is like playing the guitar but much cooler!”
For this one I think I had a really old set of DR low riders on the bass. For ages now I have used elixir 45-105, nickel or stainless steel; they just last forever and have a great feel and tone.
I almost always use some level of distortion. Not a lot on this one - just a small amount from the sansamp VT bass di on this cover if I remember correctly!
![Primus - American Life [Bass Cover]](/img/1.gif)
Wanna hear more Black Sabbath covers? Drop a suggestion below! :D
Fairies Wear Boots!
After Forever
The Writ... Man👌🏻😉
Lord Of This World!
Make black Sabbath cover on heaven and hell/mob rules album..i like geezer bass on that
Geezer's technique is like some sort of blend between slapping and tapping
Killer. 48 years of listening to sabbath and the paranoid album. You got it nailed.
for one , you know where geezer plays to get that amazing geezer tone, love brother keep jamin
Geezer. My favorite bassist. You did him well.
Geezer is awesome no matter the tempo of the song he was just plucking away like a boss.
Dude, you’re the only other person that plays this song EXACTLY how Geezer Butler played it! (Especially early in his career) He nailed the tone! You nailed the notes. You nailed his technique perfectly; the way he used to pluck! His hand was extremely (actually over) close to the fretboard. You also have your bass at the right height put, more importantly, you are holding your bass on the
perfect angle 📐 (the front-facing up) as Geezer did! I’m confused as to why you don’t have more views &👍’s up?!?!?! I play bass and this is BY FAR the BEST tone & you used Geezer’s technique perfectly! (He loved his pentatonic scale) You emulate & have that very unique Geezer tone better than me! Lol, let’s face it, Terrence Michael Joseph “Geezer” Butler is a unique player period! Lol, he plays pretty much the opposite of how I play lol and I love him for that! I carry my bass much, much higher. To give you a visual; I keep the centre of my bass over my Solar plexus. Honestly, it took me about a year to learn how to pluck like Geezer! The notes & all that stuff weren’t the problems, because I would play the entire song not for not and it didn’t sound like Geezer? It wasn’t until I watched a RUclips video of Black Sabbath playing Scandinavia? I’m not sure where it was? It was in Europe somewhere? Does Scandinavia just come to mind for some reason? It was not the UK or in the States, it’s definitely in Europe or Scandinavia? It’s in black & white. When I saw just how hard & deep Geezer was striking the bass strings! I got that awesome feeling you get when you’re a beginner and you start to learn how to play scales and then when you can play an entire song from start to finish (it doesn’t matter how simple it is) is an amazing feeling!
Thanks Ken! I was really happy with the tone I got here. I really feel that a big part of the Geezer sound is where you pluck the strings. In terms of 'hitting all the right notes' and 'playing it exactly how Geezer played it', I'm not so sure - I'm just freestyling in the solo sections in the middle and at the end. When I listen back to this now I feel like it's not my best - I feel like the timing could be better in places (I have a tendency to push forward on the beat a lot), and I feel like some of my improvisations under the outro melody riff could be better. But, I'm saying this after having had a lot of practice with the song as it's one that features in the set of my covers band on a regular basis now! It's my favourite song to play in our set :D
@@Longy_b NICE! Yeah I noticed that, but to be honest? I know you just needed to play it more. You had all they important parts worked out! Good luck :)
Bro, that was a very smooth cover! I think, if geezer sees it too, u'll recieve gr8 appreciation from the man himself. Hats off. Cheers man 👍
I knew the way geezer played in this song was special but damn, you littorly nailed it!
Good job.
Very nice sound.
Awesome licks!
I think what sets Sabbath apart from so many copy cats, is the mass amount of Funk, Butler put into the sound, and is a crucial element missing from a lot of Metal today.
what sets sabbath apart from "copycats" is that they set the standard to begin with
I’d love modern metal with more funk in the basslines, i find the super technical stuff to sound a little soulless unless the band is exceptional
@@TSE_WOODYthere's always stoner doom for that ;)
Best tone recreation on RUclips
That sound is amazing!!
the bass in this song is realy good and tou can actualy hear it. it pulls the song together good job man nailed it
this cover has the slightly sharp tuning that the original song had too and its spot on
Geezer Butler genius !!!! Great job, dude !!
the tone is killer! great work
Superb! Long Long time Sabbath fan. Good work young man!!
Absolutely brilliant! Can you do 'Faeries wear boots'?
My favourite rock song
Amazing job🙂
So nice! Great tone and feel for one of the greatest of hard rock bassist! Keep up the good work!
You made the bass world proud 👏
Wow good job, I had my doubts at first haha.
absolutely killer man!!
Damn good tone sir! Awesome cover.
Not relevant but I see you're rocking the senn momentums! Classic pair of cans.
haha. I know they're sennheiser, not sure on the model, I'll take your word for it on that! They're not bad though - quite good in terms of sound quality, but not the most comfortable. They sit more 'on' the ear, rather than 'around' the ears - which would probably make them more comfortable. I've had them for years though and they've done me well!
Have considered getting a P bass for a while. You made the decision for me. Fantastic playing and the tone - nailed it
Koodles. Great Job
never noticed that the bass was so interesting on this track!
Nailed
Quite similar tone man, congrats.
Cheers!!! Killer chops!!! Great cover!
That was killer..
That was awesome mate... I've just started to try and learn to play it myself...Ooof it's a tough one 👍
that tone!!!
Nice 👍
Very great, good sound!!!!!
Lindooooo AAAAAA
That's wicked! Love it
This makes me want to buy a p bass so bad even though I’m prioritizing a rickenbacker at the present time
Good shit man!
They’re a lot cheaper than Rickenbackers that’s for sure, 😅 Especially if you go for a Mexican made one like mine.
I was never that fussed about p basses when I started playing bass but they’re probably the most recorded basses in history and you can use them for just about any genre! I’d deffs recommend every bassist owns a p bass of some kind
You can probably get a similar tone to this on any bass with a neck pickup though to be honest, as long as you pluck near the neck
Nice tone
Oh Man, Great job👏🏻👍🏻🤘🏻😁🎸
Good cover!
Nice
Awesome!
This rules man!!!
Nailed it. Well done (y)
That was solid, good job. And I'm a drummer 😬
Covers?
How about Tomorrow's Dreams or Snowblind?
OR, anything from Technical Ecstasy would sound just fine for me.
I play right on the fretboard.
Nice!
3:40
Perfect😃👍🏻
How do you get this sound? So good
Have a look at one of my other comment replies to someone else who asked the same question- I post all the gear/plug-ins i used
I think a big part of the Geezer tone is to 1) play a p bass and 2) pluck hard near the fret board
What an amazing tone!!!! 😳 What is your rig?
My signal chain for this one was:
bass > tuner > BOSS line selector (channel A = unaffected), channel B has the Sansamp VT bass DI (can't remember the settings!) > then they both go out through the MXR bass compressor and into my interface. You can see a quick snapshot of my pedal board in my Audioslave Cochise cover before the last chorus.
Then in Cubase I used the Line 6 PODfarm plugins and used the bass amp sim that's based on the Acoustic 360 head with a 1 x 18 cab (slight boost in the low/high mids). A small amount of tweaking with the EQ (low and high pass filters, slight boost at 155 Hz and 1.1K Hz) and that's it! I think a big part of the tone comes from hitting the strings fairly hard by the end of the fretboard.
I was really happy with the tone on this one!
What strings are you using mate? Sounds great!
Jack Thomson A really old set of DR low riders that I should have changed ages ago 😂
@@Longy_b provides the perfect sound for geezer though! Nice one
Jack Thomson I think Geezer would have likely used flat wounds on his p bass back in the day. So an old set of round wounds, plucked hard close to the fretboard on a P Bass will certainly get you close! I really feel like it’s the aggressive plucking by the fretboard that gets you the geezer butler sound
@@Longy_b yeah definitely. He's my personal favourite!! I'm Learning the bass now and lone him! Any tips on what sort of stuff to start on when learning? Cheers!!
Jack Thomson I’d say just try and learn whatever songs you like listening to! The bigger the mix of genres the better. You’re more likely to practice if you enjoy what you’re learning. I am self taught and basically taught myself by looking up tabs of the songs I was into at the time, which for me was things like Nirvana, QOTSA, a lot of RHCP, Muse, RATM... and then the list just grows as your tastes adapt - and then so does your technique and ability on the bass 😄. If you’re into Black Sabbath, I’d say have a go at some of the songs on Paranoid or Master Of Reality; quite a few of these are fairly easy to get down 🤘.
What amp/pedal/speaker/settings ECT did you use. I love the cover btw
As a lot of people seem to ask this question, I have now copied and pasted my original response to this question that is buried in the comments below and put it in the video description. I hope that helps 🤘😁🤘
If you don’t mind me asking? Who, what and when did you decide to make the bass guitar your instrument🎻of choice?
Non sapevo che Rabiot suonasse il basso..
Hi. What pedals and strings are you using? Thanks
Hi Nuno, I have answered these questions a little further down in the comments. Let me know if you can’t find my responses
Is that a Mexican or US p bass?
edit: I saw someone ask the exact same question on your most recent vid, sorry 😅. I figured it may have been a Mexican made one. How good would you say they are new out of the box? At that price point, I’ve bought basses by reputable brands and they can come with poor quality control issues but I’m curious about Fender’s Mexican basses. Really the only problem I ever have with non US basses are sort of lazily done fretwork.
I got this p bass in 2017 from Wunjo basses in London and had no issues with it. It was setup better than my sterling stingray which was about 50% more expensive than this fender 😅. I’m not sure how much the shop had a part to play in that. They did instal a black pick guard and black knobs for me for no additional charge, but I don’t know if they did any more setting up beyond that (the bass came with a white pick guard and silver knobs).
@@Longy_b ah ok. Yea I have a USA stingray, wasn’t cheap but it’s very high quality. I have an Ibanez and a Spector player, both Indonesia made, good basses but the US one is just superior in every way. But now I kinda also want a Mexican p bass if they’re really that nice
@@trigger796 I tried a USA p bass and a MIM p bass when I bought this one, I honestly preferred the MIM one, it’s hard to put my finger on exactly why. There certainly isn’t enough of a difference to justify the price difference. I think it’s ~£1000 extra for a USA one! You could get two decent basses for the price of one USA model 😅
I also feel that a p bass is such a simple bass to pay almost £2K for! It’s one pickup, passive, and has two controls!
I’d say that if anyone is that worried about the ‘quality’ of the bridge, pickups and tuners… you’d probably still save money by going MIM and buying upgrades for whatever parts you like
For me: it wasn't Jaco Pastorius, not James Jamerson or Geddy Lee (I still don’t particularly like Geddy’s tone, to be 100% honest with you). Don’t get me wrong, I TOTALLY admire his playing skills! I do think he’s one of the better Rock singers! No, it wasn’t any of the Jazz, Blues and or Motown GREATS. But now that I'm all grown up & a Weekend Warrior. I TRULY enjoy listening to Jazz Lol, Jaco lol that guy had more God-given talent in his pinky than I have in my entire body & after playing on and off again for 32 years lol What made me pick the bass, while everyone else in the 80s wanted to be Eddie Van Halen? I wanted to be Geezer Butler or Sir John Paul Jones. They were my heroes and the guys I wanted to be! Their still my favourite two players EVER and always be regardless of genre and or level of difficulty? I “like” playing complicated stuff, but I LOVE moderate stuff! Now, I can play both, but there’s nothing I love more than JUST jamming and improvising without having to think about it & it’s all feelings & emotions! We’re playing very complicated stuff? I have to read the charts and work out and practice my part. & That would be fine if being a session musician was the way I paid my bills, it’s not, I’m a Historian. I have ZERO complaints! Music is my first love and history is my second love. So it all worked out :) Hey, best of luck to you, and your band and wish you nothing but happiness and success! Peace! Keep on Rockin’ 🤘🏻When in doubt? Always remember “Playing bass is like playing the guitar but much cooler!”
What kind of strings are you using?
For this one I think I had a really old set of DR low riders on the bass. For ages now I have used elixir 45-105, nickel or stainless steel; they just last forever and have a great feel and tone.
Great cover do you use any distortion ??
I almost always use some level of distortion. Not a lot on this one - just a small amount from the sansamp VT bass di on this cover if I remember correctly!
Did you use an Ampeg amp?....Orange amp?
Hi Thomas, check the comments below - someone else asked me what my rig was for this tone and I detailed it all out in a reply to their comment 😁
Tony Iommi is a fantastic guitarist, but Geezer with a bass outplayed him on majority of the Sabbath songs imo
Geezer? Who's that
The bassist of black sabbath. Michael Joseph ‘Geezer’ Butler.
3:35
6:28