Is there truth in the title of Geddy Lee’s Big, Beautiful Book of Bass? Is it big? At 400 pages
and weighing ten pounds, I’d say, yes, yes it is big. Is it beautiful? With its
gorgeous color photos of foam-green Fender Precisions, a psychedelic Telecaster
bass covered in pink Paisley wallpaper, an elegant Gibson EB violin bass, an
awe-inspiring double neck Rickenbacker fireglo doubleneck, and too many others,
yes, Geddy’s book is beautiful too.
What the title does not reveal is that the Rush bassist’s
book is also a gas to read. People worship the guy like he’s a god, but he’s as
down to earth as a mud puddle, as nerdy as an astrophysicist, and as
good-naturedly self-effacing as a nerdy, down-to-earth guy. All this makes
Geddy a delightful tour guide through his collection. He’s no snob either, as
the pristine items in his massive bass collection are displayed alongside ones
that are totally beat to shit. It’s called “character,” darling.
The author annotates Richard Sibbald’s pretty pictures with
text explaining strange little details about bass history or the technical
aspects of bass construction, or a little of both (we learn what Fender used to
make the little fret dots on their early basses! We learn that Leo Fender just
strung his first basses with piano strings!). He also explains which basses he
used to play particular songs during Rush’s final tour. But you don’t need to
be a fan of songs about tide pools and sci-fi Don Quixotes to dig this book,
since Geddy also interviews a throng of influential fellow four-stringers such
as John Paul Jones, Jeff Tweedy, Adam Clayton, Bill Wyman, and the hilarious
Les Claypool with his usual disarming charm.
