Alex Lifeson gear on Counterparts

[rabies]

what the hell did he use? those solos kickass! sounds like EL34-driven for most of it though...

 

[Neptical]

what the hell did he use? those solos kickass! sounds like EL34-driven for most of it though...

One of my favorite bands..and guitar players of all time. 'Counterparts' is an amazing album.

Alex used a Peavey 5150 and Marshall 100 watters w/ Marshall 4x12 cabs.
http://www.cavemanproductions.com/REVS/lerxst.html

Good to see another Rush fan around here! 8)

~Nep~

 

[Neptical]

The Alex Lifeson bump...only because he deserves much more recognition then many other 'guitar players'.

One of the greastest..and many kids gotta realize where alot of this **** today ever came from to begin with.

~Nep~

 

[rabies]

so according to that article no effects? just straight into the peavey and/or marshall. I wonder if he ran them in daisy chain simultaneously? He talks about the amp "vibrating the wood" of the guitar. I know that feeling. 8)

very under-rated and not talked about guitarist. fantastic.

is the peavey 5150 only running 6L6? never tried one of those or 6505 but they seem to be talked about for metal only.

 

[Heritage Softail]

True. Greatness should not be meaured on how many BPM your latest Vai wannabe solo has. The thing about Rush was that the music inspired me to play. As crazy as it seems, the guitarist IMO has to serve the song, not a song be there to showcase a guitar technique. Rush understood that, as insanely great as Neal Peart is, he is always serving the song. Geddy play 'lead bass' and does more of the carrying the mail in the songs that Lifeson. He seems to add the highlights to the painting.

On the of coolest things about Lifeson is his ability to play so very little and use that to paint the scenery for the song. Permanent Waves - Entre Nous, Different Strings, Natural Science, these blew me away when I first heard them, true sounscape type playing. Of course Hemispheres, 2112, those had all the classic Rush moves. I thought his lead playing style was very strange, out of the box. I can pull out any older Rush disc, toss it in my boom box and enjoy an inspiring bit of jamming. For leads, Lifeson is outside of what comes naturally to me with some of this stuff. I try to hit the critical focal notes and roll close to the vibe.

For gear, I think Lifeson has been a good gear *****, played all kinds of tube and solid state, done the highly processed digital as well as nylon string acoustic. I don't get the feeling he is anal about tone that much. Just what fits the song. Whatever gear gets to the sound that fits the mood of the song. There were some of his tones and songs I loved, and others I just didn't like.

 

[Neptical]

Rab- Yeah, alot of Counterparts is pretty dry except when he cleans the guitar up and uses the normal chorus and delay combo. I like that raw dry riff at the beginning of 'Stick it Out'...so killer.

Heritage- I whole heartedly agree on what you were saying about Alex ( and as a matter of fact was talking about this same thing last night to my other Rush buddy over some beers). Alex is there painting and adding textures to the canvas. He knows exactly how to hold back and just be a guitar player. Same goes for Geddy and Neil. They all know very well how to play 'in the pocket', which creates alot of space in the music that gives them that really great groove. At the same time, they can also show skills while never overdoing it.

While I love the old classic Rush albums ( 2112,Fairwell to Kings,Hemispheres,Permanent Waves,Moving Pictures,etc), I truly love the sound they created in the 80s from 'Signals' to 'Hold Your Fire' with 'Grace Under Pressure' being one of my all time favorites along side the later release of 'Roll the Bones'. There something that pulls me in emotionally with these albums that no other band can do to me.

I just saw 'Behind the Lighted Stage' in the theaters 2 nights ago! It was amazing. Did anyone else here get a chance to see it??

I also got my tickets to see them this summer. Playing 'Moving Pictures' in its entirety is going to have the crowd out of control.

~Nep~

 

[Heritage Softail]

We used to practice to play the entire side of 2112, from the space echo pong echo to ...... we have assumed control..... we have assumed control. Killed the drummer. And of course the singer had a time with the screech owl vocals. And I was sharing guitar duties and we could not remember the whole thing from bow to stern. It was mainly just for us to have fun. Never played it live.

Every once in a while when I stop in a Guitar Center at whatever city I am in, I pick up a LP or 335 and play a bit of that. There are lots of Rush fans, even the people working in the store.

I can't imagine how much weed has been sifted across the old 2112 album cover.... Anybody else do that? Still do that!! 8)

 

[JOEY B.]

I can't imagine how much weed has been sifted across the old 2112 album cover....

Almost as much as was sifted across Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and not nearly as much as Steve Miller's Greatest Hits. Stems and seeds, man. :lol: :lol: :lol: I was never a big "smoker" but I used to hang with a bunch of "heads" back in the day.

 

[Laskyman]

Lifeson is my all-time favorite player, and has been for 25 years or so- and Rush has been the soundtrack of my life. What makes him great, is that regardless of his rig- he always sound like lifeson- which absolutely proves that tone is in your hands.....

 

[lyman]

Counterparts really shows Lifeson's range as a guitarist, probably more than any other Rush album. He covers so many bases, especially in the solos. You get some liquid Hendrix-esque playing on Animate, shredding on Cut to the Chase, Stonesy double-stops on Sun & Moon, atmospheric textures on Speed of Love, and country-ish tele licks on Cold Fire. There are other Rush albums I prefer, but I definitely appreciate that aspect of Counterparts.

As I recall from some interview with Alex, the solo on Cut to the Chase was the solo from the demo and they liked it so much it survived to the final studio version. He recorded that lead on an ADAT in his home studio.

 

[rocksalt7]

Yes .... Mr Lifeson is quite an amazing musician!!! He's the primary reason I play an ES-355 8)!!

My old bandmate and I used to play 2112 very often together. It was **** complicated though...but between the 2 of us we worked it pretty well!! I for sure have forgotten a lot of it now....the stems and seeds thang!! :shock:

All 3 of those guys deserve every award they receive for all they've created and for all they've been through. :mrgreen: