Earliest MusicMan Influence

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I was just thinking about my earliest MusicMan influence - which would have probably been when I was about 16 or 17 years old, seeing great Canadian ska band King Apparatus' bass player Mitch Girio playing an all black unlined fretless Stingray 5. I saw them live several times and they always put on a great show, even if the venue was empty.

I always thought they sounded great and I have great memories of this band. I still listen to their stuff.

 

[madbassplaya]

The first time I really remember noticing a EBMM bass was Phoenix from Linkin Park:

Hybrid Theory came out right in the middle of my teenage angst and I loved every minute of it.

Linkin Park - Live In Texas - One Step Closer [HQ] - YouTube

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

To this day, I still love the look of the Stingray 5. Some people complain about the large pickguard, but I love it all!

 

[madbassplaya]

To this day, I still love the look of the Stingray 5. Some people complain about the large pickguard, but I love it all!

I could not agree with you more!

I bought a EBMM S.U.B. 5 to back up my SR5 HH and I just couldn't dig the 4 string body shape with a 5 string neck.

 

[njhammer]

I swear I recall seeing Mars Cowling of The Pat Travers Band playing a Stingray at Reading Rock Festival in 1980. I guess I could be mistaken (beer) because I can't find a pic of that anywhere (could it have been someone in one of the other bands that year?), but I was/am a big fan of PTB and that stuck with me!

 

[Movielife]

A hardcore band playing a Stingray 4/Natural. They were called Good Riddance. Another player was obviously Flea...always sounded his best with a Ray.

 

[drTStingray]

I'm ancient - the first one I saw was wielded by Carl Radle in Clapton's band in around 76/77 - and IIRC all of the guitar amps were Musicman and I think the rythmn guitarist had a Stingray guitar.

Probably after that Bernard Edwards (after Everybody Dance) and Louis Johnson (look at the picture on the album Blam by the Brothers Johnson - looks like the Musicman logo to me!!)

 

[jallenbass]

Charles "Meek Man" Meeks with Chuck Mangione around 1979.

 

[JayDawg]

I didn't really start getting into music until the late 80's or early 90's. The first bass player I can remember seeing play a Music Man is Michael Anthony of Van Halen and Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I know there are other bassists too that I remember seeing them play them but I am blanking on other specific ones from when I first started listening to music to where I was actually paying attention to the different players in the band.

 

[Holdsg]

Charles "Meek Man" Meeks with Chuck Mangione around 1979.

That's the one for me too. Charles played some lines that stand the test of time...."Give it All you Got", "Land of Make Believe", "Fun and Games", and of course, "Feels So Good".

 

[Lynottfan]

My earliest MM influence was Tim Commerford, that first RATM was a breath of fresh air at the time, and whilst I didn't agree with all their politics, I respected their opinions, but Tim's sound and playing made me look at my own stuff at the time, and the grunt was not there in my Fender Precision Lyte bass, so I went searching and investigating, and A Stingray it was, its funny that after doing my homework on what bass Tim was using that I found Bernard Edwards, and Louis Johnson and a lot of other guys and found that the MM was in use here to. Once I got my own I have never looked back or been more happy, so cheers Mr Commerford.

 

[epitaph04]

All I remember is seeing John Myungs beautiful silver Bongo when I got Systematic Chaos a couple of weeks after it came out, and subsequently seeing on tour vids and whatnot...what a beautiful instrument.

 

[gafman]

This is the first time I recall seeing a Stingray and had no clue what he was doing to that bass.

 

[Bobbo 77]

Here's mine...

 

[blauer]

+1 for flea. his bass wailings (and the band in general) shook me out of the dominant pop mindset at the time- sheesh, I think it was middle school...

 

[Chuck B]

The first MusicMan Basses I've seen on TV - Uwe Lost from Truck Stop and the bass player of the James Last Band, all back in late 70ies...

 

[Golem]

`

Being clueless about "name brand" music and players,
There's no player who was my initial nudge toward MM.

StingRays "always existed" farz I knew, and you were
more-or-less spozed want one. So I kept checking out
the used/affordable Rays that turned up locally ... but
being genetically unsuited to round wounds and frets,
every Ray I touched seemed to exagerate that which
was toxic to me. But, I was SPOZED to want one, so I
never quit noodling on them in shops.

Then one fine day I noodled upon the first FL Ray I'd
ever met, and it followed me home. I still have it and
it still has the same strings I put on it 10 yrs ago cuz
they just keep on keeping on.

I had no idea back then that EBMM makes all it's own
PU's and circuits. Many respected brands use 3rd party
stuff [EMG Bart etc etc] so farz I knew, MM's, or some
of them anywaze, came with a BassLines PU like mine
did. Over time, I wondered why the knobs on my MM
were black and ALL other MM's had chrome. Live and
learn ... my 1st EBMM was *GASP!* not toadally EB !
But ... it was the very 1st Ray that didn't cause me to
wonder "where's the beef?".

Acoarst, it turns out after much further discovery that
this wasn't a preference for BassLines electronics over
EBMM stuff. It was all about flat wounds, and absence
of frets. The rest, as they say, is history [see my sig].


`

 

[bignasty]

A hardcore band playing a Stingray 4/Natural. They were called Good Riddance. Another player was obviously Flea...always sounded his best with a Ray.

Yeah, I like Chuck's bass as well

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