GEDDY LEE’S BIRTHDAY BASS BANGERS

Hold on to your fretboards, it’s Geddy Lee’s birthday week and what better way to celebrate the prog-rock powerhouse than spotlighting his top 3 bass riffs that made jaws drop and amps quake?

1. “YYZ” (1981)
Is it even legal to talk Geddy without bowing to YYZ? That airport code intro?  It’s Morse Code and a bassline.  Lee’s finger-tapping wizardry here sounds like an alien transmitting funk from a mothership. Bass nerds, this is your holy grail.

2. “Freewill” (1980)
This riff doesn’t walk it runs, jumps and backflips.  Lee’s lines are lightning-fast, but clean, weaving melodic genius through time signature changes like it’s a Sunday stroll.  No pick.  All power.  Your bassist boyfriend cried the first time he tried it.

3. “La Villa Strangiato” (1978)
Nine minutes.  One monster of a track.  Lee’s bass is equal parts gymnastics and poetry. Shifting moods with every note.  It’s prog.  It’s jazz.  It’s got the soul of a dragon and the precision of a Swiss watch.

So, crank up the Rickenbacker, salute the master and celebrate the birthday of the man whose fingers made thunder sing.