Larry is especially revered by funk bass players, as he is credited for developing the wildly popular “slap bass” technique. Sometimes Greg Errico would sit in with us too, so we had as many as five of us on the stage together. I’m always being creative, but of all the things that I wrote and really liked, the things that worked together and fit together to make the complete story, that’s what this collection of songs is. Save gear to your wishlist and see the best price. Then my mother decided that she wanted to be just a duo, to have me on bass with no drums. We Supply. Plus, we played at night, so you really couldn’t see all the people. Larry Graham's gear and equipment including the Moon JJ-4 300B, Dunlop Cry Baby 105Q Bass Wah Pedal, and Acoustic 360 Bass Amp. more, This site states that Graham uses a Mu-Tron Octave Divider. He wasn’t doing comedy or anything. So she found out that he was going to be starting a band and she took it upon herself to start calling him down to the station and telling him that there was this bass player down there and he had to hear this bass player. Outside of music, I guess I would just be doing that. We did the Montreux Jazz Festival… That’s basically what that was. Basses ’88 Spector NS-5, ’97 Spector NS-5, ’66 Fender Jazz Bass, ’74 Fender Mustang Bass, Mark Hatcher acoustic bass guitar Strings Dean Markley 2639 Super Rounds (.045, .065, .080, .105, .128); Rotosound RS88LD Tru Bass Black Nylon (.065, .075, .100, .115) Probably most bands that were there had never experienced anything like that either. What were you trying to say? I kind of liken it to the first time Michael Jordan took off from the free-throw line. We’ve kept in touch over the years. I was playing guitar and she was on piano and we had a drummer. I just played it the way it was necessary for me to do. What kind of Effects Pedals does Larry Graham use? That makes it fun to tour when it’s like that. What kind of Bass Guitars does Larry Graham use? FBPO: It’s a great band, too! Sometimes the audience wouldn’t get a chance to react until we would finally stop after several songs in a row. About. She finally got him to come down there and when he heard me doing my style of playing, he asked me about joining his band. Home; Books & Courses. In this bass lesson I will show you how to play "Hair" by Larry Graham. Overview. Arts & Humanities Website. Takumi (Prince's former bass/guitar tech 1997–2006) "The biggest bass influence on Prince was Sonny T.; he would say that over and over. What else would you like to do that you haven’t already accomplished? 80-20 Bass – What Is 80-20 Bass? Graham has said that he was simply trying to create a drum-like sound to flesh out the rhythm in … LG: I’m really into the Scriptures. We started rehearsing and then doing gigs around the Bay and then we put out our first record. When we got up there and jammed together, it was like we had been playing together forever! LG: In the beginning, it was really built around the girl vocalist, Patrice Banks. I read and study the Bible on a regular basis and I try to let it influence my life as much as possible and influence everything that I do. I rented it because I figured that as soon as the organ was repaired, I would go back to my guitar because that was my first love. I started taking piano lessons at a very young age and I did that for years. FBPO: You’ve got to have at least one really good Sly Stone story you can share with us. How did you go about putting that band together? His use of […] When I was living there, Eddie would come over from time to time with the family. Exclusive conversation with the funk pioneer himself, from Sly & the Family Stone to Graham Central Station and beyond! Up to that point, we had never heard the roar of half a million people shouting their approval of what they’d just heard. He was the big guy for slapping and popping. You’ve got your funky bass playing, your sexy crooning, your great horn parts and all that stuff! I think when you’re happy like that, it just comes out in the music. more, In this photo, Graham can be seen playing a Vox Sidewinder Bass. more. That was a real turning point for me. But you know, I recently saw something on PBS with Cab Calloway, and his bass player was slapping and popping an upright bass - and this was in the '40s! LG: I haven’t been able to keep up with him but I’ve been able to keep up with most of the band members. Required fields are marked *, Copyright document.write(new Date().getFullYear()); , Notehead MediaGroup, LLC. He did an album with Michael Jackson and we did the video for that in Jamaica. FBPO: I understand you also teamed up with Eddie Murphy for a while. … Larry Graham is one of the most influential bass players in the world. Larry Graham is a famous American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer, who was born on August 14, 1946.As a person born on this date, Larry Graham is listed in our database as the 73rd most popular celebrity for the day (August 14) and the 157th most popular for the year (1946). Larry Graham, Jr. (Beaumont, Texas, 14 augustus 1946) is een Amerikaans basgitarist, baritonzanger, componist en platenproducer.Hij is het best bekend als de bassist van Sly & the Family Stone en als de oprichter en voorman van Graham Central Station.Graham wordt gezien als de uitvinder van de slapping-techniek, wat ervoor zorgde dat het toonbereik van de basgitaar radicaal werd uitgebreid. I read that before you ever picked up a bass, you were into tap dancing, you played the drums and all kinds of other interesting stuff. BrownMark: "Prince would come see me play around town. When I was 11, my father, who was a guitarist, gave me his guitar. Some people will grab a good album or something that they really like to lift their spirits up. So that’s how that relationship started. Larry Graham is one of the most influential bass players in the world. I play this a little differently to some of the tabs you’ve seen. I wasn’t trying to invent something new. LG: I’d like to keep making music, for sure. FBPO: And you were with that band for how long? You might not see everything they paint, but they never stop painting. In fact, for the show we did in Aruba, the Sinbad HBO special, Jerry and Cynthia and Rose were on that show with me. This one club that we worked at had an organ that had the bass pedals that go halfway across the bottom, so I learned how to play the bass at the same time I was playing the guitar. Everybody has to deal with so much all of the time anyways and some of it will get you down. You’ve already contributed so much to the music world and to our culture, not the least of which was for bass players! We were called the Dell Graham Trio and we did a lot of nightclubs and lounges, mostly in the Bay Area. Graham Central Station was a showcase for the revolutionary pop-and-slap bass guitar of Larry Graham, an alumnus of Sly & the Family Stone largely responsible for originating the percussive groove which typified the progressive funk sound of the '70s. Or perhaps a jazz player favoring a warmer and smoother sound. FBPO: I like it, too. Larry Graham Jr. is an American bass guitar player both with the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station. last year. FBPO: How about if we start from the beginning? On this show. Larry Graham, he came up in the late '60s doing that. The band didn’t have a name at the time, but he asked me if I’d join the band and that’s how that started. ... Larry Graham, with Euge Groove. And Rose (Stone), too. The place was called Relax with Yvonne on that very famous street corner. Tell me about that. Louis Johnson (bassist) - Wikipedia He spent each day practising his bass playing which resulted in his distinct style, citing bassists John Entwistle, Jack Bruce, Larry Graham, and Bill Wyman as early influences. I played clarinet and saxophone in school and I played drums in the school orchestra, as well as the marching band. I wasn’t in a rush and put together this collection of songs over the years. Larry Graham, Jr. was born on 14 August 1946, in Beaumont, Texas USA, and is a bass guitar player, best known for being part of the psychedelic soul band Sly and the Family Stone. He said he wasn’t going to play any more, so he gave it to me and I taught myself how to play. LG: Well, Eddie put together a group called Psychedelic Psoul and did a tour and did some gigs in the United States. Larry’s newest CD, Raise Up, may be purchased here: Groove monster talks about growing up in the hotbed of Ohio-bred funk, plus his 18…, Distinguished jazz bassist talks about starting out on trumpet, how Jaco and James Jamerson influenced…, Bass legend tells all about his Rhythm Intensive project, Xotic basses and working with Larry…, Funky groover describes his longstanding gig with Scott Henderson, Xotic basses and growing up as…, Co-founder of mega-popular bass amp and speaker cabinet company tells FBPO the whole story behind…, The Family Stone bassist helps keep the legend of Sly alive (with some surprising words…, Your email address will not be published. In a few short years, Larry found himself as the bassist in one of the sixties’ most innovative bands, Sly & The Family Stone. Larry Graham is an American musician.He was born on August 14, 1946 (74 years old) . LG: Well, Sinbad took several people from the festival and made a tour out of it, mainly Graham Central Station, Earth, Wind & Fire, Tia Marie, himself and one other comedian. FBPO: You did quite a bit of work with Prince too. It was a musical group. That’s when I started to pluck the strings to make up for not having that bass drum and that back beat. It doesn’t get any better than that! We were playing at the amphitheater one night about fourteen or fifteen years ago in Nashville, Tennessee, and Prince was playing the same night. Towards the end, with the urges of the crowd and everything, I ended up going on and playing with the band and I guess something happened that night. LG: Thank you, thank you. It’s going really well. We had gotten used to having it and we didn’t really want to go back to just guitar. We don’t have any weirdness going on. That story you just told me? In an article about the Acoustic 360 written by E.E. Bassist Larry Graham Bass Technique From that same interview: “ By slapping the strings and expertly plucking and popping them with his fingers, he transformed the electric bass, making it as prominent as a guitar and dramatically increasing its rhythmic intensity. LG: Right on the corner! They’re all out of Oakland, California, which is my original home. The piece features an aggressively performed bass part which features a powerful slap groove and many of Larry’s preferred phrasing techniques such as vibrato, trills, and shakes. more, In this video, Larry Graham does a demo on his Roland AP-7 Jet Phaser. And Larry Graham, of course, who was like a father figure." It was through Sly & the Family Stone that my style of playing became popular. You must have been asked a million times in your career, but is that how it all came about? Larry Graham is generally credited as inventing slap bass guitar. That’s how the style came about, and that’s basically what I was doing from the time I was 15 until I was with Sly & the Family Stone. It took us into another zone, musically. Carol Kaye. What kind of Amplifiers does Larry Graham use? BY MARCUS BLAKE A few months ago, Larry Graham returned to … LG: When you play in nightclubs and lounges, a lot of times you get regulars. But when Graham Central Station came along, he was older and more into his writing and stuff like that. Larry Graham’s iconic basslines became the driving force behind many of Sly and the Family Stone’s groundbreaking hits and paved the way for slap-bass playing the world over. When my mother and I started working together—she was a pianist and vocalist, as well—I was just about 15. Photos by Erich Francois (with the exception of photo of Larry with Jon Liebman). October 1, 2012. it was Graham Central Station, whose leader, the legendary bass player Larry Graham, commented that it was his first time performing at the venue since he appeared as part of Sly & the Family Stone. In addition to having been the bassist for the ’60s supergroup Sly & the Family Stone, Larry has led his own band, Graham Central Station, for the past forty years. On the double bass, the technique was developed by jazz bands in New Orleans in the early 1900s, and later spread to other genres, including western swing, rockabilly, and other offshoots of those styles.On the bass guitar, the technique is widely credited to Larry Graham, an electric bassist playing with Sly and the Family Stone in the late 1960s. I’m really happy about it. That’s the most exciting experience I can think of as a musician. Your email address will not be published. Larry Graham is a living musical legend three times over: as the bassist-singer with Sly & The Family Stone, where his innovative thumping-plucking style of bass playing became tremendously influential; as leader of the hit-making funk group Graham Central Station through the 70’s; and then as a top-selling solo artist in the 80’s.. FBPO: Tell me about the Sly & the Family Stone experience. In addition to having been the bassist for the ’60s supergroup Sly & the Family Stone, Larry has led his own band, Graham Central Station, for the past forty years. LG: Until I started Graham Central Station in about ’72. Warwick Larry Graham Signature Bass Guitar, Acoustic 360 - 361PP Combo (Bass Amplifier). FBPO: It’s great to see you still actively recording and touring. To make the move cleanly can be quite tricky, so definitely practice this a fair bit at a lower tempo. The soul/funk legend and bass pioneer talks about his career—which has included working with Sly, of course, not to mention Prince—going all the way back the ‘60s and up to the present with his new record. Last I had heard he’d fallen on some hard times. Following the release of the record, we went and did some U.S. dates and then some dates in Europe. LG: Oh, the best one was Woodstock! How did you get involved in that? Putting the bottom end into The Wrecking Crew, Carol Kaye played the indelible parts on … He was just sticking to music. FBPO: Do you still keep in touch with Sly? Here is Funk and Bass Legend Larry Graham performing "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" at the Bass Player Awards in 2011. Obviously, I write all the time. Equipboard breaks down the gear, tools, and products used by artists, pros, and influencers in their craft. more. FBPO: What would you be if you were not a bass player? Tell me about the new album, Raise Up. It’s like people who paint pictures. LG: It came about out of necessity. Artist: Stanley Clarke Album: Rocks, Pebbles & Sand Year: 1980 Bassist: Stanley Clarke. Playing for half a million people. … We called her Chocolate, so we called the group Hot Chocolate. ... was slide Stone So she found that he was gonna start a band right And so she said you gotta go down and hear this base player His name is Larry Graham. In fact, Jerry (Martini) and Cynthia (Robinson) have worked with me in my band, Graham Central Station, a number of times. Meet Larry Graham from the Sly and the Family Stone. more, In this photo, Graham can be seen playing a Moon JJ-4 300B. I went and rented a St. George bass from this place in California. Cracking The Detroit Code – The 30 Day Challenge We had never played together before, but we had met briefly years ago in passing at a Warner Bros. picnic. We would play a medley of songs, one song going right into the next. In this video you can see Larry groovin' to his signature Warwick bass. LG: Well, I really like it. He heard that I was in town and he invited me over to his aftershow after we both finished playing. Watch his hands closely! What kind of Gear & Equipment does Larry Graham use? Larry Graham - GCS Click HERE to see the video 12-28-2010 Prince picked one of his musical inspirations as the opening act. FBPO: How does it feel to have five hundred thousand people roaring their approval for you? Bradman from Bassplayer.... more, Your own site has accepted proof that he used this. That didn’t last too long because the organ broke down. His slap bass playing arrived soon after Larry Graham brought it into the mainstream, and both are considered the "grandfathers" of slap-bass playing. https://www.guitarworld.com/features/the-40-best-basslines-of-all-time "Because, before I went to bass, I was playing guitar. When asked how he got the idea that he could do that with the bass guitar, Graham shared that it actually began when he was just around 14 or 15 years old. What was that all about? I was intending to be the writer and producer of the group. It was like we all knew that something had just happened there and it ended up being my band, with me just replacing the bass player. FBPO: What about the future, Larry? But that didn’t happen. We really didn’t get that rush of adrenaline coming from the crowd until we stopped that first medley. After doing that tour for a while, my family was living in Jamaica for seven years, but we were getting ready to move back to the States, to California, but we ended up moving to Minnesota instead, so then we became best friends and then like family. LG: Thank you! I just took my time. I just haven’t really been able to keep in touch with Sly, though. The organ was never repaired, so I basically got stuck on the bass. The only reason I started playing like that and not the regular overhand style was because I was thinking that the bass thing was only temporary. This lady used to come in and, we found this story out later, but she’d come in and hear my mother and me, but she was also a fan of Sly’s, who was a pretty popular disc jockey at the time. LG: Tap dancing came first and that didn’t really last too long! One night they were doing a gig at this nightclub in San Francisco called Bimbo’s and I knew the music well that the band was playing because I wrote and arranged a bunch of it. This site states that Graham uses a Dunlop Cry Baby 105Q Bass Wah Pedal. more. My mother and I would have regulars who would come to see us quite often. He was heavily influenced by Graham Central Station and then he went back and got into some Sly & the Family Stone. When you listen to it, it’ll make you feel better, just like we do at our shows. LG: It took us into a whole other musical zone because we had never experienced anything close to that. WB101 – Why I Had To Learn To “Walk” On The Bass…. I pop the first D to E – mainly because when you watch Larry Graham play this live, I think this is what he’s doing. When: 4 p.m. Sunday. He also founded the funk band Graham Central Station and worked with Prince on various records and tours. Larry Graham Slap Bass Technique… Larry Graham is widely accepted to be the originator of the slap bass technique, but what prompted him to start a whole new style of bass playing? 5 Best Bass Strings: Choice Wires to Bring the Bass, Follow artists like Larry Graham and get inspired by their gear. I had the privilege of seeing you and hearing you at Bass Player Live! What I didn’t know that night is that he was basically raised on my music. The band, since they all live very close to one another, are all good friends as well, so everyone gets along really well. Roundwound strings are the choice for a bright attack and classic slap bass sound. He is also the frontman and founder of the band Graham Central Station, but all of his efforts have helped put … The teenage Larry Graham was merely following his ears; bass guitarists ever since have been following Larry Graham and his unique approach to playing a bass guitar. I try to carry that feeling over the CD as well, so that it does raise your spirits, so that it does make you feel better. FBPO: Tell me about Graham Central Station. ‘Graham Crackers’ was written to represent Larry Graham’s pioneering bass techniques, and reflects the work that he recorded with his own group, Graham Central Station. I’d like to keep sharing the gift that’s been given to me, keep sharing it with other people, whether it be on an album or live, because I really enjoy both. You never stop doing that. It’s intended to raise you up. And when she would solo, I would play bass lines on my guitar. Tim Fletcher investigates… Larry Graham first became known as the bassist for one of the iconic bands of the late 1960s, Sly and […] FBPO: Regarding the technique most of us know as “slapping” — I believe you call it “thumping” and “plucking” — there’s a sense that maybe the story had gotten glorified over the years, but the more I talk to you and the more I get to know you, the more apparent it becomes that it hasn’t been glorified at all! Exclusive interview with FBPO’s Jon Liebman LG: Good! So we were playing at this club in San Francisco on the corner of Haight and Ashbury…. I didn’t really think I was, actually. We immediately hit it off musically and then he asked me after I finished with the Sinbad tour, would I like to join his tour. Whereas, flat-wounds produce a slightly different tone, mellower and smoother, something you can hear with a fretless bass. Some Sly & the Family Stone Guitars does Larry Graham, he came in. 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