the single greatest ROCK Bass Intro of ALL TIME? (Hysteria by Muse)
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- čas přidán 12. 05. 2024
- If you were putting together a shortlist of the world’s top rock bassists in terms of playing ability and all-round technical prowess, Chris Wolstenholme of Muse would likely be one of the first names on the list. His trademark fuzz-bass and manic riffing, alongside guitarist Matt Bellamy, have become part of the language of modern-day bass playing.
In today’s video, we’re going to show you how to play one of his most instantly recognisable bass riffs. And how to recreate his legendary tone. It’s time to plug in, baby!
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Video Breakdown:
00:00 - Introduction
00:37 - Tone and Gear
01:24 - Isolated Track and Equipment Used
01:28 - Different Elements of the Bass Line
03:42 - Scott's Version
04:20 - Bass Line Breakdown
05:21 - Playing Without Open Strings
06:05 - Consistency
06:46 - Summary
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I work at a big recording studio in London, I heard this directly from Rich Costey the producer on Absolution. The Hysteria bass tone is as Ian says, Pedulla split into 3 amps, one clean, one muff, one animato, all Marshall DBS and 15" cabs, we know this. The secret that I've never read anywhere online is that its layered with not an Akai SB1, but a Kyma Capybara, which is an old weird sound design synth that I've never heard of before but is apparently all over Absolution and Black Holes and Revelations. You can see it in a couple of shots from the "Making of Absolution" documentary.
My understanding was that Chris only started using Animato pedals only after absolution album.
There was one article release at the time the album was released where a grid confirmed it was the Animato, Big muff and a bass synth, but the synth being a Kyma Capybara is an interesting addition.
@@davidhahn5522 That's not correct. It's been on is board since before Origin. You can clearly hear it all over that album.
This is the first time I've heard anything about the Capybara even by the biggest gear heads trying to follow this sound. I know in the original Absolution tours Wolstenholme was playing along to a backing track of his own bass to fill up the rest of the sound so I wonder if it was their inability to bring that setup with them on stage (as opposed to a Deep Impact which would have been a simple pedal to turn on).
@@kueller917 I would say that Chris most likely plays along to a backing track for Hysteria at the time, and probably still does to this day. The deep impact is good, but is still unreliable for tracking at those speeds.
Scott… little fact here that many do not know, if you bought the Absolution XX Anniversary edition, there is a part in the book that comes with it that explained what the synth sound was. According to the book, the synth on Hysteria was a KYMA Synth, it’s a very rare and strange AI powered software from the early 2000’s, and it is explained that Matt, Chris and Dom used this synth to overlay many different tracks on Absolution, such as Stockholm Syndrome, Time is Running Out, Apocalypse Please and most notably, Hysteria!
If you want I can share the full bit from the book where it explains what this synth is! It’s very interesting, let me know :)
Nobody is actually aware of this as the Absolution XX Boxset was very limited and also about £140 each. I’ll share the full quote from the book if you’d like… can’t share it here unfortunately because of text limits and such I don’t think
I knew it was a separate synth! Chris played keys in early performances of TiRO, and I believe Hysteria always has the synth part on playback live.
Don’t tell me it’s the symbolic sounds Kyma? That would be rather bonkers…
Quick google - it is the SSC’s Kyma. That’s wild. I owned one briefly. Had no idea muse ever used one. Nowadays you could use MaxMSP for similar effects.
I think somewhere on CZcams there’s a video where Simon posford says he’s been trying one of those out, that it’s really complicated and you have to learn how to program it and he was thinking about buying it, that’s the only other time ive ever seen or heard of one
I don't know if it's intentional, but the duality of Scott's analog rigs and Ian's digital rigs is such a nice touch to appeal to a wider audience and show that there are many ways to get a certain sound.
I think the greatest bass intro is NIB by Black Sabbath, the reason i feel in love with the instrument and started playing after hearing it.
I agree. It was one of the first things I learned on bass, way back in 1975.
Hugh, I do not like it. Tone is very odd and the Timing is so off. To me it sounds like noodling. But that's music, one may like it and another does not.
Thought the same, but can't argue against this either. Tie for first in my book.
This was decades ahead of Hysteria, therefore it wins, all else equal, because it was created first
Easily one of the best bass intro's. Experiencing this live takes it to another level. Incredible.
I learned this years ago and it's so refreshing to see that I play it exactly the way you just showed it. I've seen it played a little differently but sonically, this way is what made sense, sounded the best, and seemed to be the most ideal way to play it. Thanks for the great vid!
I would make an argument that the intro for Megadeth's "Peace Sells" is pretty iconic. MTV used it for the intro for their news for years.
Thanks for taking the time to show the HX Stomp! I have had my Stomp for a while but pretty much just living on the IMA preset packs and occasionally diving in to try and create my own. Super helpful to get the experience of creating chains with Ian through these videos. Having a blast trying to learn this riff that I had not tried before this video.
During the pandemic, I decided I was going to nail down this bassline. Starting out, it seemed impossible to get up to speed, but 15 min a day in the shed and I had it by week two!
I can even play it on my Goldtone fretless!
Yeah it was a lockdown project for me too. That and learning Norwegian
Amazing work with demonstrating the tone! Definitely think it's one of the best bass intro's to any song and was instrumental in getting me to pick up a bass the first time.
Chris is the reason I started playing bass, and learning Hysteria is still the highlight of my seven years of playing. the first time I played it in its entirety and at full speed, I almost cried
I agree - def the best bass intro in rock. Not just because of how straight out of the gate it is, but the tone and groove are so legendary.
Yes definitely up there.
One of my favourite intros for sure. Once I hear this song I really crank it up. 100%
My previous band covered this. I did it with a Darkglass Alpha Omega Photon on the full alpha with the drive maxed and the blend at about at a quarter way up. As far as playing it, I just did it at about half time till I had the patterns down and then slowly got them up to speed over the course of a couple of weeks. The trick to doing it live is being very consistent with those sixteenth notes. Also, don't forget, you start first, so you get to set the tempo for the rest of the band. If you need to do it a hair slower, do that. It still sounds fantastic. What a great line.
I have to say a solid YES!!!!! This intro is so iconic and so unique. Timeless and badass!
It's a great bass intro, some other worthwhile mentions: Monaco, what do you want from me and Kasabian, club foot.. both wonderful too 🤟
Scott‘s Yamaha BB looks sooo good 🤩
They're amazing instruments!!
I am waiting for this wonderful time from you❤
Love SBL. Would you please do a video about Simon Gallup of The Cure. His basslines are so great.
Keep up the good work. Love your channel.
Greetings from Belgium.
My brain automatically filled in the drums when the isolated track played. I am a drummer after all.
Same with me and Matt Bellamy's guitar
I really needed this. Man.
Hysteria is always a regular fave with students at the annual show at the Forum Music School in Darlington - but just off at a tangent, Chris Squires bassline on "No Opportunity Necessary...." from "Time And A Word" when the verse kicks in is up there with the best of them - it's just as relentless as Hysteria.
I get goosebumps from this intro!! Its hella good
It is a superb bass line, I never tire of listening to it
Wow guys great job!!!!
Absolutely the best intro😱😱😱😱😱
🧡🧡🧡
Chris’s Rapture was hanging up for sale in Mansons (Exeter) the fortnight before he purchased it, and used it at Glastonbury.
It's Money by Pink Floyd! Send the guy.
Texarkana from REM's Out of Time got me "hooked" 😁
Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith got me into playing bass. I saw Aerosmith in 2004 for my birthday and heard that bass intro and I was hooked. I asked for a bass guitar my following birthday and have been playing the bass ever since.
Fun Fact: it has, effectively, the same bass intro as Sabotage by the Beastie Boys.
@@michaelmoore7568Not at all.
That's a fun one with the chord arrangement
The entire Absolution album is Muse’s best.
it IS! :)
It is a great album I was lucky enough to see them on Absolution tour at a smallish venue in London . One of my favourite Live band experiences
Origin of Symmetry is still my favourite album though.
nope. i like the previous two albums better. absolution is good though. i’ve seen the guys live in 2003 in rome, it was the Absolution tour. it was in a tennis stadium and wasn’t even sold out. great show but i’ll never forgive them for not playing Hyper Music
Absolution is fantastic, no doubt. But Origin of Symmetry will always be number one for me.
@@klizzt Bliss and Plug In Baby are my faves. Never thought John Leckie would produce the first two Muse albums along with XTC & Radiohead.
I would definitely say that it's one of the best intros from the 2000s (as well as just one of the best in general), this was one of the first songs I learned when I started playing bass in high school and it's still one of my absolute favourites to jam on my Rickenbacker. Absolute classic and Absolution will always be one of my favourite Muse albums
🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
@@devinebass I sometimes find the closest I get to the original is with my Big Muff Pi and my Boss OD-1X (either or), it’s definitely a specific type of fuzz/distortion and that’s what makes it great
awesome video. Chris Wolstenholme is a legend. you guys have gotta do a similar video on Mike Kerr from Royal Blood. would love to hear your takes on it! a lot of split signal stuff. it goes deep!
Absolutely. Royal Blood doesn’t need no steenkin’ guitars, Kerr’s got the spectrum covered from bottom thru mids on his bass, and leaves the top of the mix for vocals and drums.
No arm twisting required here. Definitely the best bass intro I've heard.
Best bass intro has to be waiting room
also a good one
Awesome
NO SCOTT PLEASE DONT COME TO MY HOUSE
@xvi2383 - How spooky: A couple of weeks ago, I'd come across a very interesting live gig action photo on fb and later found out the band shown was Fugazi.
And gosh, I hadn't heard that name in eons and also couldn't remember any of their songs anymore right away. Until a friend of mine refreshed my mind by telling me their 'Waiting Room' had been a favourite at a club we used to go to, back in the day.
And meanwhile, 'Waiting Room' keeps on popping up around me!
😅
Thanks Dooodes, as always - bodacious ! You both did a 'Bill & Ted' at the end !
Wat strikes me most about this particular bassline is how _relentless_ it is. There's no pause. At all. Ever. It just goes on all the time.
That and the awesome aggressive tone, yeah. That too.
Sweet Emotion.intro is pretty damn good.
You can't argue that Hysteria is one of the greatest rock bass intros of all time. Hysteria and Time Is Running Out are both iconic bass intros - shows how good the bass is on Absolution.
That synth sound sounds exactly like my old Roland Juno 60 that I ended up selling to an LA studio last year for 6 times what I paid for it in the 80s.
Any regrets??
@@mbrew3244 my son, bass player for a fairly successful band based in Nashville, was extremely pissed
Ive never touched a guitar but love Muse and found this very interesting 😜
Hysteria is massive. I've tried to emulate the sound with my Big Muff and other stuff but always end up short haha. I love Chris' bass lines
Deep impact 🔥🔥🔥 makes sense.. legendary synth funk
Ok, first, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song. But, In the Meantime - Spacehog. Wicked bass line AND he sings the song? C'mon now :D But in the pure rock nastiness lane? Yeah, probably Hysteria
:)
Best bass intro: John Myung on Dream Theater's "Panic Attack".🤘
It's really a two-part intro where the bass starts solo, guitar/drums/keyboard joins and then drops away, and then the bass starts again, PUSHING the rest of the song forward like a low-end sonic-tsunami.
So pumped you elected Hysteria as the (well deserved) best bass line !
For what it is worth, here is my take after (too) many years of Muse bass search : 1st channel : clean / 2nd channel : Akai Deep Impact (one of the 1st presets I remember) for the top end / 3rd channel : Animato cranked up full and blended, to get that raging constant noise in background (I am unsure as off the presence of the Russian Muff on this track). Very low action so that strings hit the frets with percusive effect. A real craft !
Then only on the 2nd half of the intro (after the drums kick in ~ 0:23 on original song), the bass line is doubled by a synth. But before it is only bass, no synth ;)
Nice videl again SBL ! Lots of love coming your way
It’s a bass synth, layered on top of a muff, and animato. I believe Chris said “I don’t think we ended up using the clean track in the end”.
It’s not the Deep Impact, and the bass synth runs throughout the entire song. It doesn’t start at 23 seconds.
@@pm8rsh233 You may be indeed right, but something does happen 1 octave below at 0:23 on top of the bass line (that you can hear isolated separately). It sounds like a typical synth sub octave. Interesting !
@@jerdure I don’t think that’s an octave. It sounds more like a change in the mix. That change doesn’t happen in the isolated bass track, which to me suggests it’s just the mix.
Its funny i just bought the entire album on vinyl, i absolutely love it!
Jerry was a race car driver is pretty legendary
You two are amazing. I love to watch this Movies and forget to play my Bass. 🙈
Clean / Fuzz / Synth / and the last bit is an overdrive (probably Animato or Boss OS-2) on a slight delay/reverb. You can hear that part more live.
That riff is a nice exercise for working on one finger per fret technique.
I’m a late learner who started on 6 string guitar and bass has exposed many flaws and inefficiencies! … not that I ever had any illusions I was competent anyway. 😂
Saw the title and thought "they better be talking about Hysteria" and was not disappointed 🤘
Running with the devil is of course the best and most iconic. A technical masterpiece
Ha! But seriously... I knew I had matured as a player when I realized the brilliance of Mike Anthony's playing in VH.
I used to say that CW's Hysteria bassline was too big to fit in my ear! I couldn't possibly do anything else until I figured it out. I also really like the little chromatic downward offbeat run! It's brilliant! I lived and breathed that one for days. I'd have to figure it out all over again now, at least some of it.
The synchronized head bobbin!
It’s incredible
Absolutely love that Yamaha BB you have there Scott
It's an amazing instrument!!
I absolutely love this intro my personal favorite of all time is the intro to carousel by blink 182
Don't know bout the bass line BUT YOUR SMILES ARE THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME,, 🎸🤠 from Arkansas USA.
Great stuff, Scott and Ian! It’s a very growly yet synthy tone that feels good when you listen to it. One thing though, you guys used the saddest photo of Chris in the thumbnail. I believe it was from a pretty boring wine festival.
That must have been a pretty terrible wine festival if he was sad at it!
My favourite bassline to play
There are countless great bass intros. I think the most immediate and perfect bass intro is from Waiting Room/Fugazi
@IanMartinAllison - Thanks for the answer regarding pedalnetics - what I meant was the toppers on the 3 HX buttons with metal in the middle - I reckon, to preserve the touch functionality?
Ah! Ninjafox 👍🏼
You guys have it correct, it is THE BEST rock bass intro of all time!!!!
🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
Loving that BB !!
I bought a blue Pedulla Rapture because of Chris. To this day it is by far my favorite bass. I have tried everything out there and still can't find one I like more no matter the money
100% Akai Deep Impact - had one - its right there! Liked it so much I bought three when they discontinued it!
One of the same guys who designed the Deep Impact released the Future Impact, and it has the original Deep Impact presets. :)
@@RossHoekman the future impact is a must have for anyone wanting to replicate his earlier bass sounds. Even Chris himself (according to the future impacts website) uses the clone.
@@pm8rsh233 I don't doubt it. I rely on the Future Impact heavily for my main gig (80's pop/new wave), so I know how good it is! 👍
Panda MIDI have also now released Future Impact v4. Future Impact v1 - v3 are same hardware, only firmware changes. These are still worth picking up and possibly easier to find than a Deep Impact. Absolutely amazing pedal.
@@WestOfBen What’s the difference between v3 and 4?
As a child of the 80’s who started playing in 1989, I was obsessed with Dave Ellefson’s intro to “Peace Sells But Whose Buying.” I have to play “Uprising” from time to time in my band and that tone gives me a massive headache. I use an HX Stomp and I really couldn’t do it without the HX and an expression pedal. I sing harmonies on that song and the bass tone eats up THE ENTIRE frequency spectrum in my IEM’s and makes hearing my vocals very difficult on some gigs… but it’s awfully fun to get to be louder than the guitar.
I think what you're missing is that on top of all that, one of the sounds in the chain is going through an octaver (an octave lower I think) to make it really massive
It’s not an octave, it’s a sawtooth synthesizer overdub.
@@Farewelltokingz there absolutely is something that is doubling the line an octave lower, synth or not.
Gameplaymetal I believe your correct on the octaver pedal it’s as simple as that, well simple being relative lol
@@GamePlayMetal It’s 3 layered on top of each other. animato, Big Muff and a midi sawtooth bass synth. There’s no Octave on this track.
@@stevenerwin6202 It’s not an Octave pedal. It’s a midi bass synth.
My favourite rock bass intro is "I don't believe a word" by Motörhead. Simple but pure rock'n'roll
I love that Mike Lull bass. But for showing off basslines, I would preferer to see it on a bass with fretboard inlays. Anyway, lovely video as always guys
This probably is the best bass intro, but I also really love the bass intro to “In the Meantime” by Space Hog.
Can we please get some cover videos with your 2 bassists playing all the guitars??
Nice!
Wow, great content again, thank you guys. The answer is a big 'yes' for me, this is the greatest bass intro of all time imho. Which software do you use to isolate the bass tracks?
If I remember correctly, they may have found this isolated track online. That being said, we generally use Moises to isolate tracks at SBL. - Lydia, SBL Team
I get pretty close with my US Music Man Sterling 4H basses and Darkglass B7K into my G-K Legacy 212 combo. Not perfectly identical, but in a mix, pretty indistinguishable. I've always wanted to try a Pedulla Rapture.
I'd love a copy of that HX Stomp patch!
You guys gotta check out King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Some great basses and so much to cover. Really would like to hear you talking about microtones.
Love KG!!
Last year I found an Animato on Facebook market place for a good price. Was looking for one over 10 years.
I wouldn’t consider it a Fuzz, but it’s also no distortion. Something in between.
Is you use it, use a signal splitter so you can use a parallel clean sound. It cuts your lows even more then a tube screamer.
Just did a Quad Cortex Capture of it, so I can use it live.
It’s pretty unique sounding but amazing!
Do an analysis comparing hysteria to distant early warning by rush. If it wasn't a direct influence it it an amazing coincidence. When I first got into muse around 2007, I thought of them as a modern version of rush
Ace of Spades by Motörhead.
The most iconic intro, even those that don't like Motörhead or rock/metal know thát intro.
Honestly:
I know the band Muse, but couldn't whistle the intro to save my life.
...but I could do Pink Floyd's Money instead 😜👍
Muse always have great taste in their basslines ❤❤❤❤
I noticed Ian and Scott played the part on the E string slightly differently. Pretty sure Scott's version is actually the correct one. And I agree that the E string is the hardest part.
Dead Kennedy’s Holiday in Cambodia is a great one! Come Together is amazing! I love Hysteria for sure. But nothing beats Money!
Forest Fire is a cool one too.
Come on, Money is such a shitty track
i saw Muse live in Rome in 2003, it was the Absolution tour and they opened with this one.
it was years before the famous olympic stadium concert, it was in a tennis stadium and it wasn’t even sold out. too bad they did not play my favorite tune, Hyper Music
Awasome. Thank you. There is nothing in youtube close to Time Is Running Our bass tone. Please do your version
That’s because it’s a Roland JP-8000 synth, not a bass. There’s a clean bass track underneath though.
That Mike Lull bass is an Fn' beast
💯💯💯
it's pretty great
Scott is right, the second part on the 4th string can be tricky because of this G on the 3rd string. That's why I always play de G on the 4th string (15th fret), it's less clear sounding but far more easy to me.
Kajagoogoo's. "Too Shy" intro. Listen to it
A main streat rock station in Philly, which wouldn't play Muse on a slow day (pre-Starlight), did a best bass line contest, and Hysteria won.
This is so tough to play live for the entire length of the song and keep tempo. My hands were cramping!!
Yep! He used a deep impact! There are many pictures of his bith OOS and Absolution pedalboards and the deep impact is in every one of those!
one of the very first basslines i learned. just a question though why not just play the E string melody using the 15th fret or whatever one it is instead of the single note on the A string?
A Boss Bass Distortion and/or a maxon Fireblade distortion or a boss fuzz and a boss syb to give the distortion a bite and a parametric eq. Compression and perhaps chorus.
I legit thought that you filmed yourself twice and superimposed the two Scotts into the same video for the first 30 seconds or so... hahaha!
No more tears is pretty good.
I was actually able to get a really close sound using a Meris Enzo on Dry with a Filter Envelope, Octave up and mixed 40 and 60. for 40% effect. 60% dry channel
Then Going into a Death By Audio Fuzz War.
Why does that Yamaha BB3000 have 2024x series pickups? If you can get it separately somewhere please let me know.
Tried to record that some time ago and it really is hard to get it consistent! Ended up using a pick...
Around the World from Flea is my favourite bass intro