How To Sound Like...Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath

I got many requests to do an episode on Geezer, so I hope I've done him justice! His tone is so iconic and integral to the Black Sabbath vibe and it's surprisingly easy to recreate, even if playing those songs isn't.
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[@Obi-WanKannabis]

Geezer said he changed strings every 10 months, only when he broke a string Which means he broke a freaking bass string every 10 months. Absolute maniac

[@user-ky4uo6kj9p]

i have broke too/right 0n gig.fuck!111!then fell0w bass player pass me his bass(wich was jazz) to play gig further.lol.it was low E(and it was rick 4001) 😆👿Long and productive life to You Terry Butler!

[@riffwizardsupreme]

All I can say about Geez-Tone is don't be afraid to fuck around with the tone knob. Fucker is the only bass player in history to occasionally set his tone below ten and you can hear it in his tone that's woolier than gunked up flats can provide.

[@m.loughlin1915]

WTF are you babbling about? Your post makes no sense at all. "Fuck around" with the tone knob?

[@abhinavgyawali3253]

Geezer was the reason I picked up bass and you pretty much nail the tone here!

[@user-ky4uo6kj9p]

same shit when first got S B S in 99!we4 love sabbath/long live to all4!\m/

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

So,- now we´ve got two quotes in the metal world: "Louder is better!" - Geezer Butler "More is more!" - Yngwie Malmsteen With these words of wisdom you can build whole careers. Stay Metal! \m/ \m/

[@seeer3240]

Wrong. You have to sellout to satan. PERIOD.

[@theapachevikingnomadfromhell]

Yngwie- More is more. Also Yngwie- No, I don't want no fuckin donut!

[@wren23_bass-synths]

Nice job. Geezer is one of my favorite metal bassist. You tone was great. 🤘🏾🤘🏾🤘🏾

[@theleagueofrandom8066]

The intro to N.I.B. When it starts the riff has the wah half cocked thats why the distortion is so heavy on it

[@nusefuckinlyf]

Great video and awesome tone! Geezer started as a guitarist explains his phrasing and that's one of the reasons why Sabbath never felt missing out on the second guitarist.

[@GymRat1217]

nice vid! sadly not a lot of vids on geezer. like the whole band, he’s severely underrated

[@salzulli6290]

Tony too. There's tone videos, but not enough technique videos on either.

[@GymRat1217]

@@salzulli6290 agree and it’s sad. the more i have gotten into sabbath.. i realize these might be better than zeppelin

[@Olegstuff21986]

Sabbath is underrated? Not quite man. :)

[@hiasirimias2423]

@@Olegstuff21986 they're underrated in the sense that neither Butler, Ward or Iommi will typically rank very high on most best bassist/drummer/guitarist lists when they probably should, at least given their massive influence on later generations.

[@innawoods2131]

Hot take incoming: Ozzy is severely overrated.

[@leonardorabelo7778]

Great video! Direct to the point!

[@cindyespinosa5063]

Cool video !!! Thank you for sharing 🙏🙌

[@schwermetall666]

Great video, you did a good job explaining what you do and how you got to the results you present. This kind of transparent approach is really useful and I appreciate it a lot. Regarding the sound you get out of the bass itself, I feel like yours is consitently a bit more exaggerated or "extreme" (for lack of a better word) than Butler's original playing. I feel like overdrive and "attack" in the original recordings sound more subtle than your sound does. But the way you explained so well what your goal was and how you got the sound you have is the more important aspect, anyways. What I'm trying to say is: as a big fan of Butler's sound and your approach to it, I really enjoyed your video :D

[@ampthebassplayer]

Thank you so much! I think you nailed exactly what I'm going for. I got close to the sound, but the important thing is understanding what everything does so that replicating a bassist's sound isn't a mystery. I do also think that post production and recording techniques account for quite a lot, so I never expect to exactly nail the sound simply because of my limited arsenal of gear and engineering expertise. Thanks again for your comment!

[@jamesgreszczuk1670]

Your playing on bass in awesome especially on a 4-string bass guitar! I've learned how to play bass guitar starting out with a 4-string bass & now I play a 7-string Ibanez BTB7E BASS GUITAR & I've tried playing what Geezer played but I do it on 7-string's! Jim Greszczuk

[@qotsashfifty4]

Great video. Love Buttler, he’s the king.

[@mbarkevich]

I tried the amp settings on my Fender Rumble LT 25 with a Fender Jazz bass front pick up turned off and got a similiar sound for NIB, thanks for the research. Fun!

[@brazillionairemma1373]

Great content!!!

[@gradis13]

brother thank you so much for this video

[@thomasloveless7503]

Awesome video, Geezer is one of my fav's! A couple names I'll throw out there for future vids; Steve Harris, Lemmy, or if you want to move away from metal Chris Squire or Flea

[@Riddickisawesome101]

I have a fender p bass (designed just like the one he originally had) and a fender rumble 500, so thus was perfect for me. Thank you

[@user-ky4uo6kj9p]

Leo simply genius!

[@shanshom]

Great note you’ve found here. Many thanks 😄

[@ginocoppola1434]

Nailed it!!

[@waynekurtz6197]

Great job with what you had to work with🤙👍🎸

[@archiereece8321]

i like Geezer's sound and gear and your gear and playing is awsome!

[@2gr82b4gotn]

um.... When I met them on the Heaven & Hell tour, Tony and Geezer both told me that for the first couple of albums, they were both tuned a whole step down.

[@ronjames6128]

it sounded fantastic!!!!

[@hg1651]

A great loud band is Blue Cheer. Thundering low ends screaming highs.

[@m.loughlin1915]

Love Geezer's sound on the 1st 4 albums. Always played my basses at the base of the neck whether fingerstyle or pick. Full rich, slightly rubbery tone. Never liked the sound of playing near the bridge.

[@HvyMetal4Ever]

The doom tune on MoR is so dark and rich. It is just punishing when it comes thru a full stack. You can feel it in your bones.

[@wychwoodmusic]

Right?! I'm always baffled by Jaco and his imitators, for example, loving that close to the bridge sound. Why wouldn't you go for the round, full sound at the neck like Geezer, Jamerson, etc

[@handidrummed]

Wow, nailed it!

[@dreampopwavestudiob7282]

great job

[@kirbbeans9583]

3:45 i believe he actually used roundwound strings, its just that, as you said, he rarely replaced his strings, making them sound super dead

[@comedyandgardeninginflorid2562]

Sounds good

[@MFDBLACKESTHART]

Geezer has said the strings were just old and needed to be replaced but he didn’t have the money for new strings

[@capssa]

Nice video! How about a video of Mel Schacher bass tone? I would love it.

[@patrickgallagher4212]

according to geezer he didn't use flat wounds,just dead round rounds

[@cactus-mcjacktus]

i think i know why Geezer said that the louder pickup is the better pickup. From the days of using 100W tube amps, he cranked them to get his overdrive, but there’s only so far you can take an amp by itself. Using an overdrive or treble booster would mean losing low end ( i don’t even think overdrives were a thing yet ), so using a hotter pickup would mean more overdrive and/or more volume.

[@markminor70]

He also on his old base one of them he took out the pickups unwrap the coil with a thicker wire

[@thifran2]

Thanks for your video :) I'll see what I can pull with my MM Sterling loll

[@1968joseph1]

A big fat speaker helps. Most of us don't have a wall of 10s. A couple of 15s or an 18 can make a close proximity of that old school thud for us that don't have a couple of Sunn amps with two or more 8x10s.

[@nathanphillips3628]

Heck yeah!!!

[@mudgutzadventures436]

So when it comes to hitting the strings that hard, which I can see you ate doing, is there a setup specific to avoid also sounding like Steve Harris

[@SWIFTY5150]

I don't have a P bass, but I have a Schecter Stiletto and a Rumble 40, so I should be able to get close enough for rock-n-roll.🤘

[@chriswakfer4473]

Do Al Cisneros of sleep and OM

[@AaronKaiMCDNLD]

So he was a Guitar Player Before playing a Bass, No wonder the basslines in those albums are so melodic.

[@ArielNefleman]

pretty close indeed

[@officialgmusic]

And the WAH !, He has a signature wah with Dunlop, I own one... I also use the Emg geezer pickups as wlll

[@ampthebassplayer]

That’s awesome! I would guess the EMG’s are closer to his modern tone, but it would be interesting to see if they could do the vintage sound as well.

[@officialgmusic]

@@ampthebassplayer if you open them up all the way you’ll get the modern sound he’s using But if you roll up about a 1/4 to half way you’ll get the older sound while playing at the bottom of the fretboard 😎😎 I am also an emg and dunlop endorsed artist

[@danadane2501]

I will start off by saying I love that digitech synth wah pedal. If I had more of a need for it I would buy without a second thought. Digitech makes the best pedals IMHO. I have their bass chorus pedal and digitech grunge pedal for the rare times I switch to guitar (rhythm). Secondly you came very close to Geezer sound. Closer than countless bassist I've seen cover Black Sabbath basslines. What I'm most impressed with is your playing. Musicans who aren't bassist often times don't appreciate how demanding Butler's basslines are.

[@patrickjarvis6160]

I had a SABBATH tribute band for 11 years! I played a custom made bass from Jackson. Fretless with whammy bar! Korg digital 9 programable foot pedal!

[@ampthebassplayer]

That’s legit dude! What was your favorite song to play?

[@patrickjarvis6160]

So many! But into the void when Geezer Butler night before checked us out before there concert! We ended with iron man! Bass riff at end went to play I got unplugged and Geezer Butler with Bass over his head whaling on bass and solo! I was on my knees I'm not worthy! After he took us to dinner and said seeing us play into the void they needed to start playing it again live!

[@willianfernandes5186]

Lovely tone man.. thank you If I may suggest, maybe try finding a little more mellow, there is a noticeable distortion but it is mellow and soft at the same time, perhaps less drive and less MID EQ? Sounds beatiful anyway

[@netpoon6161]

how to do you get that overdrive tone?

[@westym8935]

“supernaut” has the nastiest bass of all time imo

[@LonePear]

Nice video. Would love to see some how to sound like Les Claypools fretted 4-string sound.

[@TheMonkeyBloke]

I get the impression that Les is the definition of "the tone is mostly how the person playing"... Everything he has done is different and unique, but you always know it is him.

[@nunoharris]

Hi what overdrive pedal are you using? Thanks

[@Joetime90]

The one thing about Geezer's isolated bass tracks is he's never perfect. Which to me sounds awesome. Modern music is so cut and paste, clean and perfect.

[@thyowen]

And lots of clear on the spot improvisation! Makes the recording like a snapshot of Geezer's creativity at the time

[@michaelscarcello5902]

Where is the link to the video you mentioned

[@ayoutubechannel1499]

thunder god gezzer bass style

[@omarshaheen4987]

do a vid on jack bruce or john entwistle please thanks

[@sonoptic6996]

he also uses wah on sign of the southern cross

[@natefontana5757]

I was looking for this comment lol

[@carlcooper4612]

Do you have the settings for Zoom BX1 Four? Also have you tried JJ Burnells tone?

[@ampthebassplayer]

The Zoom settings are on my Patreon. I’m not very familiar with JJ Burnell, but I’ll put him on my list!

[@carlcooper4612]

@@ampthebassplayer the tone I love is off the first Stranglers album. Apparently it's another one like Geezer Butler with a blown speaker 🤔

[@ladyjulia4038]

Hey I have a question for you friend. How important is it to have a clean blend when you use distortion? I personally like the sound with no clean blend.

[@ampthebassplayer]

If you like it, then go for it! In my live setup, I don’t have a clean blend. It’s just a single signal through my pedalboard. There are some pedals that benefit from blending like fuzz, but overdrive I don’t think needs it.

[@ladyjulia4038]

@@ampthebassplayer Ok I get you. I use the Fulltone GT500 which to me is a hidden jam of bass distortion. I just boost the lows a good bit to add it back in. I'm gonna keep doing it. Thanks for the advice and keep killing it!

[@ght_1]

The knobs on your synth wah have no markers

[@BoxTunnel]

I've been watching the few videos available that show some good Geezer footage and I don't see him playing at the end of the neck, he seems to be playing over or just in front of the pickups. Not argueing, I just haven't found any evidence.

[@AndreSP89]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKbbfqWFoMqfn7M

[@kyledickenson1494]

Back in the old days he played directly over the neck. He doesn't do it anymore though and hasn't for awhile.

[@TarnTarn-zv6cp]

Saw thumbnail pic thought sweet Spinal tap🤦‍♂️

[@AndreSP89]

Very good, but Geezer used a pick on Children of the Grave and its Downtuned to C#

[@GeauxTigahsBaby]

Acid bath or ac dc bassist or maybe megadeth

[@jonprior2355]

Ahh I see, a face making bassist

[@nupe736]

nexr how to sound steve harris or cliff burton

[@nicodominguez]

name song 7:10? please

[@Diego-vo4my]

children of the grave

[@kevinmcc3147]

Here are my suggestions. John entwistle. Steve Harris. Phil lynott. John myung.

[@GavinSideways]

Can I ask what DAW you use?

[@ampthebassplayer]

I use Logic primarily.

[@GavinSideways]

@@ampthebassplayer thanks!

[@Flux799]

Mids!!

[@LewcazadeGaming]

You look like John Bonham

[@sobo2001]

250 quid i think

[@bassplayer2011ify]

Pretty damn close I will say this though. To any one who plays a P bass do yourself a favor crank the tone and rip that knob off. You can play with the volume but that tone doesn't move.

[@ryannovak4338]

you do realize they weren't satanic right

[@danadane2501]

💯 percent facts

[@RoRo-vr6wx]

​@@danadane2501Geezer was a fan of occult stuff tho until it scared the shit of him.

[@danadane2501]

@@RoRo-vr6wx From what I surmised from his interviews is that Geezer may have dabbled in the occult. As well did all of Sabbath dabble in various drugs. Dark spiritism and drugs is something I would strongly recommend staying as far away from as possible. Ironically from their time the band that got the most into occultism was Led Zeppelin, especially Paige. I thought that to be ironic until I looked deeper into the symbolism and lyrics both bands used.

[@MrWilly0330]

So misinterpreted.

[@jedijudoka]

I’d always heard geezer and Tony were staunch Catholics. There are a bunch of “Christian “ themes in their lyrics. More so than anything demonic

[@volume_max]

r u Lemmy ?

[@ThaiThom]

UK used pounds before and after Brexit.

[@geordiedog1749]

Brexit has indeed got us messed up! But Geezer will always make it better.

[@justinkline1294]

Hah! Shillings.

[@esmeraldgreen5424]

He is now after more than 40 years talking about how Dio did the (🤘) cause of him and then he try to ease things up by saying Dio made it popular, Ok Gezzer..Dio is Dead now and you come up with all that?🤔Yessss is true there is photos of you using it in 1971 but the Beatles did it too and Coven too but everyone knew that for many years and Dio never once said he was ever the first to use it on stage but now you feel the need to talk about it? How much did they pay you? Its all over Twitter and social media! What a shame now you decide to talk about it. 👎

[@victorgano1]

Listen to Johnny Blade Terry IS GOD BASS!

[@gaylothropmissinformed1046]

Get two and a half finger's cut off. Easy, man!

[@guitar_and_weed]

That's Tony Iommi dummy.

[@natefontana5757]

Two and a half?

[@gaylothropmissinformed1046]

@@natefontana5757 yup