Bass Player: Mike Rutherford

Mike Rutherford is more than simply a bass player and, with the legendary Prog band, Genesis, has played bass, guitar, Taurus bass pedals and backing vocals. More importantly, however, he is a composer and arranger and his writing has been a major element in the success of Genesis since their origins in the 1970s. Phil Collins often gets accused of being the band member who led the band into ‘Poppier’ territories later in their career but, as can be seen in the attached transcription, Rutherford could write a love song along with the best of them. Fairly basic fare most of the time but there are some lovely fills in the closing sections that evidence Rutherford’s musicality and sense of form. Beautifully subtle.

This is the complete bass performance of the tune ‘Alone Tonight’ from the 1980 Genesis album, ‘Duke’.