Bass Player: Gary Weinrib

From the 1977 Rush album, ‘A Farewell To Kings’ this is Geddy Lee’s bass part for the 11:05 epic track, ‘Xanadu’. It is included here so that there is at least one chart on the site that starts with an X. Until the chart was prepared, we didn’t realise that the recording is a quarter of a semi-tone sharp. Legend has it that the tubular bells that drummer Neil Peart used on the track were not at concert pitch so that band had to re-tune slightly sharp to compensate. Whether this is true or not, if you are going to play along with the recording, you will need to adjust your tuning accordingly. BIlbo admits that he started the transcription a semi tone higher and had to redo massive chunks of it. Fortunately, Sibelius lets you move a while chart up or down any interval you choose but this always causes problems with key signatures as the accidentals compromise the simple change in key. The chart is in E minor (not G) and is quite a tough read with odd length bars, alternating 4:4 and 3:4, an odd 6:4 bar here and there and changes in tempo. Great fun to play and there are a couple of challenging fills from the Gedmeister.

The video actually the recording off the album with some live footage. For those of us around when the original album came out, it is delightful to revisit the double necks and kaftans of that era. We all used to go to the pub dressed like that; honest.