Ritchie Blackmore plays bass, and you might not know it…

[Ivan May]

Apparently the story is that he fired Jimmy Bain after the release of Rainbow Rising in 1977, and played bass on the album Long Live Rock’n’Roll in 1978.

 

Although Bob Daisley is rumored to have played bass on much of Long Live Rock, he only played on the demos. I think he was still using his Gibson EB-3 bass at the time. Roger Glover played on Down To Earth, and I think he was playing a Gibson Thunderbird bass during that time.

 

What bass did Ritchie play on that album? I suppose he would have played a Gibson EB-3 and I think a Gibson Thunderbird bass.

 

But I hope this appreciates any Purple fans.

[lug]

According to the wiki, Daisley played bass on "Gates of Babylon", "Kill the King", and "Sensitive to Light" and Blackmore did the rest. 

[Ivan May]

Here is a pic of Ritchie playing a Fender Musicmaster Bass.

 

[Mark Schmieder]

Hmm, not a bass I knew about, but related to the short-scale Mustang Bass:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Musicmaster_Bass

 

As for the Thunderbird Bass, I had the gold anniversary model for a while (expensive!) but it never felt or sounded like a bass to me, no matter how many times I switched strings. Always a bit phasey and guitar-like. I just can't get on with any Gibson bass model, and yet some of my favorite players used them (e.g. most of Jethro Tull's bassists).

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, Mark Schmieder said:

Hmm, not a bass I knew about, but related to the short-scale Mustang Bass:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Musicmaster_Bass

 

As for the Thunderbird Bass, I had the gold anniversary model for a while (expensive!) but it never felt or sounded like a bass to me, no matter how many times I switched strings. Always a bit phasey and guitar-like. I just can't get on with any Gibson bass model, and yet some of my favorite players used them (e.g. most of Jethro Tull's bassists).

I've seen them both. The Mustang bass had a pair of small single-coil pickups wired like a P-Bass so it was a hum bucker circuit. 

The Musicmaster used the same single coil pickup as the Musicmaster and Mustang guitars, so it hummed and the poles were not lined up. Sounded better if you kept the pickup farther away from the strings. 

 

I've never bonded with Gibson's basses either. Somehow they just don't feel right when I play them. I'm pretty much a P-J kinda bassist, like a Jazz neck on a Precision body but an older USA made Peavey Fury works for me too. 

[KuruPrionz]

Back on topic, I would expect Ritchie to have the musical knowledge and fingerings down on bass. 

Not all guitarists play bass like a bassist, it's a very different approach. 

 

Without listening to these tracks, I will assume Ritchie did fine playing bass. 

[Mark Schmieder]

Yeah, I don't think I have that DP album (anymore). So I can't recall the sounds on it. I got back into DP when they revived in the 80's, and especially like the current lineup.

[KuruPrionz]

7 minutes ago, Mark Schmieder said:

Yeah, I don't think I have that DP album (anymore). So I can't recall the sounds on it. I got back into DP when they revived in the 80's, and especially like the current lineup.

I saw them live once a long time ago, great show. I like Highway Star a lot and some of their other material. I don't recall every hearing anything off the album mentioned in the OP. 

I have no idea who is in the band now or what they sound like. I do think Ritchie Blackmore gets overlooked in the pantheon of British guitarists but that's true of Peter Green, Rory Gallagher and undoubtedly others as well.