Has anyone ever used a Gibson Thunderbird in any kind of prog?

Jan 23, 2020
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In my experience Gibson Thunderbirds are usually thought of as basses people use for playing simple and heavy bass lines but has anyone ever seen someone using it in prog or just generally using it for more complex stuff?
 
Well, I certainly do use my two 'Birds for fairly simple, heavy bass lines, but... with the right strings, and some judicious amp/pedal tweaking, I can't see any reason why you couldn't play anything else with one. At the end of the day, it's...just a bass (and, now I'm in trouble..:rolleyes:). This would be a good question to ask over in the Thunderbird Club forum. I imagine some of my fellow members play all kinds of stuff with their 'Birds...:cool:
 
The late, great Chris Squire comes to mind...

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As for "complex stuff"...I'd venture a guess that most bass players would regard the style of late John Entwistle as complex...

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In my experience Gibson Thunderbirds are usually thought of as basses people use for playing simple and heavy bass lines but has anyone ever seen someone using it in prog or just generally using it for more complex stuff?
Simple heavy bass lines? Man you are sheltered.
 
You can play anything you like on a Thunderbird. I've done it in my cover bands. We cover a little bit of everything depending on the venue we play. Prog, R&B, Rock, Grunge, Alternative, Pop, Country, Reggae, Hip Hop, Punk just to name a few. I played a Thunderbird exclusively through 25 gigs in 6 months covering all of the above genres just last year. Worked just as well for me as a P or J once I EQ'd for the venue.
 
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I do understand and as a life long Thunderbird player I find it rather insulting.
Well, I did not say that simple bass lines are inferior to a more complex style so I don’t really see why you would be insulted but you do understand the difference in style between Nikki Sixx and Geddy Lee, right? I’m just asking a question because I’m interested in knowing, whether anybody has used a Thunderbird to play in a style such as, for instance, Geddy Lee’s.
 
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I have... on prog stuff nobody here has ever heard of. Wasn't mine (was a borrowed gibson), and it was super cool... but it was a long long time ago in a project far far away, and I doubt I even have the mixdowns anywhere still. So many recordings I've done in my life, so little to show for it... LoL

but it worked fine. wasn't as bright as I would choose these days, but back in the 80s or 90s when I did it the setup in that studio got a great tone out of it. I only owned my fretless at the time and this excellent fretted tbird was available, and the owner (as was common for me back in those days) was kind enough to let me play it on the session. Pretty heavy jazz prog stuff with overdrive, recorded in Vancouver somewhere.

Anyhow - any good bass can do any style, as long as it's not too extreme of a unique instrument.