OFF: Great Bassists (was100 Greatest Guitarists)

[StevenTice at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 09/07/2003 10:37:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
nick at THECOMPLETESHEET.COM writes:
Not much of an analysis, I know.  But I figured I had to feed the kitty
before I asked my question, which is. . .

I saw Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe back in the late '80s, and their
bass player was a bald guy. . . I think it was Tony Levin. . . ???

Anyway, from what I can remember. . . and there is a haze over the memory,
I'll admit. . . he was wearing these silver extensions on his fingers (excluding
thumb).  It almost looked like a Freddy Kreuger thing, and instead of picking
or plucking, he was just kind of tapping on the strings with these.

Am I remembering this correctly?  I'd never seen anyone do this before, and
I've never seen it since, and I'm not 100% sure I saw it correctly anyway..  I
don't know.  Anybody?


Yup, that's Tony Levin...they're called "Funk Fingers," and Tony even
describes (with diagrams) how to make them in his book, Beyond the Bass Clef.  He
credits Peter Gabriel with the suggestion of attaching drumsticks to his fingers.
 You can see these things in action on the King Crimson DVD released a couple
of years ago (Tony sure gets around, doesn't he? :-).

Steven Tice
Calliope Comics
519 Valentine Hill Road
Bellefonte, PA 16823
814-355-9830
Musings Online: http://javapadawan.com/calliope/