HomeNews Update“People have talked to me about that bass solo for a long time, but I never thought much about it”: Andy Fraser names the forgotten song that marked the high point of his bass playing with Free
“People have talked to me about that bass solo for a long time, but I never thought much about it”: Andy Fraser names the forgotten song that marked the high point of his bass playing with Free
July 13, 2024
There is a saying that carries some weight: If you’re good enough, you’re old enough. While it’s true that most rock stars break through in the relatively inexperienced years of their early to mid-20s, not so many make it as teenagers.
After a brief collaboration with John Mayall at the age of just 15, Andy Fraser joined what would become cult rock band Free. Fraser was the youngest member of a group in which no one was 20 years old, and although the band’s albums initially sold modestly, they rose to prominence with the success of fire and waterdriven by the dad rock classic co-written by Fraser Now everything is clear.
In many ways, this song is a microcosm of why Fraser, who died in 2015 aged 62, was such a wonderful bass player: that tight, punchy groove in the chorus, the funky line at the bottom of the guitar solo that acts as a call to the answering melody figure played higher up the neck – and, most shocking of all, the complete absence of bass guitar in the verse!
And yet Fraser could certainly spice it up when he wanted to, as his vamping line during the instrumental section of Mr. Big.
“People have been telling me for a long time about the impact that solo had on them,” Fraser said. “But I never really thought much about it. To be honest, I don’t even think about the bass. I work on the overall sound, and if a song needs bass, I’ll bring it out and play what comes naturally. With keyboards, you can hear all the lush harmonies, but with individual bass notes, you have to be very creative with the phrasing to make the chord changes clear.”
After guitarist Paul Kossoff’s brief legato solo, Fraser builds his two-minute bass solo at 3:06 with a series of staccato lines, working his way into the upper registers with gospel-shout-style chromatic runs.
In 2005, 35 years after his sober groove helped Now everything is clearFraser published Naked.. and finally freehis first solo album in over 20 years.
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The Cathartic Nakedwith its African rhythms and other facets of world music, was a poignant document of the post-Free years in which Fraser tried to overcome his battle with depression, cancer and AIDS while also trying to accept his homosexuality.
The following interview with Bassist took place in November 2005.
How did you get into bass?
“I was the diplomat who became a bass player because everyone else wanted to play something else. But I found it pretty easy; I just had to listen to Stax and Motown records once or twice and I could play the bass lines.”
How did you develop your skills?
“When I was about 13, I started playing in the nightclubs of East London with much older musicians. Looking back, it was probably highly illegal for me to be playing in clubs at that age – these places were just starting up at 2am! But it gave me a lot of first-hand experience of RSB, blues, ska and soul.”
Andy Fraser – Naked and finally free (Album) – YouTube
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Describe your approach to creating bass lines.
“I generally listen to the vocals and try to complement them – if there’s no vocals, you don’t need bass. Robert Palmer played me a track once and asked me to add some bass. I said, ‘Robert, there’s no vocals. I have no idea what to do.’ I let him put the vocals in there so I had something to play over.”
This is different from the typical approach of agreeing on the drummer.
“That’s probably one of the reasons why I’ve driven so many drummers crazy in the past! After I put the drums on Nakedbut I’m more careful now about making sure the kick drum and bass work together. But I still find it easier to play the bass first and then add the kick. I find that if you do the obvious thing for the drums, it just doesn’t work for the bass.”
Has playing bass influenced your songwriting?
“That was the case in the Free days, when my only means of expression was the bass. Today I have control over all the elements. I can express so much more vocally and lyrically.”
