Alex Lifeson admits he felt “resentment” towards Geddy Lee when he began putting more keyboards into Rush’s sound in the ’80s: “The keyboards went before the guitar”
In the mid 1980s, Rush pivoted to keyboard-heavy records, leaving guitarist Alex Lifeson perplexed as to how he could fit into their music.
It all began with 1982’s Signals, and continued through until 1989 when they returned to a base of guitar work with Presto. According to Lifeson, he felt a little bit resentful towards bandmate Geddy Lee for his decision to implement more keys and synths, but he figured one change could help him cut through and be heard: a new guitar.
READ MORE: “He would go, ‘What riff?’” Geddy Lee says he had to record all of Rush’s songwriting sessions because Alex Lifeson would forget “great” riffs just minutes after playing them
Speaking to musician and YouTuber Rick Beato, Lifeson looks back on the struggle, and how he overcame it (via Ultimate Guitar): “When we got to the mid-’80s, when we were doing those dense keyboard records, it was really a challenge for me. ’Cause, when we recorded those records, the keyboards went before the guitar.
“I would sit around, waiting, waiting, and waiting to do guitar stuff. And the more keyboard stuff I heard, the more layers, it was almost impossible for me to figure out how am I gonna fit in here. And by the way, I’m the guitar player in this band. What happened?”
He goes on to question, “Did I resent that? Maybe a little bit, but I took it as a challenge, and it became a task. I had to figure out how I was gonna get around this.
“The frequencies occupied by keyboards are similar to heavy guitars, so you can’t really take that approach to fit something in. So, I switched guitars. Instead of playing something like a Les Paul, or a PRS, I got a single-coil active guitar. Now, it was bright, very clear, and it could cut through all of that stuff. And that ended up being the primary guitar sound for those records, because that was the only way I felt I could fit in.”
You can watch the interview below:
Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee will reunite as Rush to commence their Fifty Something world tour this June. Celebrating 50-something years of Rush music, the pair will be joined by drummer Anika Nilles, who will play in place of the late Neil Peart. Lee and Lifeson have said they will pay a nightly tribute to Peart on the tour.
Lee told National Today, “We’ve been talking about certain songs that we feel really, really give us the vision of Neil. Twice a night we will pick a song to play sort of for him and we’ll present a visual tribute behind us, to Neil, whether it be to his lyrics or just to his playing or whatever.”
Find out more information about the Fifty Something tour via the official Rush website.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
