Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
Produced by Joseph Cottrell, Wayne Hall, Ken Fuller and Jeffrey Crecelius
This week Mark and I took a careful look at the iconic Chris Squire Star Licks video from 1990. Chris is at his relaxed and chatty best and shows off his skills, his guitars and his pedal board. It’s a wonderful time capsule of Yes goodness and Mark and I hugely enjoyed chatting about our reactions to it. The conversation goes down a couple of unexpected routes and we venture, predictably, into the weeds of both kit and musical theory! I promise it’s not tedious though – how could it be with your two favourite podcast hosts in tandem?
You’ll find the videos we talk about below.
- What secrets does Chris share?
- What kit does he show off?
- What do we learn about Yes music from his bass lines here?
See if you agree with us and then leave a comment below.
Preorder the Barry Plummer 2026 Calendar!
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER VERSION SOLD OUT
Yes – The Tormato Story & Tales from Topographic Oceans – Yes Album Listening Guide
Available now!
YMP Patrons:
Producers:
- Joseph Cottrell
- Wayne Hall
- Ken Fuller
- Jeffrey Crecelius
Patrons:
| Aaron Steelman | Lind |
| Al Dell’Angelo | Lobate Scarp |
| Barry Gorsky | Mark Baggs |
| Bill Whittaker | Mark James Lang |
| Bob Martilotta | Mark Slater |
| Brian Harris | Martin Kjellberg |
| Brian Sullivan | Michael Handerhan |
| Chris Bandini | Michael O’Connor |
| Craig Estenes | Miguel Falcão |
| Dave Owen | Paul Hailes |
| David | Paul Tomei |
| David Heyden | Rachel Hadaway |
| David Pannell | Robert Nasir |
| David Watkinson | Robert Vandiver |
| Declan Logue | Ronnie Neeley |
| Dem | Scott Colombo |
| Doug Curran | Simon Barrow |
| Fergus Cubbage | Stephen Lambe |
| Fred Barringer | Steve Dill |
| Gary Betts | Steve Luzietti |
| Geoff Bailie | Steve Perry |
| Geoffrey Mason | Steve Rode |
| Guy DeRome | Steve Scott |
| Henrik Antonsson | Steven Roehr |
| Hogne Bø Pettersen | Terence Sadler |
| Todd Dudley | Thomas DeVries |
| John Cowan | John Thomson |
| John Holden | John Viola |
| Jamie McQuinn | Tim Stannard |
Discover more from Yes Music Podcast
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
11 replies on “A Chris Squire Master Class – 694”
I actually bought this on DVD after my VHS copy was worn out! I’m not sure if the DVD was released by the original copyright holder though.
Did you check out the booklet that came with it with scores? There are a lot of mistakes in there. The Sound Chaser riff was written as 7 sets of triplets in a 7/4 time. Bonkers…
When he demonstrates the long neck Tobias bass in F, did you notice what he was playing? It’s the 5/4 riff from Footprints from KTA2. Six years before it was released!
The longer version of that bass with the BEAD tuning was used on Shock to the System in the Union tour and you can see that on several videos. The cool thing about these basses is that they do have the two dotted fret markers on EADG and it extends down from there. That’s how you can recognize the other one with one fret more.
That bass also showed up on Fly From Here pt 2 and Turn of the Century during the Fly From Here tour, though I wonder if it’s the same. It looks more brown on videos I see now. Chris needed it on both songs to get that open low C sound and add melodies on top of that.
I think the Photon bass shows up on Conspiracy recordings from time to time. I’m pretty sure but not definitively that it’s on the “guitar” solo of Red Light Ahead. I’d have to check the live recordings again to see if it was actually used there.
I was hyper focused a lot on that Star Licks video in my youth and learnt a lot of my own playing from there. Thanks for the wonderful podcast about it!
I don’t have the VHS yet – it’s on its way to me as we speak. Will have a look at the printed material, of course. Thanks for the KTA spot – yes indeed I missed that! Also, many thanks for the other bass spotting. THat Photon is an amazing instrument!
I forgot to mention the obvious fact that Chris is playing the Open Your Eyes lick on the Photon bass, again 6 years before release and a Yes/Conspiracy hybrid.
I also seem to remember the Photon bass being heavily featured on Be The One from KTA1. Not sure if I can find the evidence though.
Did you guys notice the continuity error during the demo of the Tobias long 4 string bass? When he counts to 5 for the 5/4 part of Footprints he’s not holding the Tobias but the Rick
I need to listen again to KTA to hear this!
I came here to say that too, Joost. 🙂
Chris gave an interview to Bassist magazine in January 1997 – my copy is quite dog-eared now! – and he said, “I’m not playing a bass on [Be The One], I’m playing what was developed as a synthesiser guitar called a Photon, an early attempt at a synthesiser bass. The synthesiser part didn’t work, but it still sounds great. The bass on that track is Steve Howe on a 5-string here and there, but Rick played most of the bass parts on keyboards.”
Fantastic stuff – many thanks for the comment, Becky!
As for the Ranney 8-string, Chris also played it live for the song, It Will Be a Good Day, from The Ladder, so I assume he used it in the studio as well – the bass part was certainly recorded with an 8-string.
Aha – well I’ve heard it love then. I was at the Birmingham Ladder Tour show. Thanks again.
Thank you Joost and Becky for the extras… and yes(Yes), I was going to mention a few of these things as well, but y’all are quick on the draw.
Kevin, I believe that it was watching this video when it came out that I learned of the existence of the Chris Squire signature bass. There is some controversy as to whether there were 1000 or only 900 made. Kevin, I’m wondering if there’s any way to conduct an informal poll of the YMP listeners as to how many of us own one of these. It might be interesting at some point to poll how many of the listeners have collected similar CS basses, not to mention the various famous and obscure guitars, drums and keyboards of all the other members.
As far as the Rickenbacker 4001CS’s out there in the audience, I know for sure 2 of us have those, myself #668 and Miguel. A poll can be anonymous… its just I tend to believe that a good majority of fans are also musicians, bassists and have the collecting bug! Thanks for the great show!
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for your comment!
I also own a 4001CS, it was bought 2nd hand in 1996 from a music shop in Amsterdam. Alas, I was so over the moon on being able to own such a bass that I never bothered to ask about if there was any certificate of authenticity for it, so I don’t have any. I am 100% sure it is authentic though a it was an official Rickenbacker dealer and was a renowned music shop (Dirk Witte).
It has been heavily used by me in various bands and on tours, so it has chips and dents and decolouration (the creme color fades terribly in sunlight) and I remember it already crackling near edges when I bought it. It was a custom color for Rickenbacker indeed and I’m sure they didn’t put enough thought in it for the long run. The screw holes loosened very quickly as well and I think I might miss a screw or two as well. I went for strap locks as soon as the strap screws gave out as well.
It is, by all means, a terrible product as many Rickenbacker owners will say, but the sound and playability is majestic.
Cheers,
Joost
That’s wonderful, Joost! Yes, owning a CS is a strange thing. It was my second bass I ever bought and I think paid about $1300 back in 93-94? It has been the main bass for a lot of my home recording, but I don’t think I could risk taking to a club show. Maybe if I was playing on a televised show I would take it out, but I’ve otherwise kept it as is and fairly well preserved. That said, I too have some rust bleed from the neck pickup screws… which seems to happen to a number of them that I’ll see on Ebay. I realized very late, that the Rick-O-sound stereo output doesn’t work the a TRS cable. There are a number of improvements I’d like to make, but feel like I’m a caretaker/custodian as much as an owner and will try and preserve it as best I can as it is and not how I’d rather change it. Golden handcuffs, as they say. The solution of course is to just get a second one or other Rick. I’ll have to share with you at some point a funny mistake I made with it based on Heart of the Sunrise and misunderstanding a fundamental aspect of Chris’ playing. Cheers!