THE BASS EDITION

Montreal born, LA-based Rhonda Smith is an in-demand bass player of the highest order. Her resume includes work with Chaka Khan, Sheile E and several TV bands such as The Martin Short Show band in which she backed artists as diverse as Little Richard, Justin Timberlake and Robert Palmer.

As a member of Prince's current New Power Generation band, Rhonda is on call 24 hours a day.

The Paisley one may, and mostly does call upon his band to play several times a day, and at any time he likes. On the recently completed Australian tour, the band were required to perform at sound check around 4pm for fan club members. Around 9pm they'd perform the full ticketed show they'd been scheduled to do. Then they'd rock on to a local club for the after party, a free-for-all jam session which could last for hours. If Prince was particularly happy, he'd seek, and find yet another venue to play. When I spoke to Rhonda Smith she was recovering from such a day, one that eventually ended at 5.30am.

I began by asking her to recall the single most grueling day she's had while playing with Prince …

RS: Yesterday, everyday, they are usually the same. He's born to play, loves to play. Especially when we are going to countries we haven't been to for a while. He likes to make his fans feel like they're getting lots of Prince. It's a little easier to do in America. Over here our bodies are still not used to the time difference. Regardless of how late we stay up, we have a tendency to wake up very early because our bodies are used to the other world times.

GP: What sort of things bother him about a performance?

RS: He's like anyone else, I imagine he wants things right. He's not someone who is probably tolerable of a lot of errors but that's not what we do. He surrounds himself with a very good group of musicians who do their part and play pretty masterfully, so we don't seem to have a lot of issues.

GP: How did the Prince gig come about, did you audition for the band?

RS: I would say yes. I played with Prince in a jam. I was invited to come to Paisley Park one day and stay for a couple of days. It was his form of audition, which I guess he does with everybody. He just has jams, nothing in particular that you're supposed to learn. Fly by the seat of your pants, see how you do. It was great because he was working on Emancipation at that time and after I auditioned, I stayed for a couple of days and he asked me if I wanted to come into the studio and play on a couple of songs. That's when I got the chance to play my fretless. I didn't think he had a lot of that before so I got to play on a couple of really nice tunes.

GP: Does he ever have one on one discussions with you or the other members of the band in regard to specific song parts?

RS: A little bit of everything. He is the arranger. It's his band and music, It's his vision. He knows what he wants before he says it, he hears everything.

GP: Do you think the band has changed musically since you have been with them?

RS: It's a little larger. I was always used to having a lot more guitar players in the band before and now it's only him, so there's more keyboards.

GP: Does that change the way you play?

RS: My main objective has always been the same in a band such as this and especially in a pop situation … pocket, be the bass and play with the drums and be tight underneath everyone, it's always the first priority. It's not about playing a million notes. Those are things we can do at the after parties and go crazy. It's about structure so that everyone else can have something solid to fly all over. It's always been the same with every band I have played with and Prince knows me for that. He knows that when I hit that stage I'm not going to go crazy. I'm going to be solid and play those parts because that's what he requires. It's not a Jaco Pastorius concert.

GP: What do you think you have learned from playing with Prince?

RS: A lot of patience. Again, the importance of being solid in the band. Everyone has a different role. His being around funky people all the time, it rubs off. I've learned a lot of techniques from him. A lot of things from Larry Graham who is like my dad. I use my thumb a little bit differently than when I first came in. My thumb is rather small and can get beneath the strings and on top at the same time kinda like a pick, but I've been able to incorporate some of their technique. Prince's technique is somewhat close to Larry's too. Larry's the best. That's been wonderful because I don't use a pick. There's a particular way that he and Larry use their thumb and it's not so much about speed or finesse, it's about a sound, it's about a tone, a deadening of the string. It's about a vibe. You can play 3 very simple notes but it's about how you attack it with the thumb. So that sort of thing I don't believe you can get by just watching somebody do it. You have to be around it and inhale it and watch it for a while and live and breathe it. Things such as that I have learned and have been invaluable.

GP: What about your own recording … do you have some unfinished recording to deal with?

RS: I do. I am looking forward to doing a new record and getting some distribution and playing and touring with it. But it's difficult to do at the moment because of what we're doing with Prince.

GP: You're currently playing a Fender Jazz Bass, I read that it wasn't your choice to play that bass, you prefer a Fender Zone but the Jazz is the sound Prince is after. Is that true?

RS: Absolutely. I've played a lot of different instruments with him. To a certain extent you have to please the client. I started with 6 strings, 5 strings, I played everything with this guy. It also helps that when you're dealing with a multi talented instrumentalist like himself, a lot of the time when he wants to show you a part, or hear something, he just comes over to your instrument. Sometimes he'll just play it when it's still strapped on to me. I imagine it's a lot easier if it's an instrument he is used to playing. He doesn't want to come over to someone who's got a nine string bass and try to show them something. He's gonna go "what's that? Is that a B string or what!" But as far as the sound of the great Fender Jazz Bass goes, he loves it, as I do.

GP: Is he as fussy with amplification too?

RS: I don't necessarily think that he's fussy, but like anyone else… if he doesn't like your sound, he's going to tell you. Right now I'm using Mesa Boogie, and he's also using it too, and it's making a very nice combination on stage.

GP: And you also use Aguilar gear?

RS: I absolutely love Aguilar, love their heads. I think they are fantastically made, very solid and they sound great. I've been using them live for about 2 years. I had one of their pre-amps put into a Fender Zone Bass I have and it was a wonderful improvement on the sound of the bass. I'm very particular and it's very, very nice. They have great quality stuff.

GP: Do you use many effects?

RS: I use a lot of effects. I use a lot of pedals. I have a couple of EBS pedals that I like very much. Like the Bass IQ. It's a lot of fun. I have a couple of Digitechs. I like their Choruses. I have a Whammy pedal, an old Digitech, not the newer one. I use distortion quite often.

GP: Are you a bass collector?

RS: I have many. I just got rid of some. I had about 26 before I came out here. It just got too much, takes a lot of storage. I have about 20 now, but they're all pieces of my history so I like them very much. Most of them are peculiar basses and most of them are active. I'm just starting to get a larger Fender collection, which I'm loving.

GP: What about strings?

RS: I use GHS Bass Boomers. I use them pretty big, I think 45 to 105 and I've never broken a string on stage in 5 years, which means a lot to me.

GP: What advice would you give to a kid starting out on bass?

RS: I'd probably say listen to all styles of music, don't stick to one. My main advice is always the same, do it because you love it and it will love you back.

GP: What about bass maintenance, what's important?

RS: I think the number one thing we all don't do enough, and I don't know if this is answering your question, but number one is stretching your hands. Very, very, very important. As far as the bass, just wipe it down when it's dirty and crusty. It sounds better. What else … get over your first dent. It's going to happen. It's just like when you get a new car.

I left Rhonda with the little time that was left of her only official day off. The bulk of the band's concert gear was already on it's way back to the states. The next morning Smith, the band and a basic rig were off to Hawaii for some serious clubbin', Prince style.

Check out www.rhondasmith.com for more information about Rhonda and her solo CD "Intellipop".

Article by Greg Phillips