Matthew Canty

On 10/02/2022 at 07:37, FDC484950 said:

Wasn’t Laurence a regular contributor to Making Music magazine? IIRC it was a free, A4-sized mag that used to be distributed in music shops in the 80s and 90s. It was a fair while ago but I remember he had a good writing style.

He was. And I just found what appears to be a complete archive down the back of some shelves.

Hello everyone.

Sad to be saying that my dad has passed away. He died on Sunday 17th December around 1pm - just in time for a coffee.

It's been a really tough few years. I want everyone who said something on this thread to know it's been really important for me to hear these kind words, stories and memories.

I had to no doubt he was a kind, inspirational and talented person. Liked by so many. I want you all to know that he was a wonderful dad who taught me so much about the world, life and of course bass guitar.

If you're in any doubt as to how you might remember him in any way in light of this news, perhaps you'll find something in his Desert Island Discs, curated by him:

I also kept track of any music that was discussed or mentioned during his stay at the care home:

And finally, he recorded a gig back in 1991 at the Tower Hotel in London. It was mixed recently and I'm hoping to have it mastered soon and pressed to vinyl. Nothing commercial, just a very special keepsake. The tracks are SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/matthewcanty1988/sets/tower-hotel-1991-vinyl

I'm celebrating with music.

On 12/08/2023 at 17:52, Derek Slade said:

Hello, Matthew – my name is Derek Slade. I was thinking about your dad earlier today and decided to look around the internet for news about him. The first link took me to this thread, and I was shocked and saddened to hear about his illness.

 

I first met Laurence over fifty years ago, when we were students at Lancaster University in the late 60s-early 70s (I was then known as Del). I joined a band with him and Andrew Fry (known as Friz). We were first called Ladder, then Undercarriage. We played at parties on and around the campus, and supported Hawkwind and Al Stewart at the university.

 

Even then your dad seemed to have total command of the bass; he always knew what he was going to play, and why. He was incredibly friendly and had a wickedly dry wit. During our time together we recorded some songs and had them pressed as 45s. Here’s a link to Friz’s recollections of this: https://www.45cat.com/record/ibcep3655. Incidentally, I’m sure Friz would wish to contribute to this thread, though I’m afraid I don’t have contact details for him.  He and Laurence left the university for London a year before I came down. They formed another band with a new guitarist; I remember seeing them at a pub in Bromley, the place was packed and it was a great night.

 

Dementia is a terrible disease; I hope your dad is as well as possible, and I wish you both all the very best.

Thanks Derek. Here’s some photos you might find of interest…

The poster was framed recently by me and hangs above my desk. And I’m guessing that’s you on guitar?

I’d be interested in making contact with Friz. You have both been mentioned often over the last 2 years.

2 hours ago, Kiwi said:

@Matthew Canty look what I discovered while sorting through some old books! I knew I still had it somewhere...

 

 

Jaydee aren't dead yet though.  

Nice one! Whenever I stumble upon the letter you sent I’ll be sure to send this through. I don’t think I’m familiar with DJ Guitars, although I’m currently gig-lagged and not really thinking about much today 😂 

Laurence had a band based in Lancaster with long-time musical friend Fred Binley. The band was called Quay Change. There's not a right lot of material out there, but here is a little bit of phone footage I just found from 2016. Must have been during the 2016 Lancaster Music Festival. Jane hopped on the mic for one song that day, however she was also a regular vocalist with the band around 2009-2011. Fred is still a great friend of mine and my dad's. 

Video Link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/kxiNg5BNAvGveuox6

Quay Change

15th October 2016

Wagon & Horses

Jane Dodson - Vocals

Laurence Canty - Bass

Fred Binley - Keys

Tim Franks - Drums

I've been away for a month or so. Thanks for the recent messages. Saw him the other day and it's funny how the condition produces illusions of familiarity. Happy to report he thought he'd seen @frannie01 the weekend before! I just smile these days... unless, maybe he did!?

Thanks for your detailed and kind message @Wyndham Price. I read it out to him and he commented that it must have been 37 years since seeing you "Wyn", mid-80s. Sound about right?

I can't remember who... but he did say one of you wouldn't switch from 3 to 4-finger patterns on the left hand 🤣 Even today, I still feel like I'm being taught.

Hello everyone,

Just thought I'd throw a little update out, as it's been nearly a year!

Thank you so much for all those who have continued to drop in and say a few things. It really means a lot to me to hear that he impacted so many players in a positive way. He would absolutely love to talk "degrees of separation" with all this. I sometimes like thinking about the "chains of inspiration" which must exist from one player to the next...

@Ace Bass, 1976/77, that is early! You must have been a guinea pig for some of his thoughts. I tried to find Neville Wills, are you referring to the guitarist associated with Bowie (https://www.bowiebible.com/features/live-band-personnel-1962-2006/)? Looks like the internet doesn't go back that far 😆. Anyway I'll keep an eye out for something in the house and report back. I have his diaries back to 1972 so I'll surely find something.

Dad is in stable condition. I mean dementia only goes one way, but he is comfortable and doesn't know much else. I see him every Friday, and always have a nice chat about music theory or music history. I have many hours of voice recordings on my phone. We also made a start on the Beatles doc. However I only really get an hour of useful time out of him so it could take another year to finish that!

Keep playing everyone, and have fun! That is all he ever wanted.

Best

Matt

@Basses Id Like To Pluck marvellous!

Thanks for posting this. I have found drafts of this magazine, but not this one. I’ll get this one printed out for the “This Is Your Life” red binder.

incidentally I know this story well, I’ve been told it many times!!

Next time I see him I’ll mention it for you.

Thanks

Matt

On 27/05/2022 at 18:45, Kiwi said:

I have a handwritten letter from your dad in a book somewhere in storage...from 1992!  I read What Bass at the ripe old age of 16, having taken bass up and left drums behind the previous year.  I can't remember what I wrote to him about specifically but I was obsessed about bass and thirsty for information being stuck in the comparative wilderness that was New Zealand at the time.  I suspect I was asking him about Jaydees and Status basses.

Epic! I can probably track down your letter easily if it’s there. I’m moving into his house on the 4th June. Once dust has settled I’ll have a look through.

Matt

On 06/04/2022 at 14:40, PTB said:

I’m sure it was a regular “headed” Bass when I knew LC - or am I dreaming??

There was a regular-headed fretless as well. However I have found letters indicating he was particularly happy about it. Don’t think the choice of wood worked out.

I think this bass was part of some wild imagination with the left over body.

There are 3 basses now and it’s going to take some detective work to piece it all  together. Most of the involved people have passed away.

Here is that infamous bass at the studio on Friday. He’d had it fretted a while ago but I restored it.

(I should know better about my LH thumb position! I play a lot of guitar these days…)

It needs some finesse, longer strings should have been used and the action is a bit challenging. 
 

😂 

3 minutes ago, shantijoe said:

Hi Matthew

I'm very sorry to hear about your Dad. He was a good friend of mine and we used to meet regularly before he moved to Lancaster.

I depped for him once at Goldsmiths but saw less of him since we both left London.

 

I had a 60th  birthday party at the home of my ex in Lancaster so we met up again.

I also saw a band he was playing with in Lancaster where I believe you were bar tending so I introduced myself...?

 

One abiding memory is his love of trains and coffee!

 

All the best, joe

Hello Joe!

I’ll have to admit not remembering that occasion in the bar but there was a lot to occupy the mind on that job.

Maybe there is a figment of a memory…

Trains yes and coffee yes. We built a train set together when I was a child. I was also brought up on a diet of “mini-caps” which I think are commonly known as “baby-cinos” today. Prefer our name!

2 hours ago, toneknob said:

how do!

My favourite Laurence Canty story from the basschat archives: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/193152-the-power-of-basschat/#comment-1884147

Also, Colin mentions Laurence in the Bass Magazine interview from the first edition of Bass Magazine https://bassmagazine.com/artists/colin-greenwood-how-to-disappear-completely

 

I've got both What Bass (third edition) and Electric Bass Guitar, The Complete Guide - More What Bass memories to follow but what sticks in my mind is how to set up a Boss Octave pedal for optimum Pino sound. The Complete Guide - the rhythm patterns, aieee

 

Disclosure, I worked with @toneknob 😄

Thanks again! I remember it happening very quickly. Hope I'll one day see and play that bass...

8 hours ago, PTB said:

Apologies for being late to this…….

 

I had private lessons with Laurence at his flat in Highgate (I think) around 1988/89. After a few weeks, he told me he couldn’t do the time slot any more because he was about to start teaching a bass course at Goldsmiths. I immediately signed up and learned loads. He was a great teacher and the whole class had great respect for him and enjoyed the course. 
 

One evening he called me to say he’d given my name to a drummer who was looking for a bass player. I was astonished as I certainly wasn’t top of the class. That led to an audition that started 32 years of gigs and lasting friendships. 
 

I’m very grateful for meeting him early in my bass journey.  Pass on my thanks & best wishes please. 

Woah! That's quite a stint. I'm glad for you as well, what a great opportunity.

1 hour ago, louisthebass said:

I might be wrong on this (maybe some BC'ers who are in the legal profession could confirm), but I would've thought it would be ok to publish your dad's "Making Music" columns as his work would be his own copyright?

It will be published under his name so I suspect you are probably right. I’m looking forward to finding them now.

I found an interview on cassette with Colin Greenwood last night, which he claims became a Making Music article.

4 minutes ago, ossyrocks said:

Your Dad has come up in conversation a couple of times in just the past couple of weeks. I was talking to an old bass player buddy of mine about tutors in Lancaster and he mentioned your Dad. He’d had a few lessons years ago and recommended him.

A few days later I was talking to Gary Thistlethwaite in Promenade Music, Morecambe, and he talked about him too, and explained about his poor health. Gary may have some tales for you, he was very complimentary about your Dad.

 

Rob

Yep I know Gary well. I bought one of my first JV Precisions from him over 15 years ago. Lots of dealing been done in Promenade.

Been a few years since he tutored in Lancaster. I think it’d have been good if The Music Spot had established a little earlier.

10 hours ago, Misdee said:

I had the  Complete Guide book, although to be honest with you I could never get to grips with learning how to read music, so I had limited access to the information contained within it. That is my fault though, not your dad's. I can still remember my 14 year old self sitting in my bedroom trying to glean what I could from the pages. I remember buying a metronome and an A440 tuning fork like the book told me I needed to, now I think about it.

 

I often wonder what kids learning the bass nowadays would do if they had to go back to live in the world before You Tube. Maybe they would be less scathing of old men like me still trying to properly understand the cycle of fifths.

 

I am truly sorry to hear that your dad is unwell. Sending my very best wishes to you both. Have a smashing day with your dad. 

Honestly I had so many lesson back as a teenager from him. It felt like we did the rhythm exercises for ETERNITY. 
 

I’ll admit the tuning fork is probably no longer essential! However I do use it to keep his basses in tune.

They have so much information nowadays and it must be wonderful to have video reference. I do plan on revisiting some of the book’s main features in video form. Idea still forming and would not be any sort of total republication. YouTube is saturated.

27 minutes ago, wulf said:

I've not spent much time on this forum for a while but I've been a regular on Scott's Bass Lessons, where I recently started a thread reminiscing about the books we started on. How to Play Bass Guitar wasn't my very first one and, I have to confess, I never actually owned a copy but I might have bought it if I'd found one in those pre-Internet shopping days. However, I had it out of the local library several times.

 

My recollection is that mentioned something about classical music based exercises, like etudes and (I think) specifically playing Bach's cello music. I probably first read the book round about 1987 and it inspired me to study some of Bach's cello suites when I was doing GCSE music and using one of the pieces (admittedly the easiest one I could find!) as part of my successful performance exam. It is a book I remember fondly from my early playing years and although I can't recall everything about it, I owe your Dad a debt of gratitude for that one thing which influenced me and has stuck with me.

 

Wulf

It's nice to hear someone else who has picked up the Bach! I've spent many years playing them. He was known for playing one of them as his "sound check" of the bass at every gig he played - only the first chord. I am currently studying one which I never got round to learning. I play through the other three regularly though and have recently found new appreciation for playing them with the help of Kenny Werner's Effortless Mastery.

1 hour ago, louisthebass said:

Your dad's book was the first bass book I ever bought; a lot of the content was way beyond me at the time, but I learned the very basics of technique from it. I gave it away to somebody a few years later, but "re-bought" the updated version back in the late 90's (I think). I also remember reading your dad's column in "Making Music" magazine back in the day, and always found it very well written and informative.

 

Sorry to hear that he's in poor health, but your dad's books have helped me along the way with my playing over the years. Best wishes to you both.

 

Thanks for sharing this. Over the next few months/years as I dig through everything I will make sure to keep a hold of Making Music pieces. I'll publish them again online, hopefully no one will mind all these years on! He actually has an even new version of the book, but I am working on how that should progress.

8 minutes ago, 4000 said:

I second this. Wishing you both all the best. 
 

I do however have a copy upstairs of “What Bass” by your dad and Tony Bacon, which I used to refer to a lot in the old days. I found some of the stuff in it very helpful, certainly pre-Internet. The section on fretless and fingerboard radius actually helped me identify what it was I preferred about certain fretted basses and the Problem Solving section helped my early forays into setup immeasurably. Tell your dad thanks from me. 

As an aside, my band plays Lancaster quite often. 

Give me a shout next time your playing. I live in London at the moment but relocating later this year.

Making Music (previous commenter) is written on the spine of What Bass, didn’t realise there was a connection there.

I be passing on regards when I see him later.

43 minutes ago, FDC484950 said:

Wasn’t Laurence a regular contributor to Making Music magazine? IIRC it was a free, A4-sized mag that used to be distributed in music shops in the 80s and 90s. It was a fair while ago but I remember he had a good writing style.

Yes, I’ve found some bits and pieces about that, mainly letters. I’m sure that I’ll eventually find copies of the magazine somewhere too.

Hello everyone,

My name is Matt and my dad is Laurence Canty. I have so many beautiful memories from the little pubs of Lancaster (UK) where he played with the local trad' jazz bands. Eventually he started his own band here in Lancaster called Quay Change. They peddled "modern?" jazz to the local area - weddings, university balls, and such like etc.

He is perhaps best-known for his book Electric Bass Guitar, The Complete Guide which has had various titles and versions since it's inception around 1974. There was also a significant stint as lecturer(?) of bass guitar at Goldsmiths. He took over this post from Mo Foster! He taught me how to play bass guitar from about 12 years old. I remember long lessons spent on the correct pressure to apply to the strings. 

Unfortunately, he has mid-to-late Dementia. He still remembers significant amounts of his life however he suffers delusions and logic completely escapes him. He is in an a sad situation but the fact he can remember his life makes it all the more important that I gather stories sooner rather than later.

I am looking for anyone who may know anything about him. You may have been his private pupil. You may have found his book and found it to be advantageous? You may have played gigs with him in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s or 10s and have something you remember about him?

I am ultimately looking for the bass communities' experience of my dad. I'd love to see stories, photographs, videos or simply a memory of the way he was way back when.

I'll be seeing him tomorrow. We'll probably talk about coffee and music, as we always do.

[quote name='AnalogBomb' timestamp='1358861012' post='1946127']
I've just emailed a centre in Sheffield that deals with their UK based repairs and the TC Support team. I'm pretty mad about this, why can't stuff just work the first time.....
[/quote]

I've also just emailed Sheffield.

I've had this amp posted on Gumtree for a month now. If anyone is interested I'm willing to take £230 for it (£250 on Gumtree).

Bought recently but not been playing bass at all so want to move it on. It gives just the sound you would expect from an Ashdown, in working order and with a kettle lead.

There is slight damage to the input controller from previous owner.

You must collect as I don't have a car.

Please click on the link below for further information and [b]pictures[/b].

[url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/ashdown-bass-amp-300-watt-mag-c115-300/95734049"]http://www.gumtree.c...15-300/95734049[/url]

Thanks,
Matt