Chris Wolstenholme started as the drummer, than Muse got Dom and he said "ok, I'll play bass". He can play guiar, he do back vocals, in the last album he wrote a couple of songs and he also sing a song as main singer. He plays armonica in Knighs of Cydonia intro... MAN IT'S A GENIUS THE SAME AS MATT (hint: if not done yet, search for Bellamy playing classical music at the piano, as good as Lady Gaga!!!). I just love this band...
Small correction: Dom (guitarist/drummer) started Muse with Matt (guitarist/piano). They needed a bassist and they couldn’t find one. Chris didn’t do music with them, he was a drummer in the year below and played football. The boys approached him and asked him to learn bass to play in their band, he said ‘ok’ and the rest is history!
Think you might be confused on another point. Those two songs he wrote and sang were featured on The 2nd Law which released 10 years ago. At the time of your comment they released two albums since then and neither feature him on main vocals or as the lead songwriter.
@@GxTx015 I think that he is referring to her piano playing. Apparently she is a very skilled pianist like Bellamy, and can play advanced classical pieces.
@@mo000on He shuldn't really get all the credit the bassplayer want to give him, since Bellamy writes most of these legendary basslines.. -You disagree. You think that he should get the credit?
I spent twenty minutes chatting with Chris backstage at Coachella in 2010 before I realised who he was. Back then I worked for Gorillaz and we had so much that went wrong that weekend (the Iceland volcano mostly …) Of course Muse absolutely blew up that main stage on the Saturday evening. Incredible band, top lad.
I remember reading an interview with Kerry King (Slayer) & he said the best concert he's ever been to was a MUSE show in California. Pretty cool coming from one of the guys who wrote Reign in Blood & Angel of Death, etc. and is part of the "Big 4" in metal (Slayer, Antrhax, Megadeth & Metallica).
Chris has been one of my top fav bassists ever since I started playing in 2003. He's so stellar and Underrated but like you're saying, his tone and style is amazing
The double necked bass, is specially build, for him, in Japan. And don't forget, that he sings all backing vocals. Oh, and he used to be a drummer, so he plays drums and percussion in recordings, with Dom. He plays keys, guitar and ofcourse harmonica...
Thanks for talking about the considerable talents of Chris [and Muse] without trying to show how great you are on bass. This makes your video exceptionally specific and well worth sharing with my friends!
He wrote “Liquid State” and “Save Me”. Sang both too. Wish he would sing more lead vocals but he seems rather shy about it, and Matt’s a tough act to compete with.
On the double-neck: Not an iPad, it’s actually a MIDI instrument called Kitara, made by the brand Misa. They’re really hard to come by nowadays. Chris got one at some point and loved it, and then got it custom built into one of his basses.
Wolstenholmes bass lines shaped how I play. All of his lines require so much stamina and he always perfectly compliments the songs he’s on. One of my favorites from him is city of delusion, just unbelievable comping from him and the effects are fucking silly dude. I know you focus more on theory but the work muse has die for effects driven rock is impossible to ignore. Great vid dude
Correction- It’s not an iPad but a Korg Kaoss pad. It was originally made for DJs. Muse incorporated it into their instruments along with other effects for their original sound.
Great video, thank you so much for showing the world such a magnificent, precise, fantastic bassist. He's so precise that I call him Rolex😅 , by the way he has a beautiful voice.. long life to Wolstembeast!
One of my top 3 influences on bass Ryan Martini for chording and attack Chris for effects and thickening up the mix Marcus Miller for tone and smoothness
Chris doesn't get much attention also because he never does interviews. He has a more private life and is not so great at interviews in general, having less of a rockstar presence as Matt and Dom so many overlook his importance and influence in the Muse sound.
Hmm Chris is very good doing interview. Recently I heard him in a podcast hosted by a band called Flawes and it's a blast. He's a very good story teller and also funny. He just prefers to spend time more with his family so we barely see him doing interview. He also once stated don't like to be under spotlight that much so maybe that's the reason.
Wolstenholme is a utilitarian player. hes writing with the feeling of "okay, thats enough". ofc, it always is. just enough flash to fill his slot, provides EEEXACTLY the needed level of support but never rushes up front when the song has a specific place for bass.
well now it is an iPad lol…. they had a lot of issues with the Misa Kitara… so Status teamed up with a company called Star Labs or something and made a controller utilizing an iPad
@@renofumi28 “The bass was later succeeded by the greatly improved and re-colored Doubleneck Mk2 version, in 2017. While keeping the original intent of the Doubleneck bass, the Misa Kitara part was ditched completely out of the Mk2, using instead, a custom-built keyboard, with all it's electronics hidden inside the neck, connected to an iPad, which connects to MIDI through wireless. The Mk1 is still kept in Chris's rack, but for backup purposes. The Kitara part on the Mk2 was built by a company called ‘Starr Labs’.”
I honestly don't know much about Wolstenholme nor Muse. Other than it's become kind of a rite of passage to learn Hysteria for a lot of bassist. It's far from my brand on Rock N Roll but I have to respect the level of musicianship and the performances they put on.
Felix Pappalardi is so underrated he would be left off a list of the Top Fifty bass players of WOODSTOCK! That guy could play and produce and sing at level many(most) couldn't match! Nantucket Sleighride from Mountain shows it all sweet vocals, original bass and song writing and production skills, a complete package. Produced for the Youngbloods, Cream, Mountain, The Vagrants and many others.
Christopher Wolstenholme is the unsung hero from Muse. The way he perfoms.... I can feel his basslines in my balls! Some of my fave are: Futurism at Zepp, Tokyo 2013 Their show at Mayan 2015 Reapers at Cologne He's a laid back monster yet so powerful on stage.
I think Chris used to be in lifehouse way back when. That is cool to know he found a “band home”. Actually it could be that I’m wrong. lol. I could be thinking of someone different
Muse is the biggest band nobody has ever heard of. I've been lucky enough to have seen them 7 times live and Chris is an amazing bass player, both live and in the studio.
No disrespect intended, but Chris is far from underrated. He is well known, well respected and well looked upon for his bass playing skill and talent. Any bass player or just any musician who enjoys Muse will take note of Chris' playing. Your videos are very insightful though and I don't mean to knock on you, but if you want underrated: you really should look into bassists such as Tye Zamora (Alien Ant Farm). The guy almost had a signature Fender model made for him that looked unlike any other Fender made before. Title should be something other than underrated. Chris is a god... But that is purely my opinion.
I don't think he's underrated, I think he just keeps a low profile and hence doesn't get as much attention as he should but he probably prefers it that way.
I don’t think he’s actually underrated. I think he’s just not “rated” enough because of the clivage there is around Muse. It’s my favourite band, but I know many people can’t really stand them, sometimes because of Bellamy’s “whining” or them because too commercial or whatever reason one can have. But Chris is generally praised by the bassists that know of him.
This is a great video but you can’t call one of the most venerated & feted rock bassists of the last two decades “underrated”. Every music store rings daily to poorly executed renditions of Hysteria. If you want to talk about underrated bassists you should look at the incredible Norman Watt Roy (Ian Dury & The Buzzcocks and Wilco Johnson). In fact I’d love to see you do a similar video study of Norman.
Chris and Muse in general are underrated if we are talking worldwide. But their talents are well known among the artists and musicians in general. You might think they are famous because they are in your area or country. But I'll tell you a lot of people know Muse here in Canada a few know them really well but the majority doesn't know them at all. I have never heard a Muse song being jammed in any music store I have been too. Nor hearing a Muse song playing in a bar or in an event and the people went crazy. Overrated/underrated is relative but worldwide in general Chris and the band in general are I think really underrated or I should say unknown. As I have read somewhere we know that there are good right now but in 20 years we will remember them as the Queen or the Metallica of this last generation.
How much did he pay you to do this video. He is really odd in my opinion and I think the situation needs looking into . He is the most overrated base player if you actually listen and he has so much help from extremely gifted musicians he should be much better ☠☠☠☠☠☠
@@Kick1066 No I think that it makes sense that he is overrated. Because most of these legendary basslines aren't written by him. Still he is praised all over, for something that he didn't write.
@@Djjdjdjdjdg Matthew Bellamy, the singer, guitarist, pianist and composer of Muse. He writes most of these legendary basslines. Bellamy wrote, the Hysteria Bassline on a guitar. Since it was a guitar riff before it became a song. New Born was apparently also written by Bellamy. I think on a piano. .. So you see, right..?
Chris' double neck bass isn't an ipad hack. He's had a Misa Kitara integrated into a double body, you can tell by the "fretboard" of the Kitara, it's a series of touch sense buttons. Look at the neck, and compare: icdn2.digitaltrends.com/image/o1-1200x630-c.jpg He used it a ton on the Drones album. It is a midi controller, much like a Kaos, but has the flexibility of a guitar. I've tried one, you "strum" the digital strings on the screen, or use it like a Kaos, like Matt uses on his Mansons. Great instrument, and as soon as you see one (I tried one earlier than Muse) I thought IMMEDIATELY "Muse will definitely use this, either Matt or Chris, most likely Chris" and I was right!
Christopher Wolstenholme is one of my favorite bass player of all times!
My first concert ever was from Muse
Chris Wolstenholme started as the drummer, than Muse got Dom and he said "ok, I'll play bass". He can play guiar, he do back vocals, in the last album he wrote a couple of songs and he also sing a song as main singer. He plays armonica in Knighs of Cydonia intro... MAN IT'S A GENIUS THE SAME AS MATT (hint: if not done yet, search for Bellamy playing classical music at the piano, as good as Lady Gaga!!!). I just love this band...
Small correction: Dom (guitarist/drummer) started Muse with Matt (guitarist/piano). They needed a bassist and they couldn’t find one. Chris didn’t do music with them, he was a drummer in the year below and played football. The boys approached him and asked him to learn bass to play in their band, he said ‘ok’ and the rest is history!
Think you might be confused on another point. Those two songs he wrote and sang were featured on The 2nd Law which released 10 years ago. At the time of your comment they released two albums since then and neither feature him on main vocals or as the lead songwriter.
“As good as lady gaga” 😂 I honestly think Lady Gaga makes terrible music but after all it’s just my opinion
@@GxTx015 i don't really like it either, but trust me she plays piano unbelievably good
@@GxTx015 I think that he is referring to her piano playing. Apparently she is a very skilled pianist like Bellamy, and can play advanced classical pieces.
He absolutely doesn't get enough credit , one of the reasons I picked up bass
I thought he was pretty widely regarded as a great bassist. Hysteria is one of the greatest basslines ever written.
@@mo000on He shuldn't really get all the credit the bassplayer want to give him, since Bellamy writes most of these legendary basslines.. -You disagree. You think that he should get the credit?
I spent twenty minutes chatting with Chris backstage at Coachella in 2010 before I realised who he was. Back then I worked for Gorillaz and we had so much that went wrong that weekend (the Iceland volcano mostly …) Of course Muse absolutely blew up that main stage on the Saturday evening. Incredible band, top lad.
I remember reading an interview with Kerry King (Slayer) & he said the best concert he's ever been to was a MUSE show in California. Pretty cool coming from one of the guys who wrote Reign in Blood & Angel of Death, etc. and is part of the "Big 4" in metal (Slayer, Antrhax, Megadeth & Metallica).
I couldn't agree more. A true virtuoso. All three Muse members are!
Hell yeah
Hysteria is a classic of our time and should be in the hall of classics with Smoke on the water, Crazy Train and thunderstruck.
Chris has been one of my top fav bassists ever since I started playing in 2003. He's so stellar and Underrated but like you're saying, his tone and style is amazing
The double necked bass, is specially build, for him, in Japan.
And don't forget, that he sings all backing vocals. Oh, and he used to be a drummer, so he plays drums and percussion in recordings, with Dom. He plays keys, guitar and ofcourse harmonica...
Chris is the best bassis of all time top 5 idc what everyone says just because there's famous bass players doesn't mean they're the best
Thanks for talking about the considerable talents of Chris [and Muse] without trying to show how great you are on bass. This makes your video exceptionally specific and well worth sharing with my friends!
Thank you so much!!
wish you would've mentioned liquid state! its got such a good bassline and if im not wrong chris is also singing it. very cool song!
He absolutely is singing it!
He wrote “Liquid State” and “Save Me”. Sang both too. Wish he would sing more lead vocals but he seems rather shy about it, and Matt’s a tough act to compete with.
My favorite song from T2L! It puts you on edge, in a good way.
Yeah, muse are my favourite band, and Chriss is essential for them
Chris is almost singlehandedly is why I'm a bass player. Bro is a legend in my books frfr
On the double-neck: Not an iPad, it’s actually a MIDI instrument called Kitara, made by the brand Misa. They’re really hard to come by nowadays. Chris got one at some point and loved it, and then got it custom built into one of his basses.
Wolstenholmes bass lines shaped how I play. All of his lines require so much stamina and he always perfectly compliments the songs he’s on. One of my favorites from him is city of delusion, just unbelievable comping from him and the effects are fucking silly dude. I know you focus more on theory but the work muse has die for effects driven rock is impossible to ignore. Great vid dude
Agreed, he really is a legendary bass player
Correction- It’s not an iPad but a Korg Kaoss pad. It was originally made for DJs. Muse incorporated it into their instruments along with other effects for their original sound.
Great video, thank you so much for showing the world such a magnificent, precise, fantastic bassist. He's so precise that I call him Rolex😅 , by the way he has a beautiful voice.. long life to Wolstembeast!
That double neck bass is a Status on the bottom, that Chris's tech cut the top off and installed a *Kitara*, a touch screen synth guitar
One of my top 3 influences on bass
Ryan Martini for chording and attack
Chris for effects and thickening up the mix
Marcus Miller for tone and smoothness
some chris appreciation lets gooo
Chris doesn't get much attention also because he never does interviews. He has a more private life and is not so great at interviews in general, having less of a rockstar presence as Matt and Dom so many overlook his importance and influence in the Muse sound.
Mainly because he’s raising his own army of Wolstonstickienstien’s
@@willeh1947 hahaha was about to say the same thing 🤣
Hmm Chris is very good doing interview. Recently I heard him in a podcast hosted by a band called Flawes and it's a blast. He's a very good story teller and also funny. He just prefers to spend time more with his family so we barely see him doing interview. He also once stated don't like to be under spotlight that much so maybe that's the reason.
Makes sense.
That’s what I was thinking
awesome video! definitely shines light onto this guy
Really good youtube video with perfect examples with where the clip is taken from. I will be sure to check you out more often
Totally agree on everything you said.
Two Muse basslines I really like are the ones on Supremacy and Panic Station. Just fun basslines but they really bring that added punch
They’re all good
WolstenBEAST! I love this Man!
Huge fan of the band. Haven't had a chance to see them in person, but I do have the HAARP DVD and it is an amazing performance.
Wolstenholme is a utilitarian player. hes writing with the feeling of "okay, thats enough". ofc, it always is. just enough flash to fill his slot, provides EEEXACTLY the needed level of support but never rushes up front when the song has a specific place for bass.
He is totally a beast 🎸💪
Great video. The top half of the double bass is a Misa Kitara.
I agree ! that Hysteria bassline is truly something else
Wolstenholme and Scott Reeder are two of the best bassists I never hear anyone talk about. Especially Scott Reeder
Fav bass player!!!
Matt wrote the Hysteria bass line tho
Genius bassist❤
So underated! From stockholm syndrome he locked me
just....so much stamina
Wolstenbeast!!!
Amen
5:34 Dig Down is from Simulation Theory, not Drones. Nonetheless great video!
You are absolutely right! Sorry about that! Thanks!!
Its a Kitara joined to the Status S-2 Classic.
5:07 thankfully it's not an iPad, It's an instrument called Kitara and they merge that with his bass
well now it is an iPad lol…. they had a lot of issues with the Misa Kitara… so Status teamed up with a company called Star Labs or something and made a controller utilizing an iPad
@@jmelara324 No, it's not. It's muse not your tiktok band out there. Kitara still works fine for them
@@renofumi28 “The bass was later succeeded by the greatly improved and re-colored Doubleneck Mk2 version, in 2017. While keeping the original intent of the Doubleneck bass, the Misa Kitara part was ditched completely out of the Mk2, using instead, a custom-built keyboard, with all it's electronics hidden inside the neck, connected to an iPad, which connects to MIDI through wireless. The Mk1 is still kept in Chris's rack, but for backup purposes. The Kitara part on the Mk2 was built by a company called ‘Starr Labs’.”
The ipad thing you mentioned is actually an instrument called Misa Kitara which he fused with a bass. It’s a “digital guitar” kind of thing
I honestly don't know much about Wolstenholme nor Muse. Other than it's become kind of a rite of passage to learn Hysteria for a lot of bassist. It's far from my brand on Rock N Roll but I have to respect the level of musicianship and the performances they put on.
Felix Pappalardi is so underrated he would be left off a list of the Top Fifty bass players of WOODSTOCK!
That guy could play and produce and sing at level many(most) couldn't match!
Nantucket Sleighride from Mountain shows it all sweet vocals, original bass and song writing and production skills, a complete package.
Produced for the Youngbloods, Cream, Mountain, The Vagrants and many others.
Christopher Wolstenholme is the unsung hero from Muse. The way he perfoms.... I can feel his basslines in my balls! Some of my fave are:
Futurism at Zepp, Tokyo 2013
Their show at Mayan 2015
Reapers at Cologne
He's a laid back monster yet so powerful on stage.
Best bassist ever
Internationally, MUSE have been the best LIVE band for years. And yes, Chris is an insane bass player. Im surprised MUSE are not bigger in the States.
Christopher Wolstenholme
Bajista británico, de la banda Muse
Cumple 45 años (nació en 1978)
Dig Down isn’t in Drones, Dig Down is in Simulation Theory!
You are the first person I've heard say he was underrated. The pad he has in his bass is from a module called the Kaos pad.
I think Chris used to be in lifehouse way back when. That is cool to know he found a “band home”. Actually it could be that I’m wrong. lol. I could be thinking of someone different
Feel it in your bawwwlllssss
Muse is the biggest band nobody has ever heard of. I've been lucky enough to have seen them 7 times live and Chris is an amazing bass player, both live and in the studio.
Nobody?! Really??! I saw them in Glasgow last week and there were thousands and thousands of people there. We'd all heard of them 😂
@@JohnnyF71 Apparently euphemisms escape you... not everything is to be taken literally, you new to the internet?
I have many friends that have never heard of them
Unfortunately
It’s a kaos pad in the guitar… it’s a dj effect same thing matt has in the guitar
No disrespect intended, but Chris is far from underrated. He is well known, well respected and well looked upon for his bass playing skill and talent. Any bass player or just any musician who enjoys Muse will take note of Chris' playing.
Your videos are very insightful though and I don't mean to knock on you, but if you want underrated: you really should look into bassists such as Tye Zamora (Alien Ant Farm). The guy almost had a signature Fender model made for him that looked unlike any other Fender made before.
Title should be something other than underrated. Chris is a god... But that is purely my opinion.
I edit that, (former Alien Ant Farm)
Who said "he is underrated"?
Pretty sure it's some kind of chaos pad in the double bass. Much like Matt's guitar.
The pad reminds of a chaos pad
Underrated? Wha..? If he's already rated as the best bassist alive today how can that be possible?
Well well Good ♥️
The double neck touch pad is a midi guitar.
Could you do one of these on Jeff Dimpsey from Hum? Cool video btw, very informative
5:08 I think that is not an iPad, but rather a Misa Kitara.
Another big status is v man of slipknot , if the screen the same matt has in his guitar it’s khoas pad
I don't think he's underrated, I think he just keeps a low profile and hence doesn't get as much attention as he should but he probably prefers it that way.
I believe it is not ipad screen, it’s misa kitara
That’s Jeremy Piven..
underrated?!
I don’t think he’s actually underrated. I think he’s just not “rated” enough because of the clivage there is around Muse. It’s my favourite band, but I know many people can’t really stand them, sometimes because of Bellamy’s “whining” or them because too commercial or whatever reason one can have. But Chris is generally praised by the bassists that know of him.
John Paul Jones
Flea
Chris Wolstenholme
🫶🏻
This is a great video but you can’t call one of the most venerated & feted rock bassists of the last two decades “underrated”.
Every music store rings daily to poorly executed renditions of Hysteria.
If you want to talk about underrated bassists you should look at the incredible Norman Watt Roy (Ian Dury & The Buzzcocks and Wilco Johnson).
In fact I’d love to see you do a similar video study of Norman.
Chris and Muse in general are underrated if we are talking worldwide. But their talents are well known among the artists and musicians in general. You might think they are famous because they are in your area or country. But I'll tell you a lot of people know Muse here in Canada a few know them really well but the majority doesn't know them at all. I have never heard a Muse song being jammed in any music store I have been too. Nor hearing a Muse song playing in a bar or in an event and the people went crazy. Overrated/underrated is relative but worldwide in general Chris and the band in general are I think really underrated or I should say unknown. As I have read somewhere we know that there are good right now but in 20 years we will remember them as the Queen or the Metallica of this last generation.
Underrated?
>muse
>bass
>comments only talk about hysteria a million times
I swear to God hysteria is the most overrated Muse song..
*overplayed - It's a great song, but you're fed up with it like with doughnuts on Fat Thursday.
That would go to uprising for me
Watched the video because Muse... can't sub or watch anymore if that clicking sound is going to be on every video... super irritating.
I disagree. I neeed two hours to learn hysteria but 5 days to learn canned heat by jamiroquai.
don't pronounce Muse with an S sound
How much did he pay you to do this video. He is really odd in my opinion and I think the situation needs looking into . He is the most overrated base player if you actually listen and he has so much help from extremely gifted musicians he should be much better ☠☠☠☠☠☠
Someone sounds jealous.
@@Kick1066 No I think that it makes sense that he is overrated. Because most of these legendary basslines aren't written by him. Still he is praised all over, for something that he didn't write.
@@Atlas65 who writes them then?
@@Djjdjdjdjdg Matthew Bellamy, the singer, guitarist, pianist and composer of Muse. He writes most of these legendary basslines.
Bellamy wrote, the Hysteria Bassline on a guitar. Since it was a guitar riff before it became a song. New Born was apparently also written by Bellamy. I think on a piano. .. So you see, right..?
Chris' double neck bass isn't an ipad hack. He's had a Misa Kitara integrated into a double body, you can tell by the "fretboard" of the Kitara, it's a series of touch sense buttons. Look at the neck, and compare:
icdn2.digitaltrends.com/image/o1-1200x630-c.jpg
He used it a ton on the Drones album. It is a midi controller, much like a Kaos, but has the flexibility of a guitar. I've tried one, you "strum" the digital strings on the screen, or use it like a Kaos, like Matt uses on his Mansons. Great instrument, and as soon as you see one (I tried one earlier than Muse) I thought IMMEDIATELY "Muse will definitely use this, either Matt or Chris, most likely Chris" and I was right!