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Ryan Martinie is an American bassist, best known for being the bass player of alternative metal band Mudvayne. He is known for his complex basslines and unique playing style. He has been with the band since 1998.

Biography

Early life

Born in 1975 in Peoria, Illinois, USA, Ryan was raised in a Christian non-denominational church where his grandfather was one of the choir leaders. Because of this background, he was exposed early in life to hymns, orchestras, and other forms of non secular music. His father also plays guitar, piano, and "has a nice voice that he has good control over," said Ryan. "The first 10 years of my life I was content to simply listen. I saw so much playing throughout those years that I feel like I was bound to it in some way. Why I requested the purchase of a bass is really still a mystery to me. I can only articulate that I remember being drawn by the sense of connection it shared with all of the other instruments." His father gave him his first bass at the age of twelve, at which time he began picking out Metallica songs to test himself.

He studied jazz bass, and won several high school awards for classical vocals. He also became interested in sword swallowing.

Career

Before joining Mudvayne, Ryan was in a Dream Theater-styled progressive rock band called Broken Altar. Former members of Broken Altar Les Aldridge (guitarist) and Wes Pollock (drummer) joined heavy metal band LowTwelve of Bloomington, Illinois. During one of the Broken Altar gigs, he was spotted and approached by the members of Mudvayne, as his performance on that show made them ask him to join the band. After a serious talk with the members of Mudvayne, he decided to leave Broken Altar and join Mudvayne. Ryan's role in the first years as a band member was highly praised in public for his bass lines and bringing innovative bass playing in metal music. He instantly became one of the most respected bassists in metal. Now days he continues to pull off really interesting and complex bass lines. It is widely considered that Matt McDonough and himself form one of the best metal rhythm sections.

Personal life

Ryan is married since before the release of Mudvayne's debut album, L.D. 50. He Resides in Mebane, North Carolina. Ryan is known in public as a very spirited person, always in a good and talking mood. Ryan is also a passionate reader.

Style of playing

Ryan utilizes many techniques to make the instrumental edge of the band even more rich.

Right hand

Ryan is known for pushing the envelope that most metal bassists limit themselves to. His right hand is one of the major reasons for this, as he pulls from many different techniques and genres. He is known for flicks (found throughout his music) and a flamenco style. He has a unique heavy fingering technique from which he gets the percussive tone and more extreme bass attacks. Ryan uses a tapping technique on the neck where he will use his index and middle fingers to tap an octave chord while his left hand moves the chord. In the Mudvayne's self-titled record he also shreds bass in the intro of "Beautiful And Strange".

Left Hand

Martinie is known as a precise player. Even when playing his Pedulla fretless he uses quick movements and jogs up and down the neck. Ryan tends to accentuate his work with thick low end, double stops, and chords that add warmth or awkward tension("Pharmaecopia", "World So Cold" and "Not Falling"). He uses harmonics that add a bright sound to his variety of styles, such as the intro to "Death Blooms" and "Out To Pasture". On usage of pedals, he stated:

"I’m not a pedal guy, but I like the sound that people get from octave pedals. So, to organically create that effect, I used my right-hand middle and index fingers to tap two strings at once: I come down on the strings fairly hard so they actually bounce off of the neck. That way I create some top-end click, but I retain the tonality. At the same time, I use my left hand to hold and/or move the octave. I can do it in walking form, single-note form, or whatever. The whole chorus of “Happy?” uses that technique."

Equipment

Basses

Ryan is a Warwick basses endorser. He is one of the most important Warwick endorsers, along with players like Jack Bruce, Stuart Zender, Bootsy Collins, Jonas Hellborg, Dick Lövgren, P-Nut and others. He used Warwick basses on all Mudvayne releases, and has never been seen with other basses than Warwick Thumb models.

His comment on Warwick basses on the company's main website was:

"The first time I put my hands on a Warwick I knew that it was the instrument I would play for the rest of my life. They sound beautiful and are beautiful. I've never been able to get the diversity of tones out of any other instrument."

Ryan owns a variety of Warwick Thumb basses. He owns two Thumb NT 5-stringers (bubinga), one Thumb NT 4-stringer (bubinga), and one custom 4-stringer Thumb NT he is seen with in most of Mudvayne's All Access to All Things DVD. He also owns a fretless Pedulla Buzz 4 bass which he used only while recording A Key To Nothing from the band's second record, The End Of All Things To Come. He also owns a Warwick Vampyre 4stringer, which he was advertising back in 2002, but he was never seen using that bass.

He uses DR Hi-Beams Black Beauty strings (.045-.105 with a .135 5th string), tuned to F#-B-F#-B-E and B-F#-B-E as heard in L.D. 50, and for Mudvayne's newer albums he is tuned to G-C-G-C-F and C-G-C-F. Sets action high for live shows and low for recording.

Amplification

Ryan primarily used Ampeg SVT amplifiers during all albums before The New Game, at which time he switched to Warwick amplification. He currently uses the Warwick Xtreme 10.1 Amp Head and four Warwick WCA 411 Pro cabinets. He is also known for slaving Greg Tribbett's guitar cabinets during live shows. On the Warwick website, Martinie was quoted saying:

“Warwick is the cleanest sound in amplification. I played Ampeg for nine years and the Warwick amps just sound better. We compared different cabs and combinations of amps and cabinets and everyone agreed, including our producer Dave Fortman: the Warwick amps sounded better. I’ve always had a problem with the ‘woolliness’ of Ampeg down at around 250hz, but with the Warwick I could shave what I wanted to and the amp responded. The Warwick was much easier to deal with and much more user friendly.”

References

http://www.bassplayer.com/article/mudvaynes-ryan-martinie/may-05/8498 http://modernrocklyric.blogspot.com/2009/05/ryan-martinie-with-warwick.html

1. ^ Featured Artist #9 - Ryan Martinie - Music & Musician Forums Cite error: The named reference "a" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
2. http://www.warwick.de/modules/news/NewsSingle.php?id=2066&cl=EN
3. http://www.warwick.de/modules/news/NewsSingle.php?id=2066&cl=EN

• American heavy metal bass guitarists
• Mudvayne members
• 1975 births
• People from Peoria, Illinois
• Living people