10 Greatest Keyboardists In Hard Rock
8. Geddy Lee - Rush
It was pretty much expected for things to get a little over the top once the prog rock scene exploded. As bands started to make grandiose musical statements and long sweeping epics, most musicians found out that you sometimes need more than just guitar, bass, and drums to tell your story. That would normally mean getting someone else into the fray to work out the keyboard parts...not so with Rush.
Being the epitome of a power trio, Geddy Lee actually took it upon himself to play the keyboard on most of Rush's records along with his signature amazing bass lines. Even though he already needed to keep up with the super complex bass grooves, Lee would also create some entrancing melodies on the keyboard, whether it was the weird atmospherics across something like Natural Science or the synth-heavy pop sounds of something like Subdivisions or Time Stand Still.
So...how to hell was he able to pull this off live? Well, with a lot of patience. Whenever Rush would go out on tour, Lee would basically be doing 3 different jobs at once, as he sang the songs, played bass, played the keyboards, and operated bass pedals to deliver the cleanest sound to his audience. Though many keyboardists may work their asses off, not many can say they've almost turned their craft into a circus act.