Bass Technique Quotes

I learned to do a few tricks that other people hadn't done before. I developed that trebly bass thing a little further.

The golden rule for playing the bass is that's it all about feel, not just plonking away. You need to feel the sound, not using a pick or a plectrum - which has meant plenty of calluses on my fingers.

I took the frets out of my bass after I was getting into jazz a lot and I wanted to have that upright sound.

There was a time when fast playing and fretboard pyrotechnics on the bass were important to me and when I am recording a bass track, that is still very important to me.

Jaco Pastorius gave the bass a new voice. I mean, he was very inspired by singers like Frank Sinatra. And in a lot of ways, maybe he wanted to be a singer himself.

I'm the greatest bass player in the world.

Besides, the bass isn't a difficult instrument to play. It's like one step up from the kazoo, isn't it?

It was never so much the heavy metal thunder that got me. I was into players who played with taste and did these walking bass parts. If you can play like that, it really opens up the music. You can't just pound away. After a while it's like, 'So what? What else you got?'

In 1972, I got my first electric bass and started playing the kind of instrument I play now. I found that the majority of musicians couldn't bear that. They are not used to listening to the bass because they think the bass is in the background to support them.

Dave [Holland] plays the way he wants to play. And it's usually what's needed. You know, Dave is such a deep thinker. You can't tell him too much, else it might spoil his spirit, you know.

What it really comes down to, especially in metal, is that the bass needs to cut through, so you go to the pick for that effect. But when you have a certain feel about the music and really dig in to get a big growl, you have to go with the fingers, because you're not going to get it with a pick.

I started taking the bass more seriously when I heard Jaco Pastorius.

I wish I could play bass like Larry Graham or Bootsy Collins. My God, I'd give up just about everything else for that.

I've been playing the bass guitar for almost twelve years and fretless for about nine, so I've got quite a bit of mileage in my hands already.

I was never much of a bass player.

You can actually go to school and college to learn how to play and get technical with the electric bass.

I'm a bass player and I love the bass.