I've only been playing bass for about 5-6 months and one of my favorite bands is Green Day. The bassist, Mike Dirnt, is one of the greatest I know. When he play his bass, he has a nice popping, snappy sound. I was wondering how he got it to play so sharply. Is it his strings? His amp? Any help would be great.

From the Green Day stuff that I've heard, I'd guess that Mike either plays with a pick, or very hard with his fingers, hitting the strings, rather than using what are normally called 'rest strokes', to get that more percussive edge. His sound is also often overdriven, with the treble turned up high to bring out all that clicky stuff. He's probably using an Ampeg amp...

Steve
www.steve-lawson.co.uk