I recently transcribed an interview with Carl Radle from the August 1976 issue of Guitar Player Magazine:
Carl Radle
By Dan Forte
Guitar Player Magazine August 1976
Carl Radle, bass guitarist with the Eric Clapton band, was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 18, 1942 the same day and year as another talented bassist, Paul McCartney.
After taking up the bass at age fifteen, the lanky southerner was soon playing around locally with Tulsa-bred pianist Leon Russell. Carl recalls, Leon and I and a drummer named Chuck Blackwell played for a long time together around Tulsa. Then Leon came out to the West Coast and started working in clubs and doing sessions. I was working a day gig at home, and Leon called and said to come on out. So I went out to California for about a year, then came back and joined the service, the Air Force Reserves.
Playing with Russell led Carl to his stints with Delaney And Bonnie And Friends (where he met and played alongside Eric Clapton), Joe Cockers Mad Dogs And Englishmen, Derek And The Dominos, and Claptons present band.
Of the Dominos period, Radle says, I split up Derek And The Dominos I was the one that quit that. We were just a mismatch of personalities and lifestyles and all that. So I quit and went back home and started playing with Leon again. Any time I didnt know what to do, Id go and play with Leon.
Radle explains how the present version of the Clapton band came together: In November of `73, after being off the road for three years, Eric needed to do something. There werent that many people left that he could play with in England hes sort of already been through them all. So he called me in Tulsa, but then he didnt know who else to get. Id been playing with [keyboardist] Dick Sims and [drummer] Jamie Oldaker, with Marcy Levy singing, around Tulsa. Eric was cutting what became 461 Ocean Boulevard [RSO, QD-4801], and Atlantic had all these people lined up to play on it. I just took Dick and Jamie down to Miami with me, and it all fell right into place.
That band, together now for two and a half years, is the longest lived of all of Claptons lineups and looks to be quite stable, as does Carl Radles position as one of the top bassists in rock music.
* * * *
Was bass your first instrument?
I played clarinet first, in school, then piano. I was really good, but my parents didnt think I was practicing enough and decided it was a waste of money. Actually, I wish Id stuck with the piano, but I guess everyone says that. I started playing bass in about `58 I was about 15 or 16 years old.
Did you start on an upright?
No, I bought an electric bass. I started by trying to learn guitar; then I realized that there were ten thousand people starting to play guitar everybody was. So I decided to try something there werent so many people doing. I went out and bought a Danelectro electric bass and played my first gig the next day; I didnt know anything about it. By then, I had the bottom four strings of a guitar covered enough to handle the bass. Originally, bands from my high school didnt have basses. Usually it was, like, two guitars and a drummer, and if they were really lucky they had a piano player. Nobody really knew about electric basses then; they were just coming out, just being seen. So when I got one, I sat down all the rest of that day playing Little Richard records and trying to learn a three-chord blues.
Did you learn by playing along with records?
Its just all by ear. I started to learn how to read music when I was playing piano, but I never read any bass music.
Were there any particular bass players youd listen to?
Oh, yes. I listened to [Paul] McCartney; I still listen to him. Back in the days when I first began playing, Ricky Nelson was really big, and Joe Osborne was his bassist. Later on, when I got into blues, I started listening to Willie Dixon. Hes great.
When did you start listening to blues?
Actually, Ive been listening to blues all the time. The first album I ever bought was a Little Walter record, and Ive still got it.
What kind of practicing did you do when you were learning bass?
Id just work out bass lines for exercise. I mean, what can you play on a bass by yourself except lines? I just started working on the hardest positions I could think of, and just did those over and over, usually involving a scale or two.
Did you start by playing with a pick?
Yes. I use my fingers mostly now, but I used a pick for the first few years. Now I use my first two fingers and sometimes my thumb, too.
Why the switch? Because of speed?
I think so. It probably started off being a carry-over from upright bass. The guy thats amazing is Bradley Bobo with Eddie Harris. He plays a 6-string bass fingerstyle, like Chet Atkins.
Are you into jazz much?
I hate to say that I am, because I dont know that much about it. I dont really follow it that much, but I do listen to it.
How long did you keep playing the Danelectro?
Not very long. I traded it for a white Fender or something, a Precision. Now I go back and forth between a Fender and an Alembic. They sound different and play different. Theres a bass about to come out that will cover both sounds; Music Man has made this great bass. I played the prototype, and it was great. I tried everything I could to talk them into letting me keep it, but they chop up all their prototypes so there wont be any floating around. Instead of just having a volume knob and a tone knob, it has a bass knob and a treble knob; just like EQ [equalization], like tuning in a hi-fi amp that kind of control. Ive already got my order in for one.
What type of bass strings do you use?
I use flat-wound usually; Im still switching around. I havent found the right strings yet, but Ernie Balls get really close. The amps Ive been using are GMTs.
Have you ever considered learning to play upright bass?
Yes, I mess around with one whenever ones around. But with my hands I should be playing a violin or something theyre just too little. Ive got an Ampeg fretless bass at home that I play with, but I dont have enough confidence to take it on stage. Ive also got three Fenders, an Alembic, a Hofner that looks like a Les Paul, and a Fender 6-string electric bass guitar, and one of those Ernie Ball Earthwood [acoustic] basses theyre great.
What about bass solos?
I dont take many solos; in the kind of music we play I dont like bass solos. Theyre great in the old traditional jazz bag where everybody gets a solo, but in todays music I just dont think they fit in. Theres a lot more freedom for that in jazz; thats what its all about.
Do you play bass chords very often?
No. Occasionally Ill play an octave or hit a two-note chord, but never a full chord. It sounds kind of muddy in the bass register, and some chords just dont fit in with our music. Bass chords are kind of a virtuoso thing. Now Stanley Clarke can play as many chords as he wants, and theyll fit his bag allows that. But Im not really equipped anyway to think that far about the mechanics. I think Stanleys a freak what hes equipped to do with his hands! Hes got half-again the fingers that Ive got. I wouldnt want to play just like him, but I couldnt anyway. Id like to be able to play what he plays, so I could play what I play better. I just admire his chops, I guess you could say. In the last Playboy jazz poll, I came out number three and I was thirteenth on the rock poll, so you know somethings wrong. In the jazz poll, Stanley Clarke was first, Charles Mingus was second, then me, then Ray Brown. Like Im right in the middle between Mingus and Ray Brown. I have visions of Ray Brown calling Charles Mingus up on the phone and wondering whos this guy in between them on the poll.
Whats the bass role in the Eric Clapton band?
Im doing both rhythm and counter melody at the same time. I consider myself the connection between, say, Eric and the drums. Melodically, Im going to listen to him, but my responsibility is really with the rhythm section. But our styles just kind of fit together right. Its sort of an unconscious feedback thing. Theres not much preconception at all.
Do you find it different playing with Eric whos English, than with someone like Leon Russell whos from Oklahoma?
Well, the worlds getting smaller every day. Too small. If you want to say someone plays like an English guitar player, it would probably be someone like Jeff Beck or Peter Townshend. But Erics listened to so many blues players, I dont regard him as an English guitar player. Hes just a guitar player.
Carl Radle
By Dan Forte
Guitar Player Magazine August 1976
Carl Radle, bass guitarist with the Eric Clapton band, was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 18, 1942 the same day and year as another talented bassist, Paul McCartney.
After taking up the bass at age fifteen, the lanky southerner was soon playing around locally with Tulsa-bred pianist Leon Russell. Carl recalls, Leon and I and a drummer named Chuck Blackwell played for a long time together around Tulsa. Then Leon came out to the West Coast and started working in clubs and doing sessions. I was working a day gig at home, and Leon called and said to come on out. So I went out to California for about a year, then came back and joined the service, the Air Force Reserves.
Playing with Russell led Carl to his stints with Delaney And Bonnie And Friends (where he met and played alongside Eric Clapton), Joe Cockers Mad Dogs And Englishmen, Derek And The Dominos, and Claptons present band.
Of the Dominos period, Radle says, I split up Derek And The Dominos I was the one that quit that. We were just a mismatch of personalities and lifestyles and all that. So I quit and went back home and started playing with Leon again. Any time I didnt know what to do, Id go and play with Leon.
Radle explains how the present version of the Clapton band came together: In November of `73, after being off the road for three years, Eric needed to do something. There werent that many people left that he could play with in England hes sort of already been through them all. So he called me in Tulsa, but then he didnt know who else to get. Id been playing with [keyboardist] Dick Sims and [drummer] Jamie Oldaker, with Marcy Levy singing, around Tulsa. Eric was cutting what became 461 Ocean Boulevard [RSO, QD-4801], and Atlantic had all these people lined up to play on it. I just took Dick and Jamie down to Miami with me, and it all fell right into place.
That band, together now for two and a half years, is the longest lived of all of Claptons lineups and looks to be quite stable, as does Carl Radles position as one of the top bassists in rock music.
* * * *
Was bass your first instrument?
I played clarinet first, in school, then piano. I was really good, but my parents didnt think I was practicing enough and decided it was a waste of money. Actually, I wish Id stuck with the piano, but I guess everyone says that. I started playing bass in about `58 I was about 15 or 16 years old.
Did you start on an upright?
No, I bought an electric bass. I started by trying to learn guitar; then I realized that there were ten thousand people starting to play guitar everybody was. So I decided to try something there werent so many people doing. I went out and bought a Danelectro electric bass and played my first gig the next day; I didnt know anything about it. By then, I had the bottom four strings of a guitar covered enough to handle the bass. Originally, bands from my high school didnt have basses. Usually it was, like, two guitars and a drummer, and if they were really lucky they had a piano player. Nobody really knew about electric basses then; they were just coming out, just being seen. So when I got one, I sat down all the rest of that day playing Little Richard records and trying to learn a three-chord blues.
Did you learn by playing along with records?
Its just all by ear. I started to learn how to read music when I was playing piano, but I never read any bass music.
Were there any particular bass players youd listen to?
Oh, yes. I listened to [Paul] McCartney; I still listen to him. Back in the days when I first began playing, Ricky Nelson was really big, and Joe Osborne was his bassist. Later on, when I got into blues, I started listening to Willie Dixon. Hes great.
When did you start listening to blues?
Actually, Ive been listening to blues all the time. The first album I ever bought was a Little Walter record, and Ive still got it.
What kind of practicing did you do when you were learning bass?
Id just work out bass lines for exercise. I mean, what can you play on a bass by yourself except lines? I just started working on the hardest positions I could think of, and just did those over and over, usually involving a scale or two.
Did you start by playing with a pick?
Yes. I use my fingers mostly now, but I used a pick for the first few years. Now I use my first two fingers and sometimes my thumb, too.
Why the switch? Because of speed?
I think so. It probably started off being a carry-over from upright bass. The guy thats amazing is Bradley Bobo with Eddie Harris. He plays a 6-string bass fingerstyle, like Chet Atkins.
Are you into jazz much?
I hate to say that I am, because I dont know that much about it. I dont really follow it that much, but I do listen to it.
How long did you keep playing the Danelectro?
Not very long. I traded it for a white Fender or something, a Precision. Now I go back and forth between a Fender and an Alembic. They sound different and play different. Theres a bass about to come out that will cover both sounds; Music Man has made this great bass. I played the prototype, and it was great. I tried everything I could to talk them into letting me keep it, but they chop up all their prototypes so there wont be any floating around. Instead of just having a volume knob and a tone knob, it has a bass knob and a treble knob; just like EQ [equalization], like tuning in a hi-fi amp that kind of control. Ive already got my order in for one.
What type of bass strings do you use?
I use flat-wound usually; Im still switching around. I havent found the right strings yet, but Ernie Balls get really close. The amps Ive been using are GMTs.
Have you ever considered learning to play upright bass?
Yes, I mess around with one whenever ones around. But with my hands I should be playing a violin or something theyre just too little. Ive got an Ampeg fretless bass at home that I play with, but I dont have enough confidence to take it on stage. Ive also got three Fenders, an Alembic, a Hofner that looks like a Les Paul, and a Fender 6-string electric bass guitar, and one of those Ernie Ball Earthwood [acoustic] basses theyre great.
What about bass solos?
I dont take many solos; in the kind of music we play I dont like bass solos. Theyre great in the old traditional jazz bag where everybody gets a solo, but in todays music I just dont think they fit in. Theres a lot more freedom for that in jazz; thats what its all about.
Do you play bass chords very often?
No. Occasionally Ill play an octave or hit a two-note chord, but never a full chord. It sounds kind of muddy in the bass register, and some chords just dont fit in with our music. Bass chords are kind of a virtuoso thing. Now Stanley Clarke can play as many chords as he wants, and theyll fit his bag allows that. But Im not really equipped anyway to think that far about the mechanics. I think Stanleys a freak what hes equipped to do with his hands! Hes got half-again the fingers that Ive got. I wouldnt want to play just like him, but I couldnt anyway. Id like to be able to play what he plays, so I could play what I play better. I just admire his chops, I guess you could say. In the last Playboy jazz poll, I came out number three and I was thirteenth on the rock poll, so you know somethings wrong. In the jazz poll, Stanley Clarke was first, Charles Mingus was second, then me, then Ray Brown. Like Im right in the middle between Mingus and Ray Brown. I have visions of Ray Brown calling Charles Mingus up on the phone and wondering whos this guy in between them on the poll.
Whats the bass role in the Eric Clapton band?
Im doing both rhythm and counter melody at the same time. I consider myself the connection between, say, Eric and the drums. Melodically, Im going to listen to him, but my responsibility is really with the rhythm section. But our styles just kind of fit together right. Its sort of an unconscious feedback thing. Theres not much preconception at all.
Do you find it different playing with Eric whos English, than with someone like Leon Russell whos from Oklahoma?
Well, the worlds getting smaller every day. Too small. If you want to say someone plays like an English guitar player, it would probably be someone like Jeff Beck or Peter Townshend. But Erics listened to so many blues players, I dont regard him as an English guitar player. Hes just a guitar player.
