Doner Designs
Steve Doner
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
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What bass does Tom Petty play ?
- Thread starter rs920
- Start date
Maybe because he's not always playing bass. The Heartbreakers have had at least two "regular" bass players over the decades.
I remember after Howie Epstein's death, his estate sold his basses with an ad in "Vintage Guitar" magazine. They were very nice basses, but I don't recall it being a treasure trove of vintage gear. It's possible he already sold off some stuff, or maybe he didn't own a ton of vintage stuff.
On the first Wilburys album's vids, Tom always used a Longhorn. Only saw one vid for the second album, and he used a Gibson EB-2 for that one.
When you see Petty live, he and Campbell are switching guitars after virtually every song, and they are all old, rare, valuable, and span about 10 brands. It's pretty overwhelming if you know your guitars.
A now-deceased former SLME coworker of mine spent some time in SoCal working as a soundman for various major touring groups. When not out on the road, he worked at a rehearsal facility (man, did he have some great stories from that). I remember him telling me one day that he spent a lot of time moving equipment back and forth between Tom's house and their rehearsal room, and that the guy owned a ton of instruments.
Thanks, I swore I remembered seeing him with an EB-2, but couldn't remember where/when it was from! Being from Florida, did you ever see Mudcrutch back in the day?
No but I have friends who did. They tell me they didn't remember anything special about them, either.
This is exactly what he played on Saturday when I saw him. Even did a lil bass solo during one jam. Nothing crazy though, heh. Love that dude.
Wondering whether Tom gets told that he's "only the bass player" by the rest of the band?....
Heh...I don't know, but Tom hightailed it away from bass as soon as he could and hired another bassist in Mudcrutch till they broke up.Wondering whether Tom gets told that he's "only the bass player" by the rest of the band?....
Doner Designs
Steve Doner
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
OP, I think you got the answer to what he plays currently. What he played back in the day was a Precision, and if I remember correctly from the documentary that people are mentioning here, it looked shoreline gold, but it may have been stripped to wood. It was light and had a white pg, so it was probably a custom color.
Anyway, here's a demo of Don't Do Me Like That, most likely Petty on bass. Much busier in the bass line than the Heartbreakers version, but I like it with all the behind leading notes and accents. The dude could play:
EDIT: I was wrong on the pickguard color and looking at it again, it looks like a stripped finish:
Anyway, here's a demo of Don't Do Me Like That, most likely Petty on bass. Much busier in the bass line than the Heartbreakers version, but I like it with all the behind leading notes and accents. The dude could play:
EDIT: I was wrong on the pickguard color and looking at it again, it looks like a stripped finish:
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I'd like to see that documentary. I'm not really a fan but I've always thought that band was kind of cool.
Wondering whether Tom gets told that he's "only the bass player" by the rest of the band?....
I'll tell ya what, his bass parts are SO simple. All he does is follow the chords and play half/whole notes and/or fifths.
It would be hard for me to play that straight-ahead for the entire 2.5 hour set (minus his mini 8 bar solo he played about halfway through the gig)
Pretty cool how humble his parts are on bass, actually. Not that I expected him to be a wanker, but just compared to the Heartbreakers stuff where it seemed like the basslines were actually thought out LINES.
Cos he´s actually the singer?
Whatever he wants!
Id love to see him play bass. Apparently he loves it, so Im sure its great!
Our band (and many cover bands) play a lot of his tunes. Whether its from the Heartbreakers or his solo stuff, its all good music! That new mudcrutch album is pretty killer. The guy has great timing, and nothing he does is 'simple'. There is a reason he isnt playing a lot of notes, we all know that its not for lack of talent.
Id love to see him play bass. Apparently he loves it, so Im sure its great!
Our band (and many cover bands) play a lot of his tunes. Whether its from the Heartbreakers or his solo stuff, its all good music! That new mudcrutch album is pretty killer. The guy has great timing, and nothing he does is 'simple'. There is a reason he isnt playing a lot of notes, we all know that its not for lack of talent.
