Musician Deep Dive: Pino Palladino

Who Is Pino Palladino?

Pino Palladino was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1957 and first started out playing guitar. He changed over to bass while he was still young and began working professionally around the end of the 1970s.  

His early career became strongly linked with a fretless Music Man StingRay bass, a 19979 model he purchased sometime in 1980. He soon started using it on records, defining his original unique sound which appealed to many who heard it. The instrument was active, punchy and sounded very different from the Precision Bass tone he would become known for later.

A lot of people first noticed him on Paul Young’s version of “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)”. Listen to the beginning and you will hear that the bass is not really acting like a normal bass part. It starts the song, moves around the vocal and keeps sliding into notes that sound almost sung rather than played. That bass line didn't just fill out the bottom end - It became the hook.

Through out the 80's and 90's, Pino's reputation grew and grew becoming a renowned and in demand session player. His ability to play in any genre was an obvious advantage to him and any producer that managed to lock him down to play on a song. In this period his melodic bass parts can be heard with Don Henley’s, Gary Numan, Tears for Fears, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour and Phil Collins.  

In the 2000's he became a central figure in the Neo-Soul scene, first working with D'Angelo and also with people like Erykah Badu, Common and Bilal - helping to define the sound of the genre. 

In 2006, Pino stepped into the shoes of John Entwistle after he passed, taking on the bass playing duties for the Who. Around this time he became a member of the John Mayer Trio producing one of my favourite self titled live albums that I still listen to today. 

Pino Pallidino has appeared on more then 600 recordings and is still going - what an amazing feat. He is still today a highly respected and regarded bass player. In a world where bass players - and session musicians - don't get as much credit as deserved, I am hoping that this little blog post helps open peoples eyes.

What Makes Pino Palladino’s Bass Playing So Good?

Pino Palladino’s bass playing stands out because he effortlessly mixes his technical mastery with a musical, melodic, expressive way of playing that other players can't match.

Melodic phrasing

He treats bass lines like vocal melodies, adding emotion without overdoing it or cluttering the empty space.

A Fretless Master

His playing the fretless bass introduced us to a singing, fluid tone which helped to create a defining 1980s sound.

In the Pocket

He locks into the groove with a pulse and timing that you can't help to bounce along to.

Genre Versatility

A master of a large range of styles and genres - he seems at home in rock, pop, funk, jazz and neo‑soul without losing a sense of who he is as a player.

Tasteful and Restraint

This is a hard thing to teach and Pino has it naturally - He knows when not to play which leaves space that tightens the whole song.

Tone

His tone is defined with a warm, expressive and recognizable feeling no matter what bass he is playing.

Inventive

Not afraid to try things, he can add harmonic movement that will lift songs without diverting attentions - just adding to it.

Adaptive

He has the ability to adapt to what an artist needs while still providing those memorable lines we love.

All of the above points show off the qualities that make Pino, Pino. He is one of the most respected and influential bassists of the last 40 years.

What Bass and Gear Does Pino Palladino Use?

There are two bass guitars that come up again and again when looking at Pino Palladino’s gear. The Music Man StingRay and the Fender Precision Bass.

His fretless Music Man StingRay is the instrument behind a lot of his best-known 1980s work. It has one large humbucking pickup and an active preamp. That helped produce the clear and powerful fretless tone you hear on a lot of those recordings.

Music Man’s current Pino Palladino Signature StingRay is based on his original 1979 fretless bass. The standard signature version copies the important parts of the original setup including the pickup and two-band preamp. Music Man also released 15 Icon Series basses which copied the finish wear and other small details from Pino’s actual instrument.

I expect those will remain well outside my budget.

The other side of Pino’s sound comes from the Fender Precision Bass. He has used a number of old P-Basses including instruments from 1961 and 1963. Fender did not simply pick one and copy it for his Custom Shop model. They combined the things Pino liked from both.

The finished signature bass has a Fiesta Red body, rosewood fingerboard, single split-coil pickup and the standard volume and tone controls. It is a beautiful bass. It is also extremely expensive.

Thankfully, the basic Precision Bass design is available across the Fender and Squier ranges. You do not need his exact Custom Shop bass to try this type of sound. A P-Bass has one split-coil pickup, one volume knob and one tone knob. That’s pretty much it.

The strings are another important part. Pino has used flatwound strings for the warmer Precision Bass sounds. In 2025, Ernie Ball released the Pino Palladino Signature Smoothie Flats which were developed directly with him.

These are the clearest product connection in the article because they were made with Pino rather than simply being a similar product from the same brand.

Amplifiers are a little harder to narrow down because the equipment has changed depending on the job. Pino has appeared with Ampeg and Ashdown equipment and has used large touring rigs when the venue required them.

Telling someone at home to buy an SVT and an 8x10 cabinet would be a little silly. Where are you even putting it?

The Ampeg product I have included later is a smaller combo. It is not an amp I am claiming Pino personally uses. It is there because it gives you a way to try a larger and warmer Ampeg sound without buying a touring rig.

The BOSS OC-2 is another well-known part of his early gear. The effect adds a lower octave below the original bass note. With a fretless bass, it helps to create that strange deep sound heard on some of his 1980s work.

The OC-2 has been discontinued but BOSS now makes the OC-5. Its Vintage mode is based on the older single-note octave effect.

Pino’s main sounds are quite different:

His early recordings: fretless StingRay, active sound and octave effects.

A lot of his later playing: Precision Bass, flatwound strings and much less brightness.

How Do You Get a Pino Palladino Bass Tone?

Let’s start with the annoying answer.

You need to work on how you play. I know, much less fun than buying another pedal.

Pino’s sound comes from the way he touches the strings, where he puts the notes and how he reacts to the drummer. You could hand him a fairly basic bass and he would still sound much more like Pino than I would playing his exact Custom Shop Fender.

Gear matters, but it is only part of it.

For the warmer sound, move your picking hand away from the bridge and try playing near the end of the neck. The strings feel looser there and the notes usually have less attack.

Also try using a lighter touch. When I first started playing bass, I thought hitting the strings harder would automatically give me a bigger sound. Sometimes it just gives you more clanking and fret noise.

The amplifier can provide the volume. Your fingers do not need to fight the instrument.

The tone control is worth trying as well. Turn it all the way up, then slowly remove some of the top end. Stop when the bass sounds warmer but the notes can still be heard clearly.

Do not immediately turn all the bass frequencies up on your amp either. That can create a giant muddy mess, especially when playing with a band.

I would put everything around the middle first. Play for a while and only change something when you know what is missing.

Too thin? Try a little more low-midrange. Too much string noise? Bring some of the highest frequencies down. Can’t hear the notes through the drums? Adding more bass might make it worse.

Flatwound strings will make one of the biggest immediate differences. They feel smoother and normally sound darker than roundwounds. You may hate the feel at first, so give them a bit of time.

The fretless sound is another thing entirely because your fingers decide whether the note is in tune. A fretted bass gives you some protection. On a fretless, landing a few millimetres away from the right spot can sound horrible.

The slides and vibrato should come after you can play the notes in tune.

An octave pedal can bring in the deeper part of his early sound, but the normal bass signal should still be easy to hear. If the lower octave takes over completely, the whole thing can become a wall of low-frequency noise.

The best practice is still playing with the recordings. Do not only learn the fret numbers. Listen to when each note starts, when it stops and what the drummer is doing at the same time.

A few songs I would start with are:

“Wherever I Lay My Hat” by Paul Young for the fretless sound

“I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” by Paul Young for more fretless phrasing

“Lady” by D’Angelo for timing and space

“Vultures” by John Mayer for a deep but simple groove

“Who Did You Think I Was” by the John Mayer Trio for his blues-rock playing

The notes themselves are only half the job. The feel is the difficult part.