Pino Palladino Gear Deep Dive | Session Pro & Fretless Icon

Pino Palladino needs no introduction, but we’ll try nonetheless. This session legend is featured on albums spanning four decades and countless genres, and helped bring the fretless bass to the masses with his unique approach and impeccable technique.

Whether you are even aware, you’ll have listened to – and perhaps even played – numerous Palladino bass recordings. He has featured on over 1,000 recordings at this point and is still an active session and live musician. We’ll break down his career, his gear, and his bass lines in this deep dive into the world of Pino Palladino.

Pino Palladino’s Career

His career began in earnest with his first two recording opportunities, Gary Numan’s I, Assassin, and Paul Young’s debut No Parlez. The first record led to the other, and it was the hit single Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) that catapulted his career into new heights.

Suddenly, Palladino was taking calls from the likes of David Gilmour, Elton John, Don Henley, Eric Clapton, and many others. The rest is, quite frankly, history. He has worked with the biggest names imaginable, including B.B. King, Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, and Paul Simon.

When not recording as a session musician, Pino Palladino has spent an extensive amount of time as the bassist for The Who by stepping in to ensure the 2002 tour went ahead after the untimely death of John Entwistle just one day before the tour began. He later contributed to their 2006 album Endless Wire – their first in 24 years – and continued touring through to 2016. He has also played in the John Mayer Trio, along with many other important artists.

Pino Palladino’s Bass Gear

As with everything Palladino works on, he is there to serve the music and has chosen his gear to meet the needs of the project at hand. This means that he’s used a wide range of different gear over the years as the style of music has shifted.

The Basses

Although spotted using a whole host of instruments over his multi-decade career as a pro bassist, Pino is mostly associated with two basses: the fretless Music Man Stingray and the Fender Precision. These two workhorses have been at the heart of the majority of his studio and live output, so much so that he has been graced with a signature series of each!

His Stingray is a 1979 pre-Ernie Ball Music Man fretless Stingray in sunburst. It features a poplar body matched to a rosewood on maple neck, alongside the old school bridge mutes that just look incredible on any Stingray.

His Precision is a 1962 Fender Precision is an alder body, rosewood on maple fretted neck, and a rather fetching faded fiesta red that has a pink and orange tone to it – very unique indeed.

In most cases, he has gravitated to using flatwound strings.

The Amps and Effects

Pino Palladino has used an Ashdown AMB-810-EVO-IV 8×10 cabinet and an ABM-1200-EVO IV head for a good portion of his live performances. He has also been seen using both Phil Jones amps and cabs, as well as a range of Ampeg amplifiers from time to time.

Effects-wise, there really is only one: the venerable Boss OC-2 octaver pedal. His use of the OC-2 with his fretless Stingray back in the early ‘80s absolutely changed the game and created a whole new sound others have chased since.

The Bass Lines

Choosing only a select few bars of music to represent the breadth of Palladino’s ability and output is a losing battle. He has played across almost every genre in modern music and been a key part of countless influential records.

Wherever I Lay My Hat – Paul Young (1983)

This has to be one of the most iconic fretless bass songs ever made, period. It might be the only UK number one song to open with a solo fretless bass passage, and this brave production decision created this hauntingly beautiful song. It is played in Bb major.

We’ll let Pino Palladino himself talk about the song in question and how the fretless intro came to be on the final recording. Check it out.

New Light – John Mayer (2021)

We admit, being able to throw in two stellar releases nearly 20 years apart from each other isn’t something that happens all that often. But here we are, with Pino’s tasteful contributions to long-time collaborator and bandmate John Mayer’s 2021 album Sob Rock. 

While neither of the tracks Pino played on – New Light and Carry Me Away – provides much in the way of chops, it’s just a testament to the kind of player he has always been. He has always served the song first, which is undoubtedly why he has had such an impressive and tenured career as a key session bassist.

New Light is a smooth 80s-inspired groover played in the key of G major. It’s a classic four-chord special, and the below tab looks pretty pedestrian on paper, but it’s well worth listening to the track to get a feel for how Pino plays it.

The Bottom Line

If this is your first introduction to the brilliance of Pino Palladino, it’s time for some extracurricular research. We highly recommend listening to some of these albums that Pino featured on: The Secret of Association by Paul Young, Voodoo by D’Angelo (tracks 1, 5, 6, 7, and 10), and Nine Inch Nails’ Hesitation Marks (tracks 2, 5, 9, and 13).

His new Music Man Signature Stingray collaboration has just launched (fingers are crossed one comes through BassBros for us to try), and his enduring career spanning over 40 years goes from strength to strength, featuring on recent releases from Beyoncé, Harry Styles, and Jacob Collier among others.

Pino brought the fretless bass to the mainstream audience. But he achieved more than that; he brought it to musicians, songwriters, and producers around the world. He is as influential, arguably more so for popular music, as Jaco Pastorius for keeping the fretless bass torch lit and showcasing why it is such a special instrument.

We have a host of excellent used Music Man Stingray basses – fretted and fretless, as well as Fender Precision basses to try at our showroom. Get in touch today!