Spotlight

Billy Sheehan

MR. BIG - TALAS - DAVID LEE ROTH

Contrary to popular belief that Billy Sheehan only plays PBass-style four-string basses, he has actually owned, played and recorded with a number of 12- and 8-string basses and baritones over the past 20 years.

Billy has won every award that a bass player could possibly win. He has become a living legend in the rock world and influenced two generations of players with his now legendary over-the-top bass techniques. Interestingly enough, he names Tim Bogert (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus) as "the man I stole most of my stuff from...one of the greatest rock bassists ever." He also counts Yardbirds' bassist Paul Samwell Smith as another main influence. But to get more of a clue to Sheehan's more acrobatic roots you need to look closer at the guitarists, not bassists, whose names top his list in influences: King Crimson's Robert Fripp "had a huge influence on me," says Sheehan and on ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons Billy readily admits..."I stole hammer-ons from him in 1974." Throw that all in a blender and dump it into a stage full of Ampeg SVTs all on "10" and compressed to the max and you might start to get an idea where he's coming from. Footnote: Billy and I actually came off the same Rochester-Buffalo, New York club circuit/ music scene. My then-guitarist (Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm's brother Dick) was Billy's roommate in Buffalo and my former drummer Mark Miller joined Talas with Billy when my guitarist and I decided to change drummers for our first album together with the band Toys. The first Talas and Toys albums came out almost simultaneously because I remember we were all at the same party (a birthday bash for singer Holly Woods of the "Canadian" band Toronto...half the band was actually from Rochester-Buffalo) and both our albums were being debuted for our music friends there. Ah, those were the days... So, it's especially fun putting this thing together on Billy and his multi-strings...and a little ironic that I've ended up with one of his two Hamer PBass 12vers (officially designated as model PB12) after all these years. -- jon maye If you look closely at Billy's infamous Fender Precision Bass (actually a PBass with a '68 Tele Bass neck added) you will see his added Gibson EBO Humbucker, toggle switch and custom pot layout. That huge humbucker is there because some of the early bass parts he learned were those of Paul Samwell Smith. According to Sheehan, "The amazing deep tone of the neck position pick-up on [Samwell Smith's Epiphone Rivoli] and the Gibson EB series basses was the original inspiration for adding the neck position pick-up on my old P-bass." Sheehan later incorporated a similar large humbucker into his signature Yamaha Attitude series basses. The small switch on the face of an Epiphone Rivoli does the same thing the push/push switch on his Attitude basses does for the tone of that pick-up.

Billy's Hamer 12vers

Looking at the Hamer PBass 12-string below, you will see that they matched his custom electronics on Sheehan's Fender configuration.This Hamer PB12 was completed 8/12/87 (predating his Yamaha affiliation,) SN# 7189XX, according to the Hamer factory records and is noted as ordered by Billy Sheehan.

Hamer actually made TWO PB12 12-string basses for Sheehan, the one pictured here and another one in "pink pearl," also with dot inlays. That one was also made in 1987 but approximately 1,000 serial numbers earlier, SN# 7179XX. Both are single-truss rod models. The PB12 here, the metallic purple one, has an interesting history. After Sheehan had it built and played it for awhile, he gave it to his friend Chip Z'nuff of the band Enuff Z'nuff after seeing Chip play his own custom 1990 Hamer Chaparral 12-string bass on Late Night With David Letterman. Chip, who is also friends with Late Nite's house bassist/session monster Will Lee (who has his own arsenal of basses,) traded it to Lee since Chip had three 12-string basses at the time. Shortly after that, the truss rod in the neck went bad, so Chip took the bass back from Will and sold it off, since it was unusable. The bass then took a trip to a new owner in Hawaii and then to yet another owner in Chicago...and then to me. It is interesting to note that all three of the name players who owner this bass -- Sheehan, Chip Z'nuff and Will Lee -- are all fingerstyle players, not players who use a pick on a 12-string bass. All three are also longtime players of Fender-style basses. So, compared to all other 12vers, this bass was ideally suited for them...being strung inverted, with the root above the octave strings.

Besides the custom Bartolini Humbucker and PBass pickups, the bass also uses a custom 12ver bridge and tailpiece not found on other Hamer 12-string basses. It is also painted a factory custom purple pearl.l. A pickguard and thumbrest are removed in this photo.	Notice that this Hamer PB12 is configured so that the root strings are on top, over the dual octaves, which is the opposite of standard Hamer 12-string basses. This was done to facilitate Sheehan's fingerstyle upstroke playing still getting the same effect as most pick-style 12ver players who use downstrokes. Also note the early single-truss rod model.

Hamer did a very good job in matching the original and adapting it to the 12ver format. The maple neck and tuner buttons are also unusual for a Hamer 12-string bass but closer to the Fender PBass style.
Stripped of its original finish during restoration, the bass shows its mahagony body and maple set-neck construction.

Billy Sighted With Known 12-String Bass Users

Take a look at some of the 12ver players below that Sheehan is seen with and his affinity with 12-strings gets even more interesting. Besides being with such major Hamer endorsers as Rick Neilsen and Kip Winger, he is also shown with Doug Pinnick. Sheehan even says Pinnick -- an avid 12-string user -- is, "one of my favorite bass players on Earth...and elsewhere."

Billy and Mr. Big, along with Doug Pinnick/Kings X and Winger -- two of Hamer's major endorsers at the time.	Billy with Doug Pinnick.
Billy playing bass live with Cheap Trick's Rick Neilsen and Craig Chaquico of Jefferson Starship!!	Billy with Keanu Reeves, who owned a green Kids Dragon 12ver.

BILLY

Billy's Current Selection of 8- and 12-string Basses & Baritones

Although Sheehan did get rid of his original Hamer PB12 basses due to truss-rod problems prevalent on early single-truss models, he is obviously a big fan of root-octave basses. Below is a sampling of his current instruments in this family of instruments -- a custom Yamaha 8-string and a number of baritone 12-string instruments. The custom Yamaha Bajo Sexto is a variation on a baritone guitar, with octaves on the three lower strings and unison strings on the three higher ones. It is strung with the root below the octave strings because Sheehan plays it guitar-style with a stone pick, not like a fingerstyle bass. His latest solo release "Compression" was done largely with this instrument.

Billy Sheehan's first solo CD, entitled "Compression," is out now on Steve Vai's Favored Nations record label. It features all new songs with Billy playing Bass, Ultra Bass, Baritone 12-string guitar, Baritone 6-string guitar, and drum programming, as well as singing all the lead and background vocals. All songs written by Billy. S pecial guests include Steve Vai (guitar solo on track 5 "Chameleon") and Terry Bozzio on drums (tracks 1 & 2).

Sheehan also has a new, more experimental "bass & drum" CD relaese with Terry Bozzio on drums and percussion called "Nine Short Films."   To Hear Audio Samples form these CDs of to ORDER copies visit http://www.billysheehan.com/

Billy with his Yahama 8-string.	Billy playing his Yamaha Baritone Bajo Sexto.
Yamaha Custom Shop Attitude Ltd. 8-String Bassass Notes: The Yamaha Custom Shop made this custom 8 string bass for Billy several years ago. It has a hand made mother of pearl skeleton inlay on the fingerboard. The bridge saddle pieces for the octave (high) strings are also piezo electric pick-ups with an added balance control knob near the bridge. This allows you to blend the sound of the octave strings in with the regular strings or turn the regular strings off completely and hear only the octave strings, therefore simulating a "piccolo" bass (tuned an octave up). The neck is reinforced with graphite for extra strength under the added tension of the four octave strings.	(above three, left-to-right) Yamaha Custom Shop Bajo Sexto (see description in second photo below)   Yamaha Acoustic 12-String (Custom) Notes: This is an acoustic Yamaha guitar that they custom fitted with a baritone tuning. While not a baritone scale length, it still plays very much in tune and sounds beautiful. Yamaha Japan then went on to build a bari 12 acoustic from scratch with the right scale length, on its way from Yamaha Japan now.   Renaissance Baritone 12-String by Rick Turner Notes: The "Rennaisance" guitar is a fast playing, semi-acoustic baritone 12-string guitar instrument with very unique tone. Built by guitar craftsman Rick Turner.	Veillette Baritone 12 String Notes: The Veillette company made baritone instruments for many years before they became popular. The first time Billy saw a true baritone guitar it was a Veillette/Citron played by John Sebastian on an unreleased Talas album recorded in Woodstck, NY at Todd Rundgren's Bearsville studio in 1983. This model guitar is owned and used by many famous guitarists. It's semi-acoustic with a pick-up under the bridge.

photos (c) www.billysheehan.com

Yamaha Custom Shop Bajo Sexto Notes: This is the main instrument on Billy's solo album "Compression". He wrote and recorded everything on this guitar. It's a baritone 12-string electric tuned B E A D F# B with octave strings for the low B, E and A and double strings on the D, F# and high B. It's body is hollowed out underneath the wood top giving it a semi-acoustic sound and feel. "Every chord sounds gigantic. It has a very big and wide neck with a 28-inch scale length. One of the best and most inspiring instruments I've ever owned'" according to Billy.

Current projects...and then some

In addition to his recent "Compression" solo album and his "Nine Short Films" bass & drum project with Terry Bozzio, Billy's already working on his second solo album. He also has a new live album out with his amazing bass-drums-Hammond fusion trio Niacin called "Blood, Sweat & Beers." He's also on tracks on Glenn Hughes' "Songs in the Key of Rock,'" Derek Sherinian's "Black Utopia" and the Planet X release "Moonbabies." Sheehan's 's also playing bass on the (Oct-Nov 2003) G3 tour with Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen...re-releasing his two instructional videos on DVD PLUS and preparing a couple of new ones as well...working on a new Steve Vai record...has a "Best Of" Mr. Big CD due out around Christmas...and is involved with an interesting new spin on the "tribute album" idea called "Influences and Connections" (the first in the series will be a Mr. Big tribute with players who have influenced the band or connected to the band in some way playing their versions of Mr. Big songs. Billy emphasizes, "It's NOT a Mr. Big record!")...and Sheehan is also involved in archiving a ton of unreleased material (live shows, rehearsals, demos, etc.) from most everything he's ever done over the last 30 years in his "spare" time!

Billy Sheehan is a great example of what it takes to be at the top of your game in the music biz over the long run...live, eat and breathe music and never be afraid of stretching the boundaries and perceptions.

Sheehan's amp rack (left) as of March 2002: Top Rack: 2 Nady Wireless receivers, Korg tuner. Bottom rack: Furman power strip, Pearce Pre-amp, Ashly Audio Stereo Compressor, Hush noise gate, Ampeg SVP-BSP Pre-amp, Bradshaw effects send router, Eventide Eclipse, Emu Vintage Keys (for bass pedal sounds), 3 Ampeg SVT 4 Pro's, Drawer full of junk. (Right) The latest version of his rack - rear view. My rack for the "Eat 'em & Smile" tour. Power amps not shown.

For MORE great photos and info on Billy Sheehan visit http://www.billysheehan.com/

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