Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister Demos His Bass Tone
Lemmy breaks down his unmistakable, massive, entirely unique tone.
In this one-minute video, Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister demos the difference between how other bassists sound—and how he sounds.
"The basic difference is, most bass players sound like this," says Lemmy before he plays a bouncy yet mild bass line in a major key. "Whereas I ... [he adjusts his amp's settings] sound quite different."
He then launches into a riff slathered in his famous, one-man-band-worthy overdriven sound, which soon evolves into a tasty blues progression.
Lemmy died December 28, 2015, after a brief battle with cancer. He was 70.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
“Jaco was Joni’s liberator, but she wanted the bass to play a greater part in holding down the groove”: Larry Klein on how he handled the challenge of replacing Jaco Pastorius in Joni Mitchell’s band
“I got a call from Glenn Frey. I just said. ‘Where do I sign?’ Here they were asking me to join The Eagles without playing one lick of music with them”: Timothy B. Schmidt joined The Eagles at the height of Hotel California – and didn't even audition