Pino Palladino

Early life

The son of a Welsh mother and Italian father (from Campobasso),^[3] Giuseppe Henry Palladino^[4] was born in Cardiff on 17 October 1957. He attended a Catholic school. He began playing guitar at age 14 and bass guitar at 17. He bought his first fretless bass one year later, playing mostly R&B, funk and reggae with a rock and roll backbeat.^[5]

Technique and equipment

Palladino is noted for his use of the fretless bass on many albums. While it was typical for a bass in a commercial track to have a rather generic sound and stay "playing the low notes", Palladino preferred a different sound, combining fretless tone with an octaver effect, and basslines that frequently added chords, lead lines, and counter-melodies in the higher range of the instrument. Typical of this style was his playing on Paul Young's "Wherever I Lay My Hat". His equipment at that time included a fretless 1979 Music Man StingRay Bass and Boss octave pedal (OC-2).


From the 1990s onward, Palladino has leaned mainly towards a Fender Precision Bass. He used his 1963 Sunburst Fender Precision on Voodoo, using heavy gauge LaBella strings (tuned down to DGCF), a foam mute, and an Ampeg B-15 amplifier. He has also played Fender Jaguar Bass, Lakland Jazz Bass, and Larry Graham Signature JJ-4B Bass.


The Fender Pino Palladino Signature Precision Bass is modeled after two of Pino's Fender Precision Basses. The body features faded fiesta red paint over desert sand paint, based on Palladino's 1961 Precision Bass, while the neck shape and round-lam rosewood fretboard are based on his 1963 sunburst Precision Bass.^[15]

With David Knopfler


With Don Henley


With Go West


With Elton John


With John Mayer


With Jeff Beck


With D'Angelo


With The Gaddabouts


With The Who


With Paul Young


With Eric Clapton


With Ed Sheeran


With others