“He played upright but wanted to play the P-Bass. Motown said, ‘Nah, you ain’t making no money playing that.’ But he said, ‘If you want me, I’m playing the P-Bass’”: Bootsy Collins on the musician that totally “changed his mind” about bass

Bootsy Collins’ larger-than-life persona and driving funk basslines have graced many a record, including most of the early Funkadelic and Parliament albums, a plethora of James Brown hits – including Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine and Super Bad – and of course, his own Bootsy’s Rubber Band repertoire.

However, as Collins himself admits, his far-reaching influence wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for James Jamerson, the game-changing Motown bass player who went largely uncredited at the time, despite making an immense contribution to the musical landscape the ’60s and ’70s.

“James Jamerson was the cat that really changed my mind about bass playing,” Collins tells Justin Richmond on the Broken Record Podcast. “Because he played with one finger – all of that stuff he was playing, he used one finger.

“He played upright bass. He got introduced to the Fender P-Bass, and he wanted to play the P-Bass. Motown said, ‘Nah, you can’t play that. You ain’t [making] no money playing that.’ So they didn’t want to change. But he said, ‘If you want me, I’m playing the P-bass.’

“All the stuff after that, he made much more money for them. And you know, he was a perfect example to accept and embrace that change.”

Aside from his transition from upright to electric bass, something that was highly uncommon at the time since the instrument was not yet well-established, another innovation was his off-kilter technique.

His one-finger plucking style – dubbed “the Hook” – carried over from his upright playing, and he managed to play very intricate parts by using his right index finger to pluck the strings, while simultaneously anchoring his third and fourth fingers on the pickup cover, and letting his thumb hang freely.

Taking a page from his jazz background, he also used a lot of open strings, which helped facilitate shifts in flat keys – a quirk that eventually became a trademark of his sound.

Perhaps fellow Motown bassist Bob Babbitt summed up Jamerson’s style best in a 2007 interview with Bass Player: “I learned three important lessons from Jamerson. First, feel is the most important thing. You can play two notes or 22 notes, but it has to feel good.

“Second is freedom of expression; James went a step beyond what bassists normally do. At first he took chances and let himself go, and then it just became natural for him, and in the process he changed the course of bass playing. That was very inspirational for me.

“Third, he told me to always make your bass sing like a voice. He felt the bass should have its own voice.”

As for Collins, the funkateer recently reflected on his stints with James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic, why he stepped away from touring in 2019, and the story behind his now-iconic Space Bass.

Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.