| Pino Palladino | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Giuseppe Henry Palladino |
| Born | (1957-10-17) Cardiff, Wales |
| Genres | Rock, pop, soul, funk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, record producer |
| Instruments | Bass guitar |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Labels | Verve, Atlantic |
| Associated acts | Paul Young, The Who, John Mayer Trio, The RH Factor, Gary Numan |
| Notable instruments:
Pino Palladino Signature Fender Precision Bass |
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Giuseppe Henry “Pino” Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh bassist. A prolific session musician, he is probably best known for playing with The Who since the death of founding member John Entwhistle.
Palladino plays a late-1970s, fretless, Music Man StingRay bass guitar, a fretted Fender Precision, and Jaguar basses. His playing has earned him custom instruments bearing his name.
Born in Cardiff to an Italian father from Campobasso, Umberto Palladino, and a Welsh mother, the former Ann Hazard, Palladino began playing the electric guitar at age 14. By 17 he decided to play the bass guitar, and bought his first fretless bass one year later, playing mostly R&B, funk, and reggae with a rock and roll backbeat. His first professional gig, at age 20, was at a television station in Cardiff in 1978. During the same year, he joined Jools Holland’s band and appeared on the album Jools Holland and His Millionaires.
Touring with Holland to support the album gave him the opportunity to purchase his own Music Man StingRay Fretless Bass. In 1982, he played on Gary Numan’s album I, Assassin, earning praise for his innovative fretless work.
After touring with Numan, singer Paul Young offered him a place in his backing band. He had become acquainted with Palladino while supporting Holland as frontman of the band Q-Tips. Young had chart success with the album No Parlez and with the hit songs “Wherever I Lay My Hat” (No. 1 in the UK) and “Love of the Common People,” on both of which Palladino played. Palladino stayed with Young for five years.
In 1983, Paladino joined The Law with Paul Rodgers, formerly of Bad Company and The Firm, and drummer Kenney Jones, who had succeeded Keith Moon in The Who after Moon died, and recorded the album The Law.
Following the death of The Who’s bassist John Entwistle the night before the band were to kick off their first tour in two years, Palladino was their first choice to become the band’s full-time touring bass guitarist, and by 2006, he was invited to join the remaining original band members in recording their first album in twenty-four years. Pete Townshend, the band’s composer, recorded the bassline on the majority of the songs to get the effect he himself wanted, with Palladino doing so on the other six of them. Released in October 2006, the album was named Endless Wire.
Palladino is noted for his use of the fretless bass in many 1980s chart records. While it was typical for a bass guitar 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 bass lines that frequently added chords, lead lines and counter melodies in the higher range of the instrument as opposed to simply the aforementioned “low notes”. Typical of this style was his playing on Paul Young’s biggest chart hits, in particular his playing on Wherever I Lay My Hat. His equipment at that time included a fretless Music Man StingRay Bass 1979 and Boss Octave pedal (OC-2).
The Fender Pino Palladino Signature Precision Bass is modelled after two of Palladino’s Fender Precision Basses. The body featuring faded fiesta red paint over desert sand paint is based on Palladino’s 1961 Precision Bass while the neck shape and round-lam rosewood fret board are based on Pino’s 1963 sunburst Precision Bass. He has also been known to prefer Thomastik-Infeld flat-wound bass strings.[ Although as instruments change depending on the desired result (the Fender Japan Jaguar has featured on many stage and recordings since about 2006), strings brands and type ( round/flat/semi) may change too. As of The Who Hits 50 Tour Pino has chosen Ernie Ball Cobalt flatwound strings gauged .043, .056, .070., .100 standard tuning. The cobalt strings have a great punch and edge not always available with flatwound strings. The primary bass on this tour is a Fender Custom Shop Pino Palladino model, modified with 60’s Gibson Thunderbird pickups. Experiments in sound saw the brief addition of a Gibson EBO pickup. Amplifiers continue to be the Fender SuperBassman first used for Quadrophenia 2012/13 Main pedals include Analog Alien Alien Bass Station, compressor, distortion, amp emulator and MXR Bass Octave effect. Pedal Power II
Bass Stuff 