Bass Player

STARR POWER

How did you get into bass, Starr?

I’m from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My father was a science professor, and my mother was an educator as well. I asked for a guitar when I was five years old, and I remember my father got me a little Roy Rogers plastic guitar. I looked at it, handed it back to him and said, ‘I want a real guitar’. He was like, ‘How does she even know what a real guitar is?’ and he gives me a little Yamaha classical guitar and I start taking guitar lessons. I also studied cello and viola. On the radio in Philadelphia back then, there was all those great Seventies groups like Earth, Wind And Fire and Parliament-Funkadelic and Cameo, so I started hearing bass. As I recall, I started playing bass on the acoustic guitar before I switched to a real bass.

What’s your go-to gear these days?

Right now I’m building a new rig. It will probably be Mesa Boogie. You want a bass sound that is punchy and powerful, but which doesn’t lose that rounded resonance.

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