Playing contemporary country is a far cry from heavy rock instrumentals. How did you pull off the career change?
When I came to Nashville I decided to steer clear of the tourist haunts and hit the open mics to meet songwriters. They hire players for demo sessions, which is still a big part of the Nashville system. That’s how I hooked up with David Meade, and I also met a bassist who asked me to sub on his gig with Keith Urban, which led to joining his band. His music is largely pop, so it wasn’t too hard to make that leap. Moving on to play Dierks’s gig was the big switch. At the time it required a lot more traditional bass, and at soundchecks his band would launch into a huge repertoire of classic country tunes, many of which I’d never heard. I got my ass kicked, but the guys were helpful about turning me on to cool old country guys like Buck Owens. It was up to me to bone up and learn how to play it properly.

Can you explain exactly what you had to learn and how you approached it?
I had to learn how to make the appropriate note choices in order to make a standard song sound authentic. There are classic ways to walk chromatically through the chord changes consistently and repetitively with that two-step feel. One of the things that threw me most was the haphazard song arrangements I’d come across. You have to listen carefully to the vocal—to the story—for what can seem like random added or missing beats in order to suit the lyrical cadence. Learning that has helped me work with Dierks.

How much freedom do you have to put your stamp on the songs he sings?
It’s wide open. Since my background is in heavy music, I’m always looking for the most powerful approach. Playing with authority is most important in any genre. Paul Chambers dominates on Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue the same way Steve Harris does on Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills.” This band’s configuration allows me plenty of space, and the more simply I play, the bigger it sounds. I use a big triangular pick about half of the time, and I play with my fingers for the rest. I dig in very aggressively on the strings over the pickup. I try to keep a one-note-per-finger spread with my fretting hand, but sometimes I go for the “monkey grip”—the caveman approach to getting one big note at a time.

How does your gear inform your tone and your playing?
I use a gigantic rig to get a huge sound, and I simultaneously run a guitar amp for distortion. I’m a total gear nerd. Oddly enough, I was helping fix the guitar player’s amp when we ended up co-writing the opening riff for the current single, “Free and Easy.” My biggest hope right now is for that song to take off, because this is the coolest gig I’ve ever had.

CAN BE HEARD ON

Dierks Bentley, Long Trip Alone [Capitol, 2006] and Live & Loud at the Fillmore [Capitol DVD, 2007]

CURRENTLY SPINNING

Maroon 5, It Won’t Be Soon Before Long [A&M/Octone]
“This record has much more of a Pro Tools feel than their debut, but it’s growing on me.”

GEAR

Basses Fender American Vintage ’62 Jazz Bass (with custom Sunrise bridge pickup), Fender American Vintage ’57 Precision Bass, Duesenberg Star Bass, Waterstone TP 8-string

Rig Mesa Engineering Big Block 750 heads with Mesa RoadReady 8x10 and 4x12 cabs; Mesa Lone Star 2x12 combo

Effects Dunlop Bass Wah 105Q, Boss OC-2 Octave, MXR Phase 90

Accessories Dunlop Triangle 1.14mm picks, Ernie Ball Super Slinky Stainless Steel strings (.045–.100)
“I’m addicted to wah and guitar-amp distortion, which is odd in country music. I love how Tim Commerford gets those different tones with Audioslave and Rage Against The Machine.”