Remembering Dusty Hill
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On July 28, 2021 Dusty Hill, ZZ Top founding member and bassist, died. He was 72.
Dusty was the first, last, and best argument for Feel over Chops. There isn’t one ZZ Top bassline that you couldn’t learn in under twenty minutes. But just because you could learn it doesn’t mean you could play it right. Sure, the bass part for “Sharp Dressed Man” has more Cs in it than every report card I ever got, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. There is an unquantifiable something in his playing that elevates it from riding the root note to something special. The little ol’ band from Texas is known for Billy Gibbons’ guitar playing, those harmonies, and writing songs that lodge themselves in your head and make you move your body. That movement comes from a rhythm section of Frank Beard and Dusty Hill that innately understood what makes rock roll. You lock in, you groove, and you stay there.
Hill probably played fills, but you don’t remember the fills. He could probably solo. But you don’t think of the solos. He used to play complicated parts but decided that composition should take priority over technical prowess. Hill said, "Sometimes you don't even notice the bass — I hate that in a way, but I love that in a way. That's a compliment. That means you've filled in everything and it's right for the song, and you're not standing out where you don't need to be.”
Hill’s weapon of choice was the Fender P-bass. Fender’s signature model is as simple and stripped down as a bass can be and still have four strings, matching his playing perfectly. When asked about his tone, Dusty described it as "big, heavy and a bit distorted because it has to overlap the guitar. Someone once asked me to describe my tone, and I said it was like farting in a trash can. What I meant is it’s raw, but you’ve got to have the tone in there.” In contrast, he also contributed vocals to many ZZ Top songs, most notably “Tush”.
ZZ Top will continue on with longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis on bass. Get your bass out and learn some Top, and then figure out how he made it groove so hard. Then send it to me and I’ll feature all your videos in an article.
Doug Robertson is the editor of The Bass Blog, the blog component of The Bass Channel, your one stop YouTube channel for all things bass. His number one is a Mexican Geddy Lee Signature Jazz and his boomer is a BEAD tuned T-Bird. He is bass and vocals for Red Hoof in Portland. Find books by Doug here. If you’re interested in contributing to The Bass Blog please reach out to Doug at doug@thebasschannel.net. We would love to hear from you.
