Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Santana on Beck
  • Friday, I'm in Love
  • Knopfler's 4-note secret
  • 95k+ free music samples
Recommended reading
Scott Thunes and Frank Zappa
Artists “If you’re a bass player you are by definition a moron”: Frank Zappa’s bassist, Scott Thunes speaks out
Adrian Smith on stage in 2025
Artists “He said, ‘Your upstrokes are weak!’ I’m like, ‘You effin’ what?’”: Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith never stops learning
Paul McCartney
Artists “When I'm listening to Dear Prudence, you’re aware of what the bass is doing”: Gene Simmons salutes Paul McCartney
Paul Weller next to a lion
Artists Paul Weller reveals that he was once set upon by a lion on the way to a gig
Ian "Shiner" Thomas of Those Damn Crows onstage playing to a festival crowd with his Gibson Les Paul. He wears a baseball cap and sunglasses.
Artists Shiner from Those Damn Crows on how to write a No.1 album and the Slipknot riff he wish he wrote
Ray Cooper
Artists Percussionist Ray Cooper tells the story of his ‘lost’ live collaboration with Elton John
Zak Starkey
Drummers "I dropped some beats apparently. I’ve looked and I can’t find them!": Zak Starkey on Who sacking and more
  1. Artists
  2. Guitarists

Bruce Foxton's top 5 tips for bassists

News
By Matt Frost published 7 July 2016

Plus the ex-Jam legend on working with Paul Weller on Smash The Clock

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Introduction: Stop The Clock

Introduction: Stop The Clock

In May, ex-Jam bassist Bruce Foxton released his third solo album, Smash The Clock, which duly debuted at number 31 on the UK album charts, the legendary four-stringer’s first foray into the Top 40 since his days with the Paul Weller-led mod-rockers.

The long-player is a more-than-worthy follow-up to 2012’s Back In The Room, with the core of Foxton’s From The Jam touring outfit again involved in the studio and lead vocalist/guitarist Russell Hastings sharing writing duties.

Smash The Clock, which was recorded at Paul Weller’s Black Barn studios in Surrey, also features some killer harp-blowing courtesy of Paul Jones, a few suitably gnarly guitar lines from the inimitable Wilko Johnson and a smattering of piano and six-string overdubs from the Modfather himself.

Paul really just gets into it. He gave it 100 per cent and came up with some great ideas

“It was really an amazing honour to have those guys on the album,” enthuses Foxton. “Obviously, one of The Jam’s influences was Dr Feelgood, and Wilko came in and put down his trademark guitar on a couple of tracks and Paul Jones came in and did the same with his harmonica. It was just amazing sitting in the studio with those guys. It was excellent.

“Then, Paul [Weller] kindly came in and played on a couple of tracks. He put some nice piano on one of the songs and some backwards guitar on another. It was lovely just to hang out with him for a little bit and have a cup of coffee, a chat and a bit of a catch-up.

“Paul really just gets into it. He gave it 100 per cent and came up with some great ideas. We were all really pleased with how the songs were going, but when Paul put a guitar part on or a piano part on, it just lifted them again. It’s always lovely to see him, and it was a pleasure and an honour to have him on the album.”

How did Foxton and Hastings approach the writing and arranging of the album’s 13 tunes?

“We set out to try and write some melodic songs, and we tried to keep the old-fashioned single lengths, too, with times of two-and-a-half to three minutes,” Bruce explains.

“Normally, whenever Russ had a guitar riff or I had a bass riff, we just recorded them and sent them to each other on our iPhones. Then I’d just put any of Russ’s ideas onto my GarageBand and worked on them from there, trying to put them into some kind of arrangement structure. Then maybe Russ would pop up and we’d re-record things because we’d then have the guitar parts and bass parts worked out.

“We’d get the skeleton of it, I suppose, and then we’d go into Paul’s studio and we’d finalise the arrangements and build the songs with Mark Brzezicki on drums. We’re really proud of the results.”

Here, Bruce draws on his decades of experience to share his top 5 tips for bassists.

Smash The Clock is out now via Absolute.

Don't Miss

Paul Weller talks new album Saturns Pattern

Page 1 of 6
Page 1 of 6
1. Buy the best bass you can afford

1. Buy the best bass you can afford

“Probably, my number one would be to buy the best bass you can afford, because obviously that will make you sound better… or it should do if you can play it all right!”

Page 2 of 6
Page 2 of 6
2. There's nothing wrong with citing your influences

2. There's nothing wrong with citing your influences

“Don’t be ashamed if you sound like Paul McCartney or other great players! I don’t see the problem in that.

“I was heavily influenced by McCartney and [John] Entwistle and, if I was to be compared to McCartney and people said I sounded a bit McCartney-ish because of a melodic bassline, I would say, ‘Well, yeah, I am influenced by him, unashamedly!’ because I’ve always listened to McCartney a lot.”

Page 3 of 6
Page 3 of 6
3. Be patient

3. Be patient

“Be patient with your playing but push yourself to be the best. It certainly didn’t happen overnight for me to get to where I am or where I was with The Jam. It was all about learning and trying different things, really, and being patient as I taught myself to play.

“Some people are very impatient. I’m actually very impatient and I don’t think I could ever teach the bass guitar… but, yeah, don’t sit down and think you’re going to sound like Entwistle or McCartney or maybe myself overnight. It’s taken a while to get to the level I’m at, you know?

“Believe in yourself. Don’t think, ‘Oh well, I’ve been in a band a week and nothing’s happened - it’s not going to happen!’ I think you’ve just got to believe in yourself and have a bit of patience there. As long as you hang in there, I think things will come good in the end.”

Page 4 of 6
Page 4 of 6
4. Find the right people to play with

4. Find the right people to play with

“You should definitely try and be part of a band. You get a lot of people who just sit at home practising the bass and don’t actually get out of the house. The big part of being in a band is getting on with each other, isn’t it?

“It’s hard. You might well find someone you think is the greatest guitarist in the world, but if he’s an arsehole, you’re not going to want to play with him for too long! It takes a while to find the right people sometimes.

“With our band, we’re travelling up and down the motorway most of the day to be onstage for an hour-and-a-half, so you spend a lot of time in each other’s company. A big part of being in a band is getting on socially, let alone musically. You might all gel together as a band but, if you don’t like each other offstage, it’s going to be hard and it’s not going to be enjoyable. As far as I’m concerned, it should be creative and fun.”

Page 5 of 6
Page 5 of 6
5. Experiment and express yourself

5. Experiment and express yourself

“I was self-taught, basically, and everyone will be different with their approach depending on how they feel, but I think you just need to get into a rehearsal room with a few other guys and jam, really! Whatever you feel you’re playing, just jam and experiment a wee bit.

“I didn’t play safe and just play the root notes. I wanted to try and inject some melody into the songs, which hopefully I did achieve in the Jam, and I am achieving in what I’m doing now. It is difficult to give advice, I think, because it really depends on the individual and how committed they are and how far they want to go. There’s all of those kind of things that will influence your approach.”

Don't Miss

Paul Weller talks new album Saturns Pattern

Page 6 of 6
Page 6 of 6
Categories
Guitars
Matt Frost
Read more
Scott Thunes and Frank Zappa
“If you’re a bass player you are by definition a moron”: Frank Zappa’s bassist, Scott Thunes speaks out
Adrian Smith on stage in 2025
“He said, ‘Your upstrokes are weak!’ I’m like, ‘You effin’ what?’”: Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith never stops learning
Paul McCartney
“When I'm listening to Dear Prudence, you’re aware of what the bass is doing”: Gene Simmons salutes Paul McCartney
Paul Weller next to a lion
Paul Weller reveals that he was once set upon by a lion on the way to a gig
Ian "Shiner" Thomas of Those Damn Crows onstage playing to a festival crowd with his Gibson Les Paul. He wears a baseball cap and sunglasses.
Shiner from Those Damn Crows on how to write a No.1 album and the Slipknot riff he wish he wrote
Ray Cooper
Percussionist Ray Cooper tells the story of his ‘lost’ live collaboration with Elton John
Latest in Guitarists
Dave Mustaine of Megadeth wears a white shirt and trademark Megadeth sweat bands as he plays his signature Gibson V at Tons of Rock Festival 2025.
Megadeth to come to an end – Dave Mustaine announces final album and farewell tour for 2026
A composite image of Steve Vai [left] playing his green PIA Ibanez signature guitar onstage with the Satch/Vai band, and right, the late, great Allan Holdsworth playing an S-style with a cigarette smoking wedged on the strings.
Steve Vai on why Allan Holdsworth – the fusion virtuoso who wrote his own rules – was the GOAT
Steven Tyler at Steven Tyler's Jam for Janie GRAMMY Awards Viewing Party held at The Hollywood Palladium on February 02, 2025
“Steven just doesn’t want to tour, and he can’t tour”: Joe Perry confirms no more touring for Aerosmith
“The most talked-about guitar of the summer is coming to the Gibson Garage London”: P-90s, Light Aging from the Murphy Lab, handwritten Oasis lyrics… The Gibson Custom Noel Gallagher Les Paul Standard has been unveiled and is here photographed in the Gibson Garage, with a variety of close-ups to show every detail.
Gibson unveils Custom Noel Gallagher Les Paul: hand-signed, limited run – the ultimate Oasis guitar?
Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer (drums), Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith on "Midnight Special" in Burbank, CA - June 1974. (Photo by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage)
Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Brad Whitford on the support act who completely upstaged them
Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck
Carlos Santana on what made Jeff Beck a guitar great, and getting into character to cover Michael Jackson
Latest in News
Ozzy Osbourne performs during half-time of the 2022 NFL season opening game between the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on September 08, 2022 in Inglewood, California.
Ozzy Osbourne BBC documentary mysteriously is moved from tonight’s schedules
the crow hill
"No strings attached": The Crow Hill Company releases Lo-Fi Strings, a free tape-treated string library with a warm and nostalgic sound
Chubby Checker in 2019
“I’m doing what I love doing the most: Being in front of an audience”: Why Chubby Checker is skipping his Hall Of Fame induction
Wunderkammer WoO.1
WoO.1 is a pocket-sized sampler designed for endless on-the-go looping
George Michael and Taylor Swift
How George Michael accidentally created the ‘80s smash that’s now been picked up by Taylor Swift
John Lennon and Yoko Ono polaroid photos
“It embodied what John and I strongly believed in – Rock for Peace and Enlightenment”: New Lennon box set announced

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...