Billy Sheehan
Billy Sheehan
William "Billy" Sheehanis an American bassist known for his work with Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. Sheehan has won the "Best Rock Bass Player" readers' poll from Guitar Player Magazine five times for his "lead bass" playing style. Sheehan's repertoire includes the use of chording, two-handed tapping, right-hand "three-finger picking" technique and controlled feedback...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth19 March 1953
CityBuffalo, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I try to do my absolute best for the people who come see me play.
I'm very honored and thankful if someone says something nice about my playing, but in general I'm very critical of what I do.
I plan on doing a lot more work on my own, and discovering and doing more.
I believe the best persona to be onstage is the one that comes naturally.
It is never easy for anyone to have success in music.
Very often I suspend my musical sensibilities to enjoy music as a fan.
History has repeated itself many times througout the ages.
As far as current inspiration, I'm listenting to a lot of flamenco, because the techniques used for flamenco can be adapted to playing bass.
I didn't follow the standard rules of bass playing, and many musicians on many different instruments who became noteworthy for their unique or particular style did a very similar thing.
Music is always changing and the changes are unpredictable.
I've seen it happen when the first rock bands played in the 60s, and they played simple music, and got more complicated and complex as they moved on.
Well, I love living in Los Angeles - the weather is great and I love my home here.
I'm a fan of a lot of classical music.
We'll see some simplistic players for a while, who'll then get into more complicated things and evolve with their instruments. This is a cycle that happens over and over again in music.