This Guitar Is Available As A Fabulous Fake
Stuart "Stu" Hamm is an American bass guitar player, known for his session and live work with numerous artists as well for his unconventional playing style and solo recordings.
Born in New Orleans, Hamm spent
his childhood and youth in Champaign, Illinois,
where he studied bass and piano, played in the stage
band at Champaign High School, and was selected to
the Illinois All-State Band. Hamm graduated from
Hanover High in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1978 while
living in Norwich, Vermont. Following high school,
he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston,
where he met guitarist Steve Vai and, through him,
met Joe Satriani. Hamm played bass on Vai's debut
solo album, Flex-Able, which was released in 1984.
Hamm has performed and recorded with Steve Vai, Frank Gambale, Joe Satriani and many other well-respected guitarists. It was playing live on tour with Satriani that brought Hamm's skills to national attention. Subsequent recordings with Satriani and other rock/fusion artists along with the release of his own solo recordings solidified his reputation as a bassist and performer.
Hamm's first solo album, Radio
Free Albemuth, inspired by the Philip K. Dick novel
of the same name, was released in 1988. On it, Hamm
demonstrated his abilities on a number of original
compositions spanning a variety of genres including
fusion, country, and classical. On solo pieces like
"Country Music (A night in Hell)," he demonstrates
his slapping and two-handed tapping proficiency as
well as the ability to make the bass imitate the
sounds of a wide range of instruments; the piece has
since become a popular live piece. On the same
album, he performs an arrangement of Beethoven's
Moonlight Sonata.
Early in his career, Hamm was associated with Philip
Kubicki's Factor basses. Later, Fender musical
instruments produced two signature model electric
basses designed and endorsed by Hamm himself: the
"Urge Bass" and the "Urge II Bass" upgrade with a
D-Drop Tuner. Features include a sleek alder body, a
graphite reinforced maple neck with a 2-octave
rosewood fingerboard, a pair of dual-coil Ceramic
Noiseless Jazz Bass single-coils (neck/bridge), a
custom-wound split-coil Precision Bass humbucking
pickup (middle) and a 3-band active EQ with 18V
power supply.
Hamm's slapping, popping and two-handed tapping
techniques are demonstrated on his solo recordings
as well as in his instructional videos Slap, Pop &
Tap For The Bass and Deeper Inside the Bass. A
popular part of his live performance often includes
a two-handed tapping arrangement of Vince Guaraldi's
"Linus and Lucy" (from the animated television
special, A Charlie Brown Christmas).
