James Jamerson

James Jamerson (January 29, 1936 - August 2, 1983) was the bass player for many of Motown's hit records, and is considered one of the best and most influential bass players in popular music history.

Funk Machine

While James Jamerson began his musical life playing upright bass, it was his groundbreaking work on the electric bass guitar that made him a legend. That's not to say Jamerson stopped playing upright; he often played a German upright acoustic bass he bought as a teenager and used on a few songs (most notably on "Heat Wave",) but the electric bass Jamerson played on most of the other Motown songs was a stock 1962 Fender Precision bass dubbed "The Funk Machine." Jamerson bought it after his first Precision (a gift,) was stolen c. 1961. The second Precision's bass and treble controls were turned up full, and Jamerson used a set of LaBella heavy-gauge flatwound strings -- by all accounts, he never changed the strings. Additionally, the "action" (the string height above the fingerboard) was set very high to mimic his upright bass. It required tremendous hand strength to play, but the added tension improved the quality of the tone. Amazingly, Jamerson played even his busiest basslines using only his right-hand index finger, which earned its own moniker, "The Hook."

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Sadly, the Funk Machine was stolen just before Jamerson's death. To date, it has not been recovered.

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Jamerson's amplifier at club performances was an Ampeg B-15 and in concert halls was a blue Naugahyde Kustom with twin 15" speakers, with the bass turned full on and the treble turned halfway up. In studio recordings, the bass was nearly always plugged into the board.

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