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Bass Concepts With Billy Dickens: Concentrate on Music
Meet Bill “The Buddha” Dickens –
Hey everybody, it’s Bill “The Buddha” Dickens here. I just wanted to say thank you for all of your compliments. It is wonderful to be known all over the world for my technique and everything that I do.
The message I’d like to begin with, and share with all of you, is “not” to be focusing on just technique. You should be concentrating on the nature of the music itself, because at the end of the day, just speed and technique alone is not going to get you the recording session or tour that you desire. For me, being “musical” is what it’s all about. Bass is not my only instrument. I also play drums, piano, acoustic guitar, as well as being an arranger and vocal coach. I read all clefs, and can translate those ideas onto the bass, which helps me come up with ideas that most people wouldn’t think of.
As I see it, my job as a bassist can be twofold. One is just holding down the groove and supporting the music I’m playing. This is the art of knowing when to play, as well as when not to. I’ve worked hard on mastering “space”, and when it’s appropriate, as well as keeping the groove and complimenting the music. The other role I’m able to execute is playing chords and chord inversions behind singers or soloists, or preparing and playing a solo piece myself, and that part of my playing developed from studying jazz theory and improvisation, as well as investigating classical music.
What I choose to play as a rhythm section player or a soloist has been well thought out, and sometimes I get the impression that people don’t understand what I’m doing, and here’s my thoughts on that. There’s a whole generation of players out there who don’t have the institutions available to them as I did, to help them at an early age begin to prepare for being able to handle whatever is presented musically, as a rhythm section player, as well as a soloist. A basic understanding of how things work on a harmonic level is a valuable commodity.
I tell you this because I’m not just a bassist; I’m a producer as well.
Some of the things that have helped me to become a better bassist came from some of the greatest musicians in the world. What I’ve learned from them is what makes my approach unique. It’s helped me to be able to cover all genres of music as well, which has been documented on numerous records and projects that I’ve been on over the last thirty years. I have to admit it has troubled me when people see me only as far as my technique, rather then understanding it’s only one part of what I do as a musician, and what I’ve learned.
A question that I’m often asked is “How did you come up with your own technique”? I try to explain it’s a combination of what I’ve learned, playing multiple instruments, and having a trained ear, that opened the door for the techniques I’ve developed. So once again you see, it’s not about the technique, but what got you there that’s important. I was lucky to have a mom that encouraged me to play many different instruments at a young age, as well as sight read, and this as well helped me develop my approach to playing.
Let me explain how I tie all this together. On my right hand, I play with all my fingers individually, as well as 5 of my nails in a synergistic symphony. An analogy would be like having 5 fingerpicks. So I’m able to play to the speed of any drummer, or back it off and play percussively behind a hip-hop or rock groove, right down to a good feel for slow funk tune, or ballad. My point is, my technique is just a tool to make a groove feel better.
I hope I’m able to a leave some great music for generations to come, and those that listen, enjoy, and then take it to another level. I thank everyone for their support, and quite honestly for their criticism as well, because I grow as a person from both. I thank my fans, and my dearest friend Victor Wooten who has always been an inspiration to me, as well as my good friend Jeff Berlin, who is one of the few people who understands where I’m trying to go.
I look forward to presenting through this magazine new music, new ideas, new techniques, and my thoughts on whatever I feel might be helpful, and hopefully relevant to any aspiring musician. I’ve been given a gift from God, and I look forward to sharing that with you.
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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