Producer Rick Rubin thinks Paul McCartney doesn’t get enough credit when it comes to his bass playing. In fact, in a new interview he claims Sir Paul is the best bass player out there.
“I thought about how everything I’ve seen, Beatles-related, is either about the songwriting or Beatlemania,” Rubin said in an interview with MOJO, according to NME. “Paul McCartney the bass player, or Paul McCartney the musician, because he plays everything – that’s a little story told.” He adds, “You just think of him as Beatle Paul, yet in my opinion, he is the best of all bass players, he’s number one.”
Rubin, who worked with McCartney on the 2021 Hulu mini series McCartney 3, 2, 1, adds that he also admires McCartney’s simple songwriting style.
“What blew my mind was when he sat at the piano and he started showing me how to write a song. He was saying, ‘See, you could [do] it like this,'” Rubin says, “and what he was showing me was the simplest thing, but then he starts moving his fingers around slightly, and all of a sudden it evolves into ‘Hey Jude’ or ‘Let It Be.’”
He notes, “He’s using this technique that any child could do, then it morphs into one of the greatest songs of all time!”
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.