bass guitar in 2013, given to him by bandmate Rick Wakeman Squire's unique tone was very clear and distinct, and his playing was noted for being aggressive, dynamic and melodic. Squire played primarily with a
pick (usually a grey Herco "heavy") held with the tip very close to his own fingertips, meaning that his thumb would also strike the strings right after the pick, causing subtle
harmonics. He made frequent use of hammer-ons, pull-offs as well as alternate and tremolo picking. Aside from his use of distortion, Squire occasionally used other effects, most notably
chorus,
flanger and
wah-wah pedals, which until then had mostly been used by guitarists. In a 1973 interview for
Guitar Player magazine, Squire recalled how he had obtained his distinctive tone at the time by rewiring his RM1999 into stereo and sending the bass and treble
pick-ups each into a separate amplifier. By splitting the signal from his bass into dual high and low frequency outputs and then sending the low frequency output to a conventional bass
amplifier and the high-frequency output to a separate lead guitar amplifier, Squire produced a tonal "sandwich" that added a growling, overdrive edge to the sound while retaining the Rickenbacker's powerful bass response. This gave his bass sound bright, growling higher frequencies and clean, solid bass frequencies. This technique allowed Squire to use
harmonic distortion on his bass while avoiding the flat, fuzzy sound, loss of power and poor bass response that typically occurs when bass guitars are overdriven through an amplifier or put through a
fuzz box. Squire also made notable use of fret buzz, a normally undesirable condition caused by low string action, to create a further, growling edge to his playing. He also played with a pick which contributed to the sharp attack as well as using fresh Rotosound Swing Bass strings for every show. Squire's intricate and complex bass playing style has influenced subsequent bassists such as
Billy Sheehan,
Geddy Lee of
Rush,
Mike Mills of
R.E.M.,
Steve Di Giorgio of
Death and
Sadus,
Pat Badger of
Extreme, Jon Camp of
Renaissance,
Steve Harris of
Iron Maiden,
Les Claypool of
Primus,
John Myung of
Dream Theater,
Robert DeLeo of
Stone Temple Pilots and
John Cooper of
Skillet.
John Deacon of
Queen was also inspired by Squire, and told
Guitar Magazine that Squire was his favourite bass player.
Instruments and equipment Squire's main instrument was a 1964
Rickenbacker bass that he bought and began playing in 1965. Although generally referred to as having been a
4001 model, it was actually from the RM1999 series, a British export version of the 4001. Squire's had the serial number DC127. Squire mentioned in a 1979 interview with
Circus Weekly that he acquired this bass while working at the
Boosey & Hawkes music store in London. The instrument, with its warmth, was a significant part of Squire's unique sound. Due to its distinctive tone, which has been compared to that of a
guitar, it allowed the bass to take on a more "lead" role, which created a dynamic sound, and suited Squire perfectly. Although Squire is usually associated with the Rickenbacker, he played many different models of bass guitar throughout his career, selecting each instrument according to the demands of the song and the approach of the time. In addition to four-string bass, he was an early pioneer of
eight-string bass, occasionally played
five-string, six-string, and
fretless bass, and had an interest in integrating technology into his instruments. In the early years of Yes, Squire played a
Fender Telecaster Bass almost as frequently as he played his Rickenbacker RM1999. During the mid-1970s, he played a
Fender Jazz Bass on specific tracks such as "The Gates of Delirium" and a
Gibson Thunderbird on tracks including "Release, Release". In 1980, Squire obtained an
MPC Electra 4-string with built-in effects units (heard to best effect on
Drama's "Tempus Fugit". Yes' 1983 comeback single "Owner of a Lonely Heart" featured a custom green four-string designed by Jim Mouradian, while during the late 1980s Squire played a variety of Tobias four and five-string basses (using these almost exclusively on 1987's
Big Generator album). Later in his life, Squire added to his armoury of four-string basses with models by
Lakland and
Yamaha. Squire began playing eight-string bass in the early 1970s. His initial choice was a prototype Rickenbacker eight-string, but from the mid-1970s onwards this was superseded by a custom instrument made by Ranney; on "Fortune Seller" from Yes' 1998 album
Open Your Eyes, he played then-guitarist
Billy Sherwood's unique Spector 8-string bass. While his playing of fretless bass was infrequent, he would use a fretless Guild model on such occasions. Apart from his Rickenbacker, Squire played a custom triple-neck bass made by Wal and originally constructed for Roger Newell of the
Rick Wakeman band, and which Wakeman subsequently gifted to Squire. This instrument was used for live performances of the Yes song "Awaken", for stage impact and to avoid the necessity for rapid changes between instruments for different parts (as had been the case in the studio version). It was adapted for Squire's purposes, with the top neck being a six-string bass with doubled A, D, and G strings, the middle neck being a standard fretted four-string, and the bottom neck being a fretless four-string. Squire was an enthusiastic user of bass pedals, initially playing
Moog Taurus pedals but later replacing them with samples triggered from an E-Mu ESI2000 sampler via a pedal array. Squire's choice of effects pedals included
Maestro Fuzz-Tone, TC Electronic Stereo Chorus Flanger, TC Nova Reverb, Boss OC-3 Super Octave, Mu-Tron III, and custom-made tremolo pedals. Throughout his career, Squire used a Marshall
JMP Super Bass 100-watt amp and 4x12 cabinet, but over time he also used
Sunn amps and cabinets,
Ampeg SVT-2 PROs, Ampeg 8x10 cabs, and a pair of Clair Brothers custom 6x12 cabinets with directional speakers. In addition to bass guitar and bass pedals, Squire also occasionally played harmonica, piano, and six or twelve-string guitar. ==Personal life==