Bassist4-stringroundwound

Pino Palladino's bass strings: the modern session canon, sourced

Documented bass-string gauges, brands, and tunings Pino Palladino uses across The Who (post-2002), John Mayer Trio, Hall & Oates, D'Angelo, Adele, Nine Inch Nails, and many more. Fender Precision + Music Man StingRay primary basses, defining late-70s fretless + modern R&B session voice. With citations.

Session / The Who (post-2002) · reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team · 2026-04-29

Giuseppe Henry 'Pino' Palladino (born October 17, 1957, Cardiff, Wales) is one of the most-recorded session bassists in modern music. The Who's touring + studio bassist since 2002 (joined the band on short notice when John Entwistle died the night before The Who's reunion tour was to open). John Mayer Trio bassist with Steve Jordan since 2005. Career session credits across rock + R&B + neo-soul + jazz-fusion contexts: D'Angelo's Voodoo (2000) + Black Messiah (2014); Hall & Oates 1980s catalog; Adele's 25 (2015); Eric Clapton, Elton John, B.B. King, Don Henley, Nine Inch Nails, and many more. Music Man StingRay + Fender Precision Bass primary instruments. The defining modern session-bassist + neo-soul-bass voice.

Rock R&B Soul Jazz fusion Neo-soulE Standard (4-string)

At a glance

Role

Bassist

Active

1980s–present

Based

London, England + Los Angeles, California

Genres

Affiliations

The Who (touring + studio bassist, 2002–present, replacing John Entwistle)
John Mayer Trio (with Steve Jordan, 2005–present)
Hall & Oates (1980s session bassist)
D'Angelo (Voodoo + Black Messiah session bassist)
Nine Inch Nails (2005–2007 touring bassist)
Session bassist (Adele, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Don Henley, B.B. King, hundreds of credits)
Music Man StingRay + Fender Precision (primary instruments)

Notable credits

The Who, Endless Wire (2006)
John Mayer Trio, Try! (2005, live)
John Mayer, Continuum (2006)
D'Angelo, Voodoo (2000, defining neo-soul bass)
D'Angelo, Black Messiah (2014)
Adele, 25 (2015, multiple tracks)
Hall & Oates, Voices (1980)
Pino Palladino + Blake Mills, Notes with Attachments (2021, solo collaboration)

Sourcing4 citations · reviewed 2026-04-29· by Change Your Strings editorial team

Who Pino Palladino is

Giuseppe Henry 'Pino' Palladino, born October 17, 1957, in Cardiff, Wales, is one of the most-recorded session bassists in modern music. He has been The Who's touring + studio bassist since June 2002, joining the band on short notice when John Entwistle died the night before the band's 2002 reunion tour was to open. John Mayer Trio bassist with Steve Jordan since 2005.

Session credits across rock + R&B + neo-soul + jazz-fusion contexts: D'Angelo's Voodoo (2000) + Black Messiah (2014); Hall & Oates 1980s catalog; Adele's 25 (2015); Eric Clapton, Elton John, B.B. King, Don Henley, Nine Inch Nails (2005-2007 tour), and many more. The defining modern session-bassist + neo-soul-bass voice.

Style signatures

Three things across Palladino's catalog you can identify as his:

Fretless Music Man StingRay tone (early career). The slick + singing fretless voice on Hall & Oates + 1980s session work is canonical for the era.
Modern fretted Fender Precision + StingRay tone. The D'Angelo Voodoo (2000) + Black Messiah (2014) bass parts are canonical neo-soul bass.
Cross-genre flexibility. Few session bassists in modern music have worked across as many distinct contexts as Palladino.

Bandmates. Zak Starkey (The Who's primary touring drummer 1996-2024; profile pending). The Who core canon links: John Entwistle (Palladino's predecessor at The Who).

Bassist hub. Bassists index. Session-bass and R&B canon parallel: James Jamerson (Motown / Funk Brothers historical), Marcus Miller (jazz-fusion + R&B session).

Related locations. London, England + Los Angeles, California (Palladino's primary working bases).

Frequently asked questions

What strings does Pino Palladino play?

Specific string-brand attribution for Palladino requires individual primary-source citation; the Bass Player magazine archive + Premier Guitar Rig Rundown coverage is the canonical source for current rig specifics. Palladino has been featured extensively across bass-press; the string set typically suits his Music Man StingRay + Fender Precision Bass instruments + his cross-genre session work.

What basses does Palladino play?

Multiple instruments across his career, organized by era: fretless Music Man StingRay during his late-1970s + 1980s session work (the canonical fretless StingRay tone is one of the most-recognized session-bass voices of that era); modern era is Fender Precision Bass + Music Man StingRay 4 + 5-string basses + various other custom instruments. The fretless-StingRay tone of his early career is widely cited as one of the most-influential session-bass tones in popular music.

When did Palladino join The Who?

June 2002, on short notice. Palladino was hired as The Who's touring bassist when John Entwistle died of a heart attack the night before the band's 2002 reunion tour was to open at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. He played bass on Endless Wire (2006), the band's first studio record without Entwistle, and has been The Who's touring + studio bassist continuously since.

What's Palladino's John Mayer Trio role?

Bassist + arrangement collaborator. John Mayer Trio is the blues-rock + jazz-fusion band Mayer formed with Palladino + drummer Steve Jordan in 2005; the band's Try! (2005, live) was Mayer's pivot from solo-songwriter pop to electric-blues + power-trio territory. Palladino + Jordan have continued to anchor Mayer's electric work across multiple records since (Continuum, 2006; the John Mayer Trio reunion tours).

What's Palladino's playing style?

Service-of-the-song session-bass mastery across genres. Three identifiable signatures: (1) Fretless Music Man StingRay tone in his early career (1980s session work) was canonical for the era; the slick + singing fretless voice on Hall & Oates records + many other 1980s sessions is part of what defines the era's bass sound. (2) Modern fretted Fender Precision + StingRay tone is closer to traditional R&B + neo-soul; the D'Angelo Voodoo (2000) + Black Messiah (2014) bass parts are canonical neo-soul bass. (3) Cross-genre flexibility; few session bassists in modern music have worked across as many distinct contexts as Palladino.

What's the D'Angelo connection?

Palladino was the bassist on D'Angelo's Voodoo (2000), the genre-defining neo-soul record + one of the most-influential R&B records of the 2000s. He continued in the role on Black Messiah (2014), D'Angelo's long-awaited follow-up. The bass parts on both records are widely cited as defining the modern neo-soul bass sound + are studied in bass-pedagogy contexts. The D'Angelo + Questlove + Palladino + James Poyser collaboration is one of the most-celebrated neo-soul rhythm sections in modern R&B.