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Stuart Hamm
Background information
Also known as	Stu Hamm
Born	February 8, 1960
Genre(s)	Blues Rock
Instrument(s)	Bass Guitar
Years active	1984 - Present
Notable instrument(s)
Fender "Urge Bass"

Stuart "Stu" Hamm (born February 8, 1960) is an American bass player, known for his session and live work with numerous artists as well for his virtuosic playing style and solo recordings.

Contents 1 Beginning career 2 Style 3 Partial Discography 3.1 Solo Albums 3.2 With Frank Gambale 3.3 With Frank Gambale and Steve Smith 3.4 With Joe Satriani 3.5 With Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, and Steve Vai 3.6 With Steve Vai 3.7 With Other Artists 4 Instructional Videos 5 See also 6 External links

Born in New Orleans, Hamm spent his childhood and youth in Champaign, Illinois, where he studied bass and piano, played in the stage band at Champaign High School, and was selected to the Illinois All-State Band. Hamm graduated from Hanover High in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1978 while living in Norwich, Vermont. Following high school, he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he met guitarist Steve Vai and, through him, met Joe Satriani. Hamm played bass on Vai's debut solo album, Flex-Able, which was released in 1984.

Hamm has performed and recorded with Steve Vai, Frank Gambale, Joe Satriani and many other well-respected guitarists. It was playing live on tour with Satriani that brought Hamm's skills to national attention. Subsequent recordings with Satriani and other rock/fusion artists along with the release of his own solo recordings solidified his reputation as a bassist and performer.

Hamm's first solo album, Radio Free Albemuth, inspired by the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, was released in 1988. On it, Hamm demonstrated his abilities on a number of original compositions spanning a variety of genres including fusion, country, and classical. On solo pieces like "Country Music (A night in Hell)," he demonstrates his ability to make the bass imitate the sounds of a wide range of instruments. The piece has since become a popular live piece. On the same album, he performs an arrangement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Early in his career, Hamm was associated with Philip Kubicki's Factor basses. Later, Fender musical instruments produced two signature model electric basses designed and endorsed by Hamm: the "Urge Bass" and the "Urge II Bass."

Hamm's slapping, popping and two-handed tapping techniques are demonstrated on his solo recordings as well as in his instructional videos Slap, Pop & Tap For The Bass and Deeper Inside the Bass. A popular part of his live performance often includes a two-handed tapping arrangement of Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" (from the animated television special, A Charlie Brown Christmas).

Hamm currently lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter.

• Radio Free Albemuth (1988)
• Kings of Sleep (1989)
• The Urge (1991)
• Outbound (2000)
• Live Stu X 2 (2007)

• The Great Explorers (1990)

• Show Me What You Can Do (1998)
• The Light Beyond (2000)
• GHS3 (2003)

• Dreaming #11 (1988) -- Tracks 2-4
• Flying in a Blue Dream (1989) -- Track 5 (slap bass solo)
• Time Machine (1993)
• Crystal Planet (1998)
• Live in San Francisco (2001)

• G3 Live in Concert (1997) -- Tracks 1-3

• Flex-Able (1984)
• Passion and Warfare (1990)
• Fire Garden (1996) -- Track 3

• Richie Kotzen, Richie Kotzen (1989)
• Michael Schenker Group, Arachnophobiac (2003)
• Working Man, a Rush tribute album, tracks #7, #10, #11 (1996)
• George Lynch, Gregg Bissonette, and Vince Neil, for Bat's Head Soup, an Ozzy Osbourne tribute album, track #9, "Paranoid" (2006)
• Caifanes (band) on the El nervio del volcán (album) on track #8 Quisiera Ser Alcohol.

• Slap, Pop & Tap For The Bass (1987)
• Deeper Inside the Bass (1988?)

• Bx3

• Hamm's website
• Philip Kubicki Instruments
• Bass Guitar Magazine Stu Hamm front cover artist Issue 27
• Discogs
• mp.3 bio
• Bio at Favored Nations Entertainment
• Fender Urge II bass
• Youtube video

v • d • e Joe Satriani
Band members	Galen Henson | Dave LaRue | Jeff Campitelli
Former members	Guitar: Andy Fairweather-Low | Eric Caudieux Bass: Stuart Hamm | Matt Bissonette | Doug Wimbish Drums: Jonathan Mover | Simon Phillips | Gregg Bissonette | Manu Katché
Discography
Studio albums	Not of This Earth | Surfing with the Alien | Flying in a Blue Dream | The Extremist | Joe Satriani | Crystal Planet | Engines of Creation | Strange Beautiful Music | Is There Love in Space? | Super Colossal
Compilations	The Beautiful Guitar | The Electric Joe Satriani: An Anthology
EPs	The Joe Satriani EP | Dreaming #11 | Additional Creations
Live albums	Time Machine | G3: Live in Concert | Live in San Francisco | G3: Rockin' in the Free World | G3: Live in Tokyo | Satriani Live!
Related articles
G3 | Deep Purple | Steve Vai
Categories: Category:Joe Satriani albums | Category:Joe Satriani songs