How did you get into music? When did you start reading music? When did you start playing bass? When did you become a professional musician? How did you start playing with Jools Holland? How did you switch from upright to bass guitar in Jools Holland’s band? What’s your approach to playing so many high-profile sessions with world famous musicians? Have you worked with any of your musical heroes? How do you choose the right bass for each gig or studio session? What amps do you use and why? What do you practice and how does your technique change between upright and electric bass? Did you even play with Squeeze?
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In terms of your playing did you spend time when you were getting into your jazz stuff really woodshedding?

DS These days when i'm not on tour, I try to spend a lot of my time playing the double bass. Also, because I don’t tour with the acoustic, it gets left at home a lot and it’s not the kind of instrument that you can spend too much time away from. What’s the old saying? If you miss one day’s practice you notice, miss two days practice your band mates notice, miss three days practice and everybody notices!. And it’s true with the upright bass because it’s such a demanding instrument

In terms of playing both instruments – what is it like switching from acoustic bass to electric – do you have to make any big adjustments? Or was electric so much easier because it takes less physical power to play it?

DS The double bass is, and always will be, a more physically demanding instrument. Most bass guitarists who think that switching over to it to get more gigs will be a piece of cake are in for a shock! It’s a whole different discipline. By all means try it and find out. But it’s not for the faint hearted. To play the acoustic bass well, you have to be extremely dedicated. Over the years the action has come down on my double bass, (it used to be much higher) and this make it much easier to play. And of course, after a long session of playing the upright, the bass guitar feels like a toy!