Ron Blair: Recording The Bass on Tom Petty’s “American Girl”

Ever since Tom Petty passed away, I’ve been watching tons of his videos on YouTube. There are tons of great performances, but this Reverb.com interview with Heartbreakers bassist Ron Blair stuck out.

Blair talks about how they figured out the melodic bass line to “American Girl” from the band’s self-titled debut. “[I started] to play all these things up high, but you have to put it in a tasteful place,” he explains.

Rest in peace, Tom Petty.