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Ronnie Wood Stole the 1st Bass He Ever Owned

The Rolling Stones discovered success regardless of lineup shuffles. Ronnie Wood wasn’t one in all the unique 5 members, however he’s one in all the longest-tenured after greater than 4 many years in the group. He helped write one in all the Stones’ hits earlier than he joined. And earlier than that occurred, Wood stole the first bass he ever performed and paid for his crime years later.

Ronnie Wood on bass in the Jeff Beck Group | Robert Knight Archive/Redferns

Ronnie Wood performed bass in the Jeff Beck Group earlier than he joined the Rolling Stones

Like many artists of the period who later discovered fame, Wood began his music profession gigging with native bands. Wood’s first group, the Birds (to not be confused with the Byrds or the Yardbirds), discovered some low-level success in the mid-Sixties.

Wood caught a giant break when guitarist Jeff Beck requested him to hitch a band. Beck was desirous to type a brand new group after leaving the Yardbirds. He was already acknowledged as a supreme guitar expertise, and Wood instantly mentioned sure. 

There have been two issues.

First, Beck wanted a bassist, not a second guitarist. The assured Wood knew he’d have the ability to play the bass and remained dedicated to the group. 

The second, larger difficulty was that Wood stole the bass he performed, and he paid for his theft years later.

Wood stole the bass he performed after asking to borrow it, and he paid for his crime years later

Wood didn’t personal a bass when Beck requested him to hitch his band. As he explains in his autobiography Ronnie, Wood went to a music store (Sound Metropolis) and picked out a Fender Jazz bass he couldn’t afford. The store additionally wanted his dad and mom’ approval to promote him the bass as a result of he wasn’t 21 years previous.

That’s when Wood stole the bass.

He requested to borrow the instrument, and the store agreed. Then the Jeff Beck Group went on tour earlier than he had an opportunity to return the bass. Wood mainly stole his bass, and he paid for his crime years later, as he writes in Ronnie:

“Over the years, I guess I just got too busy to give it back. But every time I saw the bass guitar, I felt bad because it reminded me how kind they were at Sound City to let me use it, and I still have it in my studio in Ireland.

“There is, however, a happy ending. Many years after I sort-of borrowed it, I went back to Sound City and told them about the guitar. They looked it up in their records and said, ‘As a matter of fact, that guitar was never returned.’ I admitted, ‘I’m the guy who stole it, and I’ve come here to pay you for it.’ And I did.”

Ronnie Wood from his autobiography Ronnie

The Jeff Beck group first performed reside collectively in March 1967 and gigged and rehearsed steadily till they hit the studio to file the debut album Fact in Might 1968. Beck-Ola adopted in 1969, and from there, Wood stayed busy with the Faces, his solo work, after which The Rolling Stones. 

Wood kind of stole the bass he performed in the Jeff Beck Group, and he actually paid for his error years later. Our guess is he may greater than afford to pay for the Fender bass many occasions over by that time.

Beck instigated a violent assault that his bassist was fortunate to outlive 

Enjoying a stolen bass in the Jeff Beck Group began a whirlwind profession that noticed Wood find yourself in The Rolling Stones. He was fortunate to make it that far, as he barely survived a violent assault that Beck instigated. 

At the top of the vitriolic rockers vs. mods rivalry, a bunch of rockers waited exterior whereas Wood, Beck, and their bandmates dined at a roadside diner. Beck agitated the mob by goading them to assault. They have been more than pleased to oblige. The band rushed to their van, Beck took the wheel, and Wood dived towards an open window as one in all the mob members tried to climb inside. The best way Wood tells it in Ronnie, a few of the rockers held onto the van as they peeled out of the restaurant car parking zone.

Ronnie Wood stole a bass and was in the thick of a violent brawl throughout his wild youthful days. He can rely himself fortunate he survived lengthy sufficient to earn his Rolling Stones invitation in 1975.

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