Greta Brinkman Turns Your Bass Preconceptions Upside Down

Debbie Harry, Jayne County, Pigface, Druglord, L7, Unseen Force: Those are just some of the bands that Greta Brinkman has recorded with, toured with and even appeared on TV alongside.

She’s been in the game for a long time, and has racked up some major endorsements: GHS Strings, Gallien-Krueger amps (she uses an 800RB head and is “not that fussy” about cabinets) and Carvin guitars. We’ll specify bass guitars — Brinkman is known as a bassist. In fact, her nickname is “Bass Goddess.”

“One of the very best things about being ‘famous’ and ‘rich’ was that, now that I was finally in a position to buy all the gear I always wanted, now companies were willing to give it to me and put me in their ads!” Brinkman says via email. “I am so fortunate.”

Brinkman explains how one of these endorsements came about: She was touring with Moby on bass guitar, and in 1999 the band was en route to L.A. to be on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. “I happened to meet a guy who took me to the local Carvin place in Tucson, and they gave me a bass that day to play on the show. Later on, they built me my green bass that appeared on other shows and in some ads.”

What Carvin building a bass for Brinkman means is, “It is a left-handed body, but they reversed the nut and bridge for me so I can string it right-handed, since I learned to play upside down!”

Some famous musicians play guitar upside down with the strings right-handed; think Tony Iommi and Jimi Hendrix, to name two.

Brinkman continues, “I really, really love my green Carvin. and it’s the most comfy bass I ever played. And the GK 800RB amp — yeah, I’m a bit of a snob about that, but I do realize other amps can sound just as good for their specific uses. And I don’t use any pedals or effects to be fussy about. In my world, guitar + cable + amp = rock, and that’s all you need.”