Stuart Hamm

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

Early life, family and education

Hamm was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He spent most of his childhood in Champaign, Illinois, where he studied bass and piano. He played in the stage band at Champaign Central High School and was selected to the Illinois All-State Band. However, Hamm moved to Norwich, Vermont, and graduated from Hanover High in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1978.

Following high school, he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he met guitarist Steve Vai. Berklee later awarded Hamm a Distinguished Alumni Degree (1990). Because of his performances on tour with Satriani, Hamm's skills received national attention.

Hamm's first solo album, Radio Free Albemuth, inspired by the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, was released in 1988.

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).

Since March 2011, Hamm has performed with "The Deadlies," houseband for KOFY-TV's Creepy KOFY Movie Time.

In July 2011, Hamm accepted the position of Director of Bass Programs at Musician's Institute in Hollywood, California. For the past two decades, Hamm has also toured as one of the world's premier bass clinicians.

Discography

Solo albums

Radio Free Albemuth (1988)
Kings of Sleep (1989)
The Urge (1991)
Outbound (2000)
Live Stu X 2 (2007)
Just Outside of Normal (2010)
The Book Of Lies (2015)
The Diary of Patrick Xavier (2018)
Holdfast (2023)

With Frank Gambale

The Great Explorers (1993)

With Frank Gambale and Steve Smith

Show Me What You Can Do (1998)
The Light Beyond (2000)
GHS3 (2002)

With Joe Satriani

Dreaming No. 11 (1988) -- Ice 9, Memories and Hordes of Locusts
Flying in a Blue Dream (1989) -- Strange and The Bells of Lal (Part Two)
Time Machine (1993) -- Disc One: Time Machine, The Mighty Turtle Head and All Alone. Disc Two: Circles, Lords of Karma and Echo
Crystal Planet (1998) -- All Tracks except Time and Z.Z.'s Song
Live in San Francisco (2001)
Live In Paris: I Just Wanna Rock (2010)

With Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, and Steve Vai

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

With Steve Vai

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

With other artists

Richie Kotzen, Richie Kotzen (1989)
Michael Schenker Group, Arachnophobiac (2003)
Working Man, a Rush tribute album, tracks number 7, number 10, number 11 (1996)
Yngwie Malmsteen, Ronnie James Dio, for Not The Same Old Song and Dance, an Aerosmith tribute album, track number 6, "Dream On" (1999)
George Lynch, Gregg Bissonette, and Vince Neil, for Bat Head Soup, an Ozzy Osbourne tribute album, track number 9, "Paranoid" (2006)
Caifanes (band) on the El nervio del volcán (album) on track number 8 Quisiera Ser Alcohol.
Adrian Legg, Mrs. Crowe's Blue Waltz (1992)
Bill Lonero, "Slather" (2004)
David Stockden, "Reflections of Themes" (2009)
Thomas Tomsen, "Sunflickers" (2010)
Matthias Arp, "Endorphin Overdose" (2010) - Track 1+10
Marco Iacobini, "The Sky There'll Always Be" (2013)
Gretchen Menn, "Oleo Strut" (2011)