Watch ZZ Top play ‘Got Me Under Pressure’ with massive bass guitar
Replacing Dusty Hill in ZZ Top is no easy feat. The legendary bass player had held down the bottom end for the iconic Texas blues rockers for over five decades when he passed away in the summer of 2021. Hill wasn’t just a bass player: he was a singer on classic tracks like ‘Tush’ and ‘Dust My Broom’ and a co-frontman for the band.
His bandmates mourned Hill, but ZZ Top still had dates booked to play. The decision was simple: Billy Gibbon’s long-time guitar tech Elwood Francis would step in. Francis had subbed in for Hill while Hill was recovering from hip surgery, and the late bassist asked his bandmates to continue without him as long as Francis was the stand-in.
There’s no replacing Hill’s distinct voice and rock-solid bass playing, but Francis is holding up quite nicely. He certainly looks the part, with his own chest-length beard to match Gibbons’. He’s filling in Hill’s parts with aplomb, and Francis is even showing off his own bit of stagecraft.
Case in point: Francis took the stage on November 5th with a massive 17-string custom bass guitar. The Huntsville, Alabama crowd ate it up as the band kicked into the Eliminator hit ‘Got Me Under Pressure’. At first, Francis has to play the lowest string with his hand turned overtop the guitar, but eventually settles on the highest string, gripping the gigantic bass like a normal guitar.
A little bit of insight regarding these kinds of guitars: nobody actually plays all the strings on a 17-string bass. Francis occasionally hits the lowest string to add a resonating boom to the song, but most of his actual playing sticks to the top two strings of the bass. So what’s the rest of the guitar used for? Showmanship, baby!
ZZ Top are no strangers to flashy guitars. During the Eliminator era, Hill and Gibbons could be seen wielding fuzzy white guitars that spun around their belt buckles. Over the years, they’ve amassed a gigantic array of custom-painted guitars, so why not bring in a bass that’s nearly impossible to play?
It’s a goofy and visually arresting way to start a show, and hopefully, somewhere up in the clouds, Dusty Hill was smiling and shaking his head at Francis’ little stunt.
Check out the massive 17-string bass in action on ‘Got Me Under Pressure’ down below.
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