Oteil Burbridge: Intention First. Instrument Last
Wong Notes
Premier Guitar
4.9 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2026
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Cory Wong sits down with the legendary bassist Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers Band, Dead & Company, Tedeschi Trucks Band) for a deep dive into musical philosophy, Col. Bruce, and more.
Burbridge has been driven by a simple, radical lesson he learned from Col. Bruce Hampton: Intention comes first, the instrument is last. He tells Cory how he learned to channel his entire life—including the “mirror of embarrassment”—into his playing to develop a singular voice—scat singing and all.
Burbridge also breaks down how he maintains deep groove while adding melodic freedom, and the power a bassist has to drive a soloist to “40,000 feet.” Plus, you’ll hear behind-the-scenes stories from the Allman Brothers Band, advice on dealing with creative pushback, and details on his upcoming album recorded in Iceland.
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Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong
Presented by DistroKid
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What's happening? Welcome to Wong Notes podcast. I'm your host, Corey Wong. I'm very excited to be back. Very excited to be here. This wonderful day in the middle of March, where it just snowed a couple feet over the last couple days here in Minneapolis. Not the most exciting thing, but that's also why I'm excited to be going on tour. |
| 0:24.5 | I'm leaving to go to South America and then I do a West Coast tour. |
| 0:28.7 | This is why I tour those places that time of year, because I just got done shoveling two feet of snow. |
| 0:34.9 | Anyways, I'm excited to be here, excited to be with you. Have a great episode |
| 0:39.2 | today. My friend Oteel Burbage, are you kidding? Incredible bass player. First time I got hip to him |
| 0:47.4 | actually was Aquarium Rescue Unit. And then Tedesky Trucks Band, Dead Inco, brothers, all that kind of stuff. |
| 0:56.1 | I have just been a huge fan of the way that he plays. |
| 0:58.8 | He plays so melodic, he plays so artistically. |
| 1:01.9 | And coming back to the melodic thing, I think there's a lot of bass players that play super melodic. |
| 1:07.0 | But somehow when they do it, it feels like the groove gets abandoned in the process. |
| 1:11.7 | And I never feel like that happens with Oteal. |
| 1:14.1 | I feel like Oteal does an incredible job really keeping the role and the function of the bass, |
| 1:21.1 | of the groove, of the foundation, yet also adding these melodic elements that is really enhancing to the art that he's always making |
| 1:30.3 | and the bands that he plays in. |
| 1:32.2 | It was a really fun conversation to have. |
| 1:34.8 | I hope you're excited to hear it. |
| 1:37.7 | Also, some of you folks listening might be jam folks. |
| 1:42.5 | Okay, here's the deal. |
| 1:45.0 | I'm guessing that many of you are also musicians. |
| 1:48.2 | If you like to jam, if you're a musician, guess what? |
| 1:51.6 | I'm doing a rhythm section camp in August, the 13th through the 16th in San Francisco at the Fairmont Hotel. |
| 1:58.1 | It's going to be super fun. |
... |
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