Iron Maiden’s muscular riffs and breathtaking endurance have kept faithful heads banging since the late 1970s, anchored by bassist Steve Harris, who told Bass Player: “A lot of people say I've got a strange style, but I never sat down and tried to copy someone else. You pick up different licks here and there and eventually get your own style, but you can't force it. My style just happened.”
Harris relies on the fingernails on his plucking fingers to deliver his famous, trebly tone. “The nails on my left hand are down to next to nothing because I don't need them, but I grow the nails on my right hand as long as I can without splitting them, so that I can get that trebly sound. If they split I might have to increase the treble on my bass to compensate for it, if that happens.”
