“You think of him as a songwriter and a singer really, but as a bass guitar player, it’s next-level”: Johnny Marr’s “mind-blowing” jam with Paul McCartney – and why he thinks Macca reinvented the bass

Left–Paul McCartney performs on stage on the Paul McCartney World Tour, Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 11th November 1989. He is playing a Wal 5 string bass guitar; Right–Johnny Marr performing on stage circa 1980s.

Performing alongside Paul McCartney must feel nothing short of surreal for those who've been lucky enough to experience it. Johnny Marr knows that feeling first-hand – and he recently recalled what he learned from his “mind-blowing” jamming sessions with Macca.

“If you take a band like the Beatles – they always come to mind because they’re the yardstick everyone thinks about,” he says on The Overlap podcast.