Bass Player: Walter Becker

Steely Dan started off as a band but, at some point early on in their career, songwriters Donald Fagan and Walter Becker recognised the value of ‘session musicians’ and started using an array of sidemen that reads like a who’s who of US session monsters: Chuck Rainey, Steve Gadd, Larry Carlton and on through to Chris Potter, Keith Carlock and Tom Barney. Despite the availability of the astonishing stable of musicians (and drummers!), it was often the case that Walter Becker would handle guitar and bass parts himself.

The transcription here features Becker’s bass parts for the tune ‘Cousin Dupree’ from the 2000 Dan album, ‘Two Against Nature’. Becker passed away in 2017.