ARTIST APPROVED
Pop singer-songwriter GAYLE shares the unex- pected ways her love for the upright bass has expanded her sonic world and opened new pos- sibilities within her musical projects. GAYLE MUSIC INC.: What was your first instrument? GAYLE: My first instrument was an acoustic Breedlove that my mother got me from Target for Christmas. I was about 10 or 11, and I was so excited. Funnily enough, I had already been singing for a couple years, so I already knew I loved music but little did I know how much more I would fall in love with music through instruments. MI: What’s your all-time favorite instrument? What makes it stand out? GAYLE: Currently, my favorite instrument is probably the upright bass! I love the texture the instrument adds to records. I enjoy the fact that you can play the instrument with or without a bow. You can use some chords, just use a singular note or even do some pick- ing patterns if you want to get creative. It’s a very easy instrument to stack on top of itself and you can have it be the centerpiece to a song or it can just be the cherry on top! It’s a very customizable instrument, yet quite a big and stubborn instrument — and I enjoy that! A producer I work with very consistently, Reed Berin, plays upright bass and opened up such a fun sonic world with being able to have that in his back pocket. MI: What’s currently in your arsenal? GAYLE: For the studio this year we brought out a banjo, mandolin and a guitalele which was really fun! MI: Are there any new or emerging pieces of gear you’ve recently tried that have caught your attention? GAYLE: I bought a loop pedal off of Sweetwater on sale about a week ago with a fuzz pedal, and it’s safe to say I’m about to become the most annoying person ever. MI — By Kimberly Kapela
NOVEMBER 2026 I MUSIC INC. I 23
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