Willie D. Warren

It has been said that Warren, back in the 1950s, while playing in the Otis Rush band, invented the first electric bass by tuning down the three low strings on his guitar. Then the first Fender basses appeared on the scene and very soon every band was using them.



Willie D. Warren was born in Stamps, AR. At 13 years old, his family moved to Lake Village, AR, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. Caleb King taught the youngster to play the guitar and soon he was playing on the streets of Lake Village and eventually led his own bands around the Delta. He taught the basics of guitar to his band singer, Eddie Jones, who went on to become Guitar Slim. In the late '40s, Warren and Jones traveled across Louisiana playing the blues.



By the 1950s, Warren had followed the great migration of southern African-Americans to Chicago. It was there that he found work with the bands of Freddie King and Otis Rush. He also played gigs with Jimmy Reed and recorded for Chess Records backing Morris Pejoe.

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