Oteil Burbridge: Intention First. Instrument Last

Cory Wong sits down with the legendary bassist Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers Band, Dead & Company, Tedeschi Trucks Band) for a deep dive into musical philosophy, Col. Bruce, and more. Burbridge has been driven by a simple, radical lesson he learned from Col. Bruce Hampton: Intention comes first, the instrument is last. He tells Cory how he learned to channel his entire life—including the “mirror of embarrassment”—into his playing to develop a singular voice—scat singing and all. Burbridge also breaks down how he maintains deep groove while adding melodic freedom, and the power a bassist has to drive a soloist to “40,000 feet.” Plus, you’ll hear behind-the-scenes stories from the Allman Brothers Band, advice on dealing with creative pushback, and details on his upcoming album recorded in Iceland. Get 30% off your first year of DistroKid by going here: Visit Oteil: Hit us up: wongnotes@premierguitar.com Visit Cory: Visit Premier Guitar: IG: Produced by Jason Shadrick and Cory Wong Presented by DistroKid

You can listen to Oteil Burbridge: Intention First. Instrument Last online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Oteil Burbridge: Intention First. Instrument Last is an episode from Wong Notes by Premier Guitar.

This episode is 01:05:29 long.

This episode was published on Mar 25, 2026.

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