Rex Brown - Playing Style and Equipment

Playing Style and Equipment

Rex was a jazz bassist and was offered a scholarship to the University of North Texas but declined. He often plays with a pick. He is widely considered to be, along with Dimebag Darrell, one of the driving forces behind groove metal.

Rex was notable for often contributing walking basslines underneath Darrell's guitar solos. Standout tracks include "Floods" "Walk" "5 Minutes Alone", "Throes of Rejection", "Cowboys from Hell", "Living Through Me (Hells Wrath)", "I Can't Hide", "Use my Third Arm", "Where You Come From", "This Love", "I'm Broken" and many others.

In Pantera's earliest days, Brown was witnessed playing an Ibanez Roadster bass. In the late 80's he switched to Charvel basses and played a white 5 string and a black 4 string model. He used these basses exclusively through the Cowboys From Hell and Vulgar Display of Power albums, before he briefly used a 4 and 5 string model Ernie Ball MusicMan Stingray bass during the Vulgar Display of Power tour as well as a Fernandes Telecaster shaped bass for the "Walk" music video. In 1993, Rex began endorsing Spector bass guitars, notably all his basses had humbuckers. He continues to use Spectors to this day, with his own signature model. Shaped somewhat similar to a Gibson Thunderbird, the Spector Rex Brown Signature bass comes in several different finishes and is available in 4 and 5 string models. In 2011, Spector released a new signature bass by Rex named the Spector RXT. The bass has the same electronics as his first signature bass but instead of a Thunderbird, it is shaped like a Telecaster.

Brown is currently endorsed by Spector basses and Ampeg amplification.