Billy Preston’s ARP 2600 on ‘Miss You’: The Disco Bass Line That Almost Didn’t Happen

The pulsing synth bass on “Miss You” is one of the most recognizable moments in the Stones’ catalog, but it almost was a different sound entirely. Billy Preston brought his ARP 2600 to the Some Girls sessions and set up a simple sequence — a filter-swept sawtooth wave — that mimicked a disco pulse. Keith Richards heard it and said, “That’s it.”

Preston programmed the patch, not Ian Stewart. Stewart was present as a session pianist and road manager, but he wasn’t into synths. The ARP 2600’s built-in sequencer wasn’t used; instead, Preston played the bass line manually on the keyboard, using the synth’s envelope generator to create that tight, percussive attack. The Stones were wary of disco, but that bubbling low end gave them the hit they needed.