Nikki Sixx said his life would probably have gone differently if he’d started out playing a good-quality guitar.Instead, his musical endeavors started with a cheap, incomplete instrument his stepfather had owned – and the Motley Crue icon asserted it defined his career.“When I first learned to write music I had a three-string nylon,” Sixx told Guitar World in a recent interview. “I started writing notes – I’m still the weird kid with the notepad, except now it’s on my iPhone – and I would always be documenting everything, like fights in the schoolyard.’”READ MORE: Motley Crue Albums Ranked Worst to BestHe continued: “I had three strings; I would read my lyrics, play a root note, and try to express my life as a teenager through music. When he gave me that guitar, he actually carved my future out. If I’d had a traditional guitar – which I love – I’d have had a whole different outlook on the bass.”Sixx also reported that he has an “interesting approach and outlook on bass” for Motley Crue, adding that a particular ‘70s song had been instrumental to his playing.The ‘70s Song That Encapsulates Nikki Sixx’s Bass Playing“I was driving with my wife and ‘Smoke on the Water’ came on; and I go, ‘Just wait for it,’’ he recalled. “All of a sudden you hear it. She looked at me and goes, ‘That’s you!’ I go, ‘Always has been, always will be.’“Then I put on an AC/DC song. She’s not a musician, right? But she goes, ‘I understand!’ So that’s where I want to be. … We were listening to some music last night and I go, ‘Listen to this bass.’ My wife goes, ‘That bass player is driving the song.’“It was a song by Seal – and it was so different from my approach – but it’s the right approach [for] there. I’m like, ‘What if I had that approach in my band? What would that sound like?’”Asked if he was still looking to develop his bass sound, Sixx replied: “I’m constantly searching for the more garage side of it, for me. Like, if I wasn’t 500 years old, I would probably start a garage band! But I’m not doing that at this point.”Motley Crue Lineup Changes: A Complete GuideThe complete story of Motley Crue’s lineup changes.Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening