“I said, ‘If you let me borrow one for tonight, I promise I’ll come back.’ I didn’t go back until 5 or 6 years later”: The Rolling Stones legend who stole his first guitar

Ronnie Wood may have plenty in his bank account today, but the Rolling Stones legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has revealed that he stole his first bass guitar.

Wood rose through the ranks with the Birds, later joining Jeff Beck’s band – where he played bass – before forming the Faces in 1969, and eventually replacing Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones. He’s been with the group for almost a staggering 50 years.

Before that, he’d risen through the British rhythm and blues scene, but getting his hands on a bass – an instrument he'd been encouraged to learn – wasn’t an easy task.

“I went round to a music store called Sound City and said, ‘If you let me borrow one for tonight, I promise I'll come back?’” he says (via the Mirror). However, the transaction played on his mind as he cut his teeth in his early bands.

“I didn't go back until five or six years later, when I was in The Faces [and] I could pay them,” he confesses. “I told them that I was the person who stole the Fender Jazz bass, and I'd come back to pay them. They just smiled and said: ‘We thought it was you!’”

The Faces, who produced seminal blues tracks like Stay With Me, are expected to release their first album since 1973's Ooh La La next year. Drummer Kenny Jones revealed that he had reunited with Wood and vocalist Rod Stewart and recorded 11 new songs.

Meanwhile, Wood is set to release a new career-spanning anthology, Fearless, and in its liner notes, he’s reflected on his formative years as a blues guitarist in 1960s London. One of his earliest highlights came when his band, the Birds, found themselves on the same bill as blues legend Bo Diddley.

“What made him so great was his freedom, his reckless abandon, and the confidence that shone through in his music,” he says. “He could break and change a guitar string onstage without stopping the song.”

By 1976, Wood had become an official member of the Rolling Stones, but Harvey Mandel – who had also auditioned for the gig – recently came out firing, believing he was a far better fit for the job.