Although he became one of the most important and influential bass players of all time, Geezer Butler had some difficulty learning how to play the instrument. In fact, he said in an interview with Steel City that it was his bandmates Tony Iommi (guitar) and Bill Ward (drums) who taught him how to play the bass.
Geezer Butler says Tony Iommi and Bill Ward taught him how to play the bass
“I never thought about it, but many bass players tell me that I influenced them. I always considered myself a pretty average musician… When I started playing bass, I had Tony (Iommi) and Bill (Ward) teaching me. They didn’t criticize me. They just let me continue, even knowing that I had never played bass before, and I kind of just followed what they were doing. So, they really gave me a lot of encouragement, and I owe them that, truly.”
“(I started playing rhythm guitar first) because I loved the Beatles and wanted to be John Lennon. (My brother bought it for me and it cost) 50 pence and only had two strings. I think that’s why I became a bass player,'” Geezer joked (Transcribed by Ultimate Guitar).
During the same conversation, Butler gave advice to new musicians, telling them to focus on what they are good at and not try to play every style there is. His biggest early influence on the instrument was Cream’s Jack Bruce. Besides being Sabbath bass player on all their most successful albums, Butler also was the band’s main lyricist during the time he was a member.
He is the one responsible for the lyrics of most of the successful tracks released when Ozzy Osbourne was the frontman. During the Dio era, he divided the lyric writing with Ronnie, who was also a lyricist.