Michael Andrew `` Duff '' McKagan ( born February 5 , 1964 ) is an American musician , singer , songwriter and author . He is best known for his twelve-year tenure as the bass guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N ' Roses , with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s . Towards the end of his first tenure with Guns N ' Roses , McKagan released a solo album , Believe in Me ( 1993 ) , and formed the short-lived supergroup Neurotic Outsiders . Following his departure from Guns N ' Roses in 1997 , McKagan briefly reunited with his pre-success Seattle punk band 10 Minute Warning , before forming the still-active hard rock band Loaded , in which he performs lead vocals and rhythm guitar . Between 2002 and 2008 , he played bass in the supergroup Velvet Revolver with his former Guns N ' Roses bandmates Slash and Matt Sorum .
Duff McKagan refused to ever be a musician.