Pass found work as a performer as early as age 14. He played with bands led by Tony Pastor and Charlie Barnet, honing his guitar skills while learning the ropes to the music industry. He began traveling with small jazz groups and moved from Pennsylvania to New York City. Within a few years he had developed an addiction to heroin. He moved to New Orleans for a year and played bebop for strippers. Pass revealed to Robert Palmer of "Rolling Stone" that he had suffered a "nervous breakdown" in New Orleans "because had access to every kind of drug there and was up for days [... would come to New York a lot, then get strung out and leave."