Bass Player

Bass Player is the world's most comprehensive, trusted and insightful bass publication for passionate bassists and active musicians of all ages. Each issue delivers the latest tips and techniques that are guaranteed to make you a better player.

WELCOME • We're all on the one, consciously or not. We just need to stay there.

Bass Player

NAMM 2021 • Bass news from this year’s digital event, Believe In Music

Opeth’s Méndez gets a signature bass

A great bass-line in 85 words or less...

Health Notes

FLYING HIGH • Raven bassist John Gallagher finds a solution to pesky airline restrictions

Yolanda Charles • We celebrate five great—and less great!—albums on which a notable bassist appears

April 1981: Abba say goodbye • A historic moment in bass world—recalled by those who were there to see it

MAKE YOUR TONE CUT THROUGH: PART TWO • Want to make sure you’re heard on stage? Listen up!

FRET GAUGES EXPLAINED • If you’ve never considered fret gauges before, start now

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE... • ...and Bootsy Collins is, as ever, on it. With The Power Of The One featuring a host of stars, the master creates an album where bass can flourish and the funk can breathe. “It’s not about being the best bassist in the world,” he tells our Editor...

BOOK OF GENESIS • Mike Rutherford recalls the bass mechanisms behind the Mechanics

LIFE OF BRIAN • Jazz maestro Brian Bromberg recently reissued his 2010 album Bromberg Plays Hendrix, a collaboration with the great Vinnie Colaiuta on drums. We meet the master...

EVA KESS • Four albums into her career, upright bassist Eva Kess brings a wide range of influences into her music. We hear how a chance meeting launched her bass journey

BRIAN MARSHALL ALTER BRIDGE • Essential tips from a touring and recording bassist

STARR POWER • Former Parliament-Funkadelic bassist and solo artist Starr Cullars looks back at her early career, including a close encounter with the late, great Prince

SAINT JOSEPH • Veteran headbangers Armored Saint return with a new album, Punching The Sky, on which Joey Vera produces as well as playing bass. Could you multitask as well as he does?

TRAP MUSIC • Trapped In Purgatory bassist Jon Hoare recalls how, as a kid, he planned to take over the world of metal...

HEAVY WEIGHT • Hatebreed’s new album, Weight Of The False Self, is as crushing as its title implies. Bassist Chris Beattie reports from the front line

T-TIME • Bassist, producer, arranger, manager and now educator Tony Choy isn’t taking the pandemic lying down. We meet the busiest man in bass...

GENE THERAPY • With Kiss’s final world tour on hold thanks to the pesky virus, Gene Simmons takes time out to partner up with Gibson on a new line of bass guitars, G2. “I have to say, I’m pretty creative,” the Demon tells Jason Hunt

GEAR Reviews • Welcome to our expert road-tests of state-of-the-art basses, amps, and effects

EPIPHONE Embassy • Another retro bass comes into our sights—but does it offer more than a chic peek in the rear-view mirror?

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

ATELIER Z Beta 5+ DX • A fully-equipped Jazz variant with glacial looks... chilling! Mike Brooks dons his thermals for a night on the ice

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

AMPEG BA-108 v2 Combo • Compact, portable, lightweight, fully-featured—just how we like our combos. Mike Brooks checks out Ampeg’s pocket rocket

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

EBS Stanley Clarke Acoustic Preamp • This Stan-endorsed preamp for upright bass is a rare find, says Jon Thorne

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

Bass Lessons • Making you a better bass player in every issue, our state-of-the-art team of educators...