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.

Question: what will you achieve over a lifetime of playing bass?

Bass Player

RUSH TO READ • Rush’s Geddy Lee will release an “epic” memoir in 2022

Booked Up • Bass volumes incoming.

Love Lines • A great bass-line in 96 words.

Deon Estus • The Wham! bassist has passed away aged 65.

Gnome Range • Warwick launches new Gnome cabs.

FULL SPEC • New basses have arrived from Spector, Cort and G&L

IN THE Groove NIRVANA : NEVERMIND (DGC, 1991) • It’s 30 years since Nirvana released Nevermind. Has it stood the test of time?

Freekbass • The funk master talks us through five career high points.

Guitarist Todd Rundgren switched to bass in 1995 – and told BP all about it • A historic moment in bass world – recalled by those who were there to see it

PREP LIKE A PRO • Prepare for your live shows and you’ll reap the rewards

WHAT MAKES A PICKUP ACTIVE? • Essential pickup wisdom

MASTER CHORD SUPERIMPOSITION

BASS PLAYER AWARDS 2021 • After a year off thanks to the pesky virus, BP’s annual Lifetime Achievement Awards return—and this time we add a new category. Raise your glass to this year’s winners, Marcus Miller, Gail Ann Dorsey,John Taylor and Charles Berthoud.

MARCUS MILLER • The great Miles Davis alumnus takes home a much-deserved and long-overdue award after five decades at the top. We salute the maestro

GAIL ANN DORSEY • David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz, Gang Of Four: The great Gail Ann Dorsey is one of the most sought-after bassists in the world, and she’s earned this award many times over.

JOHN TAYLOR • Duran Duran are an anomaly: An ‘Eighties band’ that still sells out arenas when their contemporaries have faded from view. Their bassist John Taylor , a hero in our world, also occupies an unusual role, because he plays complex but simultaneously supportive lines. Think about that for a minute, while we hand him his award...

CHARLES BERTHOUD • With our brand-new Rising Star award, we recognize an up-and-coming bass talent who is taking our community forward. Hats off to Charles Berthoud , who 750,000 YouTube subscribers will already know...

GEAR OF THE YEAR 2021 • So, which was the least worst year for music, 2020 or 2021? It’s a close call. Fortunately, we’ve had plenty of cool new gear to console ourselves with. Behold the best bass guitars, amps and effects of the year! Did your favorite bass-related product make the cut?

STAYING POWER • Tal Wilkenfeld ’s recent album Love Remains features a five-string in tenor tuning with a capo. Ellen O’Reilly finds out why…

ROYAL BLOOD • So what does it feel like to step away from the biggest rock band ever formed? We put that very question to Tim Staffell, who was John Deacon ’s predecessor in Smile, the band that went on to become Queen. “I was dissatisfied,” he says...

When Worlds Collide • Happy birthday, John, and happy anniversary too.

KRIST NOVOSELIC • It’s 30 years since the release of Nirvana’s era-defining album, Nevermind, and high time that we revisited this 2011 chat with the great bassist turned political activist, Krist Novoselic , a musician who witnessed a truly chaotic period in music history

Basshead • At the 1992 MTV Music Video Awards, Novoselic threw his bass in the air, forgetting that it would be coming down again shortly afterwards...

Territorial Pickings • Krist chooses his favorite Nirvana bass-lines

GEAR Reviews • Welcome to our expert road-tests of state-of-the-art bass...