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 • Some bass players leave us too soon. That doesn’t mean we stop listening.

Bass Player

BASS PHIL • Thin Lizzy’s late frontman Phil Lynott is celebrated with a new music and film release.

RIP Alec John Such

Wong & Wooten • Two maestros team up.

Royal Return • King’s X are back!

BOXING CLEVER • Two lightweight amps are inbound.

TRIBUTE TALK • Two rock bassists have been in the news lately, united by the theme of Van Halen

IN THE Groove SLY & THE FAMILY STONE THERE’S A RIOT GOIN’ ON (EPIC, 1971) • Let’s dig out a bass-heavy LP from the vault. This month: There's A Riot Goin’ On by Sly & The Family Stone

THIS MONTH Jeroen Paul Thesseling • Experimental fretless meets metal in the capable hands of this Dutch bassist. These five albums tell his story.

I WAS THERE! • A historic moment in bass world—recalled by those who were there to see it

WRITING FOR THE STAGE • How to create bass-lines with live shows in mind

DON’T COME UNGLUED • Keep it together, advises Rob

MASTER MINOR-TRIAD MELODIC STRUCTURES

REMEMBERING THE RAGER • Cliff Burton was the second bassist with the biggest heavy metal band there has ever been or will ever be: Metallica. Thirty-six years since his untimely death, we celebrate his career, we dig into his tones and talents with the help of Metallica’s Robert Trujillo—and we visit Sweden, where Cliff lost his life, to discover that his legacy is growing every year.

SWEDE SENSATION • On May 14, hundreds of METALLICA fans flew to rural Sweden for the Museum’s grand opening—and celebrated Cliff’s life with loud music and a ton of headbanging. Bass Player was there too...

PASS GO • Go-Go’s bassist Kathy Valentine reveals high times and low points in her memoir, All I Ever Wanted, a deep dive into abuse, addiction, and redemption, as well as blazing a trail for a generation of bass players.

ROAR POWER • Masters of arena-conquering anthems, Def Leppard have returned with a new album, Diamond Star Halos.Bassist Rick Savage tells BP about his love for Sting, why playing with a pick isn’t always best practice—and how the perennial rockers pieced together one of their finest albums since Hysteria.

FOUR PLAY • Slash bassist Todd Kerns is on a mission to deliver the very best bass he can—and gives us some valuable nuggets of career advice.

JACK BRUCE • The bass maestro behind Cream, who departed this plane in 2014, looks back on his remarkable career in this meeting of minds from 2003

SISTER SIX • Session bassist Joela Bassista reveals the tools of her trade, and the inspirations who guided her into the low end.

JOURNEY MAN • Stadium-rock perennials Journey are back with a new album made with the returning Randy Jackson, whose story goes far beyond merely playing bass. An A&R man, unwilling TV star, producer, and entrepreneur, Jackson is renowned in our world for his vast resume of sessions—but to 40 million TV viewers, he’s better known as the man who sat next to Simon Cowell on American Idol.

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

GIBSON Gene Simmons G2 Thunderbird • Shout it out loud! Amit Sharma deuces with the Kiss Demon’s new Gibson

GALLIEN-KRUEGER Fusion 800S and NEO-IV 410 cab • Can a lightweight rig have a heavyweight sound? Kevin Johnson weighs in

LUNA GUITARS Tribal • If only more acoustics combined this much quality with a price this low, says the Editor

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