GEAR Reviews

Prince played bass from the depths of his soul. Can you say the same?

When Prince died in 2016, decades before his

THE Lowdown

SHELF LIFE

REBUILD ENDURANCE

Get that stamina back up

SWAMP THING

What’s the status of swamp ash?

Bass Lessons

Making you a better bass player in every issue, our state-of-the-art team of educators will guide you every step of the way. Say hello to them here!

BP Notat on Legend

The following is a guide to the notation symbols and terminology used in Bass Player magazine

Star Bass

We celebrate five great - and less great! - albums on which a notable bassist appears

James Taylor recruits Lee Sklar for Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon in 1971

The singer-songwriter James Taylor makes sweet music –

PLAY SCALES OVER DOMINANT CHORDS

Nik Preston takes us through three ways to

ROYAL PERFORMANCE

It’s been five years since the untimely death of  PRINCE ROGERS NELSON,  and with interest in his music still fanatical, it’s the perfect opportunity for us to recall the occasion in 1999 when BP writer Karl Coryat was summoned to Paisley Park to interview the great man – only to be handed a bass and commanded to play in front of his legendary subject

Write On

Twenty-two years on, Karl Coryat recalls his career-defining, and recorder-free, meeting with Prince

THE BAND PL AYED ON...

Prince, a masterful bassist in his own right, employed a series of phenomenal bass players over his four decades as a professional musician. Meet the team

TIME TO TEACH

The outspoken fusion legend Jeff Berlin discusses his new Music Group with Phil Mann

REED PLAYER

The great Fernando Saunders is best known for his long-standing collaboration with the late Lou Reed, and like that maverick genius, creativity runs deep in him. We meet the maestro

TAKING NOTES

Laura Greenberg on the best bass advice she’s ever heard, courtesy of Mr V. Wooten

CALL HIM AL

Behind the ferocious death metal of Cannibal Corpse, there’s a bass genius: Alex Webster

SEASON OF JOY

KillJoy Stephens on taking a philosophical, but practice-based, route into the low end

ALL IN

Everything Everything bassist Jeremy Pritchard digs deep into a world of tone

DEAR BILL

The great Bill Conklin has served the bass

PRESS TO PLAY

Jon Button has a long resume of gigs with artists such as Sheryl Crow, Shakira, Mandy Moore, James Blunt and Robben Ford. His most recent gig with The Who saw him faced with the daunting task of playing the bass parts of the much-missed John Entwistle.  Could you pull that off?

FENDER

American Professional II  Precision

WILCOCK BiSonic

A short-scale bass with one neck pickup: think you know how it’s going to sound? Think again, says Mike Brooks

MARKBASS Marcus Miller CMD 101 Micro 60 Combo

Mike Brooks appraises this cute Marcus Miller amp – and asks whether usable combos can get any smaller

DARKGLASS ELECTRONICS

ADAM

EXPLORE SEVENTH CHORDS: PART ONE

Nashville-based session and stage bassist Ryan Madora is

PICK PLAYING PART TWO

The great Steve Lawson brings us a new

MASTER THE MELODIC MINOR

H ello there! Many bassists find themselves treading

PLAY LIKE MARCUS MILLER

Stuart Clayton takes us into the most challenging

IN-EAR MONITORS

Now hear this! Dan Veall is all ears... in-ears