WELCOME

Movie stars love playing bass too. We know, because we asked one

CAPTAIN HOOK

Peter Hook gets his own signature Yamaha BB bass

Slim Picking

New, two-octave Thinline Warwicks are on the way.

Gear News

Vintage have added a four-string electroacoustic bass to

NEW TRACE ELLIOT COMBOS

The veteran amp-makers announce new Elf units

MATT BARNES YOU ME AT SIX

WHAT IS GOOD BASS PLAYING?

GINGER POOLEY BURNING POOLS

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR IDOLS?

MATTHEW SCHUMACHER THE CURSE WITHIN

WHAT WAS YOUR WAY INTO BASS?

AHMAD JAMAL

At the Pershing (1958)

Israel Crosby

THIS MONTH

GEORGE SHEARING

Jazz Moments (1963)

AHMAD JAMAL

Ahmad’s Blues (1958)

SAM JONES & CO.

Down Home (1962)

The Beach Boys record Pet Sounds in 1966

A historic moment in bass world—recalled by those who were there to see it

WOOD TRENDS EXPLAINED

Don’t be terrified by torrefied maple

BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE

Add some swagger to your bass playing

MASTER COOL SUBSTITUTIONS IN TURNAROUNDS: PART 1

Nik Preston takes us through ways to exploit

Lights. Camera. Bass!

Jason Momoa, the movie star who everyone knows thanks to Game Of Thrones and Aquaman, plays bass every single day. Who knew, right? Well, you read about it here first. He often talks about his admiration for a long list of heavyweight bass players— so, in a world first, we sit down with Momoa and present him with a list of questions from those very bassists. Along the way he reveals his journey into the low end, his admiration for a certain Mr. Claypool— and his profound fear of something that we bassists do all the time

AQUAMAN ANSWERS

Jason fields questions from his bass heroes, right here. First up: Les Claypool of Primus!

Frank Bello, Anthrax

Frank: “Do you get the same high when

Rex Brown, Pantera, Down, Kill Devil Hill

Rex: “What type of sound do you go

Robert Trujillo, Metallica

Robert: “Jason, what is your earliest memory of

AQUAMAN ANSWERS

Tom Araya, Slayer

David Ellefson, Megadeth

David: “I’m curious if a longer, 35” scale

THE BIG F

Jason recently ordered a beautiful custom Fender Precision. He and Fender Master Builder Vincent Van Trigt tell the story

GET CARTER...

...on your session, if you want the ultimate double bass performance. “I’ll take a bullet if I’m wrong,” says the great Ron Carter, 83 years old and kicking the asses of bass players a third his age

ENTER THE DEAD ZONE

We chronicle the return of the long-lost 1974 Alembic bass, known as ‘Osiris’ aka ‘Mission Control’ by Deadheads, and ‘The Osage’ or ‘The Omega’ by Alembic faithful, once belonging to Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead

JON LAWHON BLACK STONE CHERRY

Bass tips and key advice from the rockin’ BSC bassist

LUCKY JIM

Jimmy Haslip continues to push forward the frontiers of bass guitar with album reissues, sessions and a playing style that is like no other

DUNN DEAL

There is no rock band quite like Mr. Bungle. There is no composer quite like John Zorn. Trevor Dunn plays bass for them both

WHISKEY TONES

Session and solo bassist Leanne Bowes recalls the key moments that took her career to the next level

GEAR Reviews

Welcome to our expert road-tests of state-ofthe-art basses, amps and effects

EPIPHONE

Jack Casady

LAIRAT

Stega Deluxe

BERGANTINO

Forté D amp, NXT112 and 210 cabinets

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!

MINOR ARPEGGIOS

Hey there, bass players! In our previous column,

CHORD INVERSIONS EXPLORED

The great Steve Lawson brings us a new

UNPACK PENTATONICS

Phil Mann guides us into those super‐useful pentatonic

COMBINE MULTIPLE THUMB STROKES

Over the past few columns, we’ve been looking

INSIDE YOUR AMP, PART 3

Dan Veall closes this issue with a deeper dive into valve versus solid-state amps