Innehållsförteckning för January 2019 från Bass Player

Let’s be honest: Terms like “bass duo” and “bassist side project” make even dedicated low-enders quail—let alone everyone else. Few bassists can deliver albums of the quality of (say) Victor Wooten, Stanley Clarke, or, um, Derek Smalls. Fortunately, the new album by Altitudes & Attitude—that’s David Ellefson of Megadeth and Frank Bello of Anthrax—is neither self-indulgent nor the ear-bleeding thrash you might expect. Instead, the songwriting, production, and vocals come straight from the modern rock canon. If the world were just, these hooks and melodies would conquer it. Enjoy our exclusive sit-down with the two masters. As always, we cover loads of ground in this issue: Jazz icon Brian Bromberg drops in, session and stage bassists Lorna Thomas and Adam Rigg discuss their work, and we revisit the politics of…

I am a musical liberal. I believe all genres are valid and worthy of study and, consequently, that there is something to be learned from every one of them. I don’t believe in walls when it comes to musical studies, and history proves that most popular music comes from different styles being assimilated, forming unions, and bearing progeny. There are essentially 12 notes in all Western music, regardless of style. Almost every different rhythm, regardless of style, could fit on two pages of staff paper. In fact, the difference in tone (a violin or overdriven guitar), the intent (melt or soothe you into your seats, or drag you into the moshpit), and the harmonic context (three-chord country or ‘Giant Steps’) are the factors that separate the genres. The notes come…

The use of tape to help manage and reduce the risk of injuries has been popular in professional sport over the past few years, and it’s beginning to be adopted by musicians too, including bassists. So before we all jump on the bandwagon, let’s see if the claims stick (pun intended)… ‘Rigid’ or tough tape is used to try and hold joints in place. For example, after spraining your wrist from doing one too many stage dives, you might use tape around it to limit its movement, and therefore avoid over-stressing or excessively stretching the irritated tissues while they recover. Rigid tape should be wrapped around a joint a couple of times so that it feels secure, but not so tight that your blood circulation is affected and you can’t…

Periodically, our community finds itself having to grapple with the concept of ‘The Female Bassist’. Once rare, nowadays far more common, are female bassists worthy of celebration? Or is this an irrelevant categorization dating back to the bad old days? The discussion was recently reawoken by the reappearance of a thread titled ‘Best Female Bass Player’. To Basschat’s collective credit, the thread, started in 2008, had lain forgotten for an entire decade, before being revived a few weeks ago. Beside the inherent futility of trying to decide who is ‘best’, here we have, of course, a potential sexism problem. Would we be comfortable having a thread about, say, the best black or gay bassist? Of course not—but we managed eight pages of posts before the Female Bassist thread was put…

Now, if you or I had spent the last three decades touring the world, playing the biggest arenas on the planet and covering the bedroom wall with gold discs, we might well enter the middle of our careers with nothing more in mind than a few well-earned years of rest and recuperation, with perhaps the occasional tour for fun. Right? “AS ARTISTS, WE ALL HAVE OTHER SIDES TO US THAT ARE NOT APPROPRIATE TO COME OUT IN OUR MAIN BANDS” In the case of Anthrax bassist Frank Bello and David Ellefson of Megadeth, the answer is a resounding ‘Hell no’. The two thrash metal legends, based in New York and Phoenix respectively, have teamed up in a project called Altitudes & Attitude and delivered a debut album, Get It Out,…

Welcome, brothers and sisters of the low end, to Gear Of The Year, our annual roundup of all the wondrous bass kit we’ve seen—and what a year it’s been! We continue to see a lot of innovation in the equipment we review. In terms of bass guitars, that means cutting-edge features, topnotch pickups and electronics packages, and custom finishes to make you drool. When it comes to amplification, technological developments mean that it has never been lighter or more powerful. And in the realm of effects, there’s never been a wider range of useful, affordable products, whether you’re looking to fine-tune your sound in the most subtle way possible, or create insane, mindbending soundscapes with every string you pluck. With so much gear thrust our way every month, it can…

My main bass is a Crom, which is pretty much unique. I first saw a picture of a similar model online, two years ago. I was like, ‘What is that?’ and searched up Mathias Crom, who is a luthier specializing in baroque instruments in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I emailed him and asked for some information about the bass, and I ended up ordering a custom instrument from him and becoming a Crom endorser. He flew over to London, UK with it, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever played. It’s a passive bass made totally of flamed Argentinian maple. It’s a three-piece neck-through instrument with a string-through-body construction. Everything is hand-carved, and the only controls are a volume and a pickup selector. Even with no tone pot, it sounds amazing.…

Price | $2,500 Made In | Germany Color | San Remo blue gloss Body | Ash Neck | One-piece maple, 35” scale Neck Joint | Bolt-on, six-bolt attachment Nut Width | 44mm Fingerboard | Pau ferro Frets | 22 Pickups | Sandberg Plus T-style single-coil, Sandberg Plus M-style humbucker Electronics | Darkglass Tone Capsule active 9-volt 3-band EQ (bass, low-mid, high-mid) Controls | Volume (push/pull for active/ passive), pickup pan, bass, low-mid/ high-mid (stacked), single-coil/twin-coil switch Hardware | Aged gun-metal hardware, Sandberg lightweight machine heads, Sandberg bridge Weight | 9.3 lb Case/gig bag included | Sandberg gigbag Left-hand option available | Yes, as a custom order WHAT WE THINK Plus | Good price, great looks, flexible tones Minus | It’s up against stiff competition at this price Overall | A…

EICH T-1000 Price $1,550 Made in Germany Power 2 x 500 watts RMS @ 2 ohms, 1000 watts RMS @ 4 ohms Features Gain (with clip LED), Taste, -10dB selector, Attack Time selector, Compressor, Lo, Lo-Mid, Hi-Mid, Hi, Bass Boost selector, High Boost selector, Master Volume, Line/ Effect Mix, Mute selector, Pre/Post EQ selector, Ground/ Lift switch, Power switch, Channel A Volume, Channel B Volume (with Sub on/off selector), Bridged Mode selector, 1/4-inch jack input, 1/4-inch jack Compressor/ Mute footswitch input, Balance XLR DI output socket, 3 x Speakon output sockets, 3.5mm Headphone output, 3.5mm Aux in input, 1/4-inch jack Send/Return sockets, 1/4-inch jack Line Out socket, 1/4-inch jack Tuner output socket Dimensions 80mm (H) x 270mm (W) x 250mm (D) Weight 5.3 lb EICH 1210S-8 CABINET Price $1,250 Made…

Making you a better bass player Welcome to our world-beating lesson section, in which Bass Player collates the wit and wisdom of the crème de la crème of the electric and upright bass world. We’re fortunate enough to have some serious talent on the team, from world-class music educators to experienced touring musicians, who between them have laid down the low notes in every studio, club, and arena in the civilized world. Note that we’ve divided the columns according to Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced level for easy reference. Whether you’re looking to improve your playing technique, expand your awareness of theory, set up your rig to sound like your particular bass hero, or simply get on a bus and tour, we provide the answers you need here. What are you…

Welcome back! Let’s have a quick recap of last month’s lesson. We were looking at creating a bass-line over a two-chord progression, and learning how we could use the notes in the chord (the root, third, and fifth) to connect the underlying rhythm to the harmony. That’s the single most common role that the bass guitar plays in pretty much every form of pop music. Linking the notes in the chord to the rhythm that the drums are playing. We are the glue! The two chords we were using were G major and E minor, and we noticed that they both have a G and a B in them, so we were able to create some interesting lines moving between them, making sure that each change of chord began with…

ISLAND LIFE Following the success of his Traveler guitar model, Island Instruments’ Nic Delisle is delighting the bass world with his new Traveler Bass. His goal was to design a lightweight, compact bass that blends modern features and ergonomics with vintage feel and tone. “The extended single cut and deep cutaway design allows easy access to all 24 frets, while allowing the bass to sit such that the first fret is much closer to the player, eliminating fatigue, and strain,” says Delisle. “The bass is made from lightweight, resonant reclaimed lumbers, and has a carbon fiber-reinforced neck that is stiff and stable. The 31” scale is comfortable without feeling floppy. The bass measures 35” total length and is 12” wide in the lower bout, making it easy to travel with.”…

Once in a generation, an album is released that turns the musical world upside down. Legend and time can distort the facts, but in the case of Nevermind by Seattle grunge pioneers Nirvana, its effect is still being felt 27 years on. There was one music business before Nevermind—and a totally different one after its release. Record companies radically changed their artist rosters, sweeping out the old guard in favor of bands that appealed more to the disaffected youth of the day. Alternative rock and grunge were now the cash-generating genres—and for the first half of the Nineties, they dominated the airwaves. Released by the DGC label, Nevermind was Nirvana’s second album; its predecessor Bleach had been released in 1989 by Sub Pop. The arrival of Dave Grohl, who replaced…

Acid jazz, funk, a touch of rap, and the unmistakable bass-lines of Andrew Levy brightened up the mid-1980s in the form of the Brand New Heavies, formed in 1985 by the powerful creative team of Levy and Simon Bartholomew. Having begun life as instrumental act Brothers International, they changed their name after being signed and becoming a favorite in clubland. With a series of talented female vocalists adding sparkle to Levy’s grooves, the band’s near three-decade career continues. Levy is a man in demand; he’s worked with big names including Holly Johnson, the Pharcyde, Robbie Williams, and Soul II Soul. His playing on Jamiroquai’s ‘When You Gonna Learn?’ is a perfect example of his flawless technique and note choices, blending hefty funkiness with deep grooves, and sitting right in the…

A subject that comes up fairly often on our forum is ‘Are we wasting time online when we should be practicing? Do we spend too much time reading about gear, famous bassists, and music instead of being in the woodshed?’ It’s a fair question, and the answer isn’t always a simple yes or no. We’ve all dealt with people who check their Twitter and Facebook feeds so much that they miss out on the world around them. Music forums are also a form of social media, but they differ in that you can get into deep discussions with seasoned players who can offer great advice that can provide inspiration and save you time and cash. A lot of my favorite bassists and albums were introduced to me on bass forums.…

KEY FACTS ABOUT DAVID ELLEFSON David Ellefson is renowned for his astounding pick-driven bass technique. Apart from an eight-year stint working in A&R for Peavey, he’s been in Megadeth since 1983. He also plays in the Metal Allegiance supergroup and runs EMP, an organization including record labels and a booking agency, as well as touring his Basstory event internationally. Ellefson has his own line of luxury coffee and has written two books, the second with this magazine’s editor Joel McIver; his third is on the way. October 9 2018 was designated David Ellefson Day in his home town of Jackson, Minnesota; to tie in, he created the Ellefson Youth Music Foundation, which raises funds for music education. He endorses Jackson, Hartke, and SIT Strings.…

Anew documentary, devoted to the story of female musicians and their determination to break into the male-dominated punk rock scene, is on the way. Titled Stories From The She-Punks: Music With A Different Agenda and based on a book called The Lost Women Of Rock by bassist Helen McCookerybook, the doc (soon to appear at film festivals) is being promoted by the release of a song, ‘I Play My Bass Loud’, written by fellow bassist Gina Birch of the Raincoats. The song features five key bass players, four of whom—McCookerybook and Birch plus Shanne Bradley and Emily Elhaj—have gathered here to reveal how their career paths coalesced at this point. Let’s meet them... Gina Birch Musician, film-maker, painter and founding member of post-punk band the Raincoats, who performed with Nirvana.…

Behold our world-beating bass gear review section, where we bring you the crop of each month’s new, interesting or otherwise relevant bass guitars, bass amplifiers, bass speakers, and bass effects. Occasionally we’ll review a guitar effect if it’s particularly useful for bassists, and we’ll test recording equipment and general accessories every now and then as well, but generally speaking, this zone is for bass-specific gear. We take the ratings that we give each item very seriously. BPhas readers from all over the world, so we’re responsible about our conclusions. If a product is worth your investigation, we’ll say so; if it’s flawed in some way, we won’t hold back from making that clear. We’re not beholden to advertisers in any way, and our conclusions are entirely independent of the views…

Ibanez www.ibanez.com/usa With their constantly-changing product range, it can be difficult to keep up with all the Ibanez models out there—but this update to the BTB range is worth your attention. With its natural vibe, plus a nine-piece laminate neck, a three-band EQ with a mid-frequency selector, and Aguilar pickups, this bass looks like it means business. Build Quality At $1,665, the BTB 1805 is reasonably priced, considering the features and design elements which it incorporates. The elongated upper and lower horns stand out, and the cutaways offer extensive access to the upper regions of the 24-fret rosewood fingerboard. Visually, the warm lumber coloring of the ash and rosewood bodywoods and the wenge, with its open grain, bubinga and maple neck laminates, work very well. To improve neck stability,…

Aguilar Tone Hammer 700 Price | $1,500 Made | in USA Power | 700 watts continuous @ 4 ohms Features | Input with -10db pad switch, Gain, Drive, EQ: Treble (+/- 14db, 4kHz) Mid Level (+\- 16db) Mid Frequency (180Hz-1kHz) Bass (+/- 17db, 40Hz), Effects Send/Return, XLR DI out with pre/post switch, Ground lift, Mute, 2x Speakon Speaker outs Weight | 4.9 lb What We Think Plus | Powerful; neutral sound that still manages to be rich and detailed Minus | A headphones out would have been a useful inclusion Overall | Aguilar have once again raised the bar they’d already set at a very high level BP RATING…

Sweetwater www.sweetwater.com If you’re interested in smoothing out the volume of your playing, changing the envelope of your notes so that they bloom and fade differently, or simply altering your tone in yet another way when you already have the ability to do that with your fingers, or with your bass, amp, and any given effects pedal, you may well be in need of a compressor. If not, do not hesitate to move swiftly onwards; compression is a controversial subject in bass world, largely because many non-experts literally cannot hear what a compressor does and regard them as a waste of time and money, whereas seasoned compression fans swear by them. Personally I’m somewhere in the middle. Compressors of the many kinds that we encounter on this magazine generally…

The Stave: Most music written for the bass guitar uses the bass clef. The example to the right shows the placement of the notes on the stave. Tablature: This is a graphical representation of the music. Each horizontal line corresponds with a string on the bass guitar, with the lowest line representing the lowest pitched string (E). The numbers represent the frets to be played. Numbers stacked vertically indicate notes that are played together. Where basses with five or six strings are required, the tablature stave will have five or six lines as necessary. Notes shown in brackets indicate that a note has been tied over from a previous bar. PLAYING TECHNIQUES SLAP AND POP TECHNIQUE Notes slapped with the thumb are marked with a ‘t’, notes popped with the…

Like trying to put a square peg in a round hole, this month’s article confronts the devilish mathematical conundrum of attempting to play four-note subdivisions using three-fingered plucking technique. Unfortunately, try as you may, you simply can’t divide a group of four evenly into three. So without having Albert Einstein on speed-dial to offer mathematical counsel, how do we go about practically applying three-fingered methodology without the process resembling an attempt at deciphering the infamous E = mc2 equation? The good news is that all you need is a little awareness of the situation, some patience, and a modicum of perseverance. Above all, the key to success with the aforementioned technique comes in the organization of your plucking hand. A good example of this can be found while attempting to…

Thirty years ago, in the fall of 1989, I was given the incredible opportunity to become the first editor of Bass Player. Although I have sometimes been called “the guy who started Bass Player,” that’s not true. Bass Player was a spinoff from Guitar Player, which had been launched in 1967 as the first magazine “by musicians for musicians”— not a fanzine, but a publication with solid technical and instructional material. Guitar Player became the flagship of a company called GPI Publications, which also started Keyboard and Frets magazines. I told the backstory of Bass Player’s origin in the Fifth Anniversary Issue, published in March 1994: “Sometime early in 1988, there was a staff meeting of the old GPI books division. Under the direction of Alan Rinzler, this group was…

No Treble readers were treated to a killer ‘Bass Player to Know’ article from Ryan Madora this month. She shone a light on Carl Radle, who worked with the cream of the 70s’ blues and rock artists. He recorded with Joe Cocker, Derek & The Dominos, and George Harrison, but many bassists revere him for his driving lines on Eric Clapton’s ‘After Midnight.’ ‘While his note choice is fairly simple, the intricacy of his feel truly drives the song,’ Madora explains. ‘His playing is quite on top of the beat and he pays close attention to the duration of the notes. The inflection he puts on the root and the fifth, as well as the integration of the major 7th grace note, reflects his ability to combine classic country style…

Welcome! Our last column saw us exploring the use of the augmented scale and employing certain ‘non-harmonic tones’ in our lines. Symmetrical scales are a simple and effective way to include such tones in our lines without destabilising the listener, as the nature of the scales attracts the listener. The symmetry inherent in the lines—as opposed to the non-harmonic nature of some of the line itself—is a powerful musical element. This is especially true when playing at faster tempos, or when playing fast subdivisions at slow tempos: It isn’t as effective if we play non-harmonic tones as whole notes on a ballad. However, that’s very much a convention rather than a rule. The use of the two diminished scales is often confusing at first, as both half/whole and whole/ half…

A GUIDE TO FRANK BELLO Frank Bello is an incredibly articulate fingerstyle bass player, not to mention a prodigiously talented guitarist, singer, songwriter, and occasional actor. His band, Anthrax, scored hit after resounding hit throughout the 80s and 90s, and continues to record and tour at the highest level today; Frank has been a member of the outfit since 1984, his tenure broken only by a brief stint with alternative metal pioneers Helmet. He endorses ESP and Hartke, and has supported charitable causes such as Little Kids Rock. If you’re looking for an example of Bello’s iconic skills on the bass, look no further than the introductions of ‘Caught In A Mosh’ and ‘Got The Time’. Like Ellefson’s part in ‘Peace Sells’, it’s an essential part of the metal bass…

BASSES Fretted and fretless Carvin and Kiesel B2-4 four-string and B2-5 five-string basses, Kiesel solid-body B2-4 piccolo bass, Dean Performer steel-string acoustic piccolo bass, Dean Exotica nylon-string acoustic piccolo bass, 300-year-old Matteo Guersam Italian upright bass, BSX electric upright STRINGS All basses have LaBella strings; the nylon-string acoustic has custom classical guitar strings for 34” scale bass, with two wound nylon strings, and two unwound. All piccolo basses are tuned an octave and a fourth up (ADGC) EFFECTS EBS Dynaverb and Octabass pedals AMP Epifani UL902 head, assorted Epifani cabinets…

Lorna Thomas has made a serious impression on the Scottish music scene in recent years, playing with artists like Jill Jackson, the Humpff Family, and Sandra McBeth. The daughter of the late actor Peter Thomas, known for his work in Doctor Who and elsewhere, Lorna was brought up in a creative family, and through her father playing folk tunes she fell in love with music. “I basically tried every instrument until I got to the bass,” chuckles Lorna. “I started playing when I was 14, after my dad got me a short-scale Eko bass for my birthday. I then started playing with local songwriters and got to be in my first band. It was an alt band with fellow students, and we got terrific support from our school’s music department.”…

How did you get into bass? I got my first bass when I split up with a boyfriend who left behind his 1966 Gibson Thunderbird and a ’76 Ampeg SVT head. I really scored there with those items of gear, right? I had no idea about music and didn’t think I had any ability, but I started messing around with the Gibson and liked it. I’m left-handed, but it works. Does it help to have your strongest hand doing the fretting? Well, my hands are tiny, so I have to play with a lot of speed and maybe it helps that my fretting hand is my strongest one. I can fly up and down the neck if I need to. I’ve played three-quarter scale basses like a Vox teardrop, and…

Sandberg Guitars www.sandberg-guitars.de Any bass equipped with a Darkglass Tone Capsule preamp is going to sound a little different, and even discounting its stunning visuals, this Grand Dark five, based on the California II TM5 model, has plenty going for it. Add new Sandberg Plus pickups, a 35” scale and the richest blue gloss known to man, and you’ve got something rather special. Build Quality Thankfully, Sandberg haven’t gone to town on the body and headstock design, so these aspects of the bass are familiar. A matching headstock is possible as a custom order, but our review model has the standard natural finish. A deep lower cutaway gives access up to the 22nd fret of the pau ferro fingerboard, while front and rear contors make it comfortable to play.…

Price | $1,665 Made In | Indonesia Color | Natural Body | Ash core with rosewood front and rear facings Neck | Nine-piece wenge, bubinga and maple laminate, 35” scale Neck Joint | Through-neck Nut Width | 47mm Fingerboard | Rosewood Frets | 24 Pickups | Aguilar DCB soapbar pickups x 2 Electronics | Ibanez active 9-volt 3-band EQ Controls | Volume, pickup pan, bass, middle, treble (passive tone control when bypassed), EQ bypass switch, 3-way mid-frequency switch Hardware | Gold hardware, Gotoh machine heads, Ibanez monorail bridge Weight | 9.7 lb Case/gig bag included | Soft case Left-hand option available | No WHAT WE THINK Plus | A tone range that ticks all the boxes Minus | None Overall | A mightily impressive bass for the price BP RATING…

Eich Amplification www.eich-amps.com Eich gear is becoming increasingly visible at venues and concert halls around the globe—which would indicate that the bass-playing public are taking notice of the brand and liking what they hear. Tucked away in our command bunker, we put their T-1000 amp and 1210S-8 cab through their paces. Build Quality The T-1000 is compact but fully featured; very little has been omitted, if at all. Magnetic fixing strips ‘connect’ the amp to the top of the cab, preventing it from falling off, while a disc on the side handle allows the player to loop their playing cable so that it can’t be pulled out of the amp by accident. With a four-band EQ, bass and high boost switches, a compressor with a selectable attack time, a…

Darkglass Hyper Luminal Hybrid Compressor Price | $249.95 Made In | Finland Feature | Blend, Time, Output, Compression pots, Ratio and three-position Mode touch-sensitive controls; Gain reduction LED; micro USB out Power | 9V DC only Dimensions | 75 x 111 x 43 mm (2.95 x 4.37 x 1.77 inches) Weight | 7.8oz WHAT WE THINK Plus | Undeniably impressive functions; visually stunning Minus | More affordable competitors do exist Overall | Like Gucci or Porsche, Darkglass remains the state of the design art BP RATING…

THE JAZZ BASSIST RUTH GOLLER Be kind to your fingertips, advises jazz overlord Ruth Whether I’m playing electric or double bass, I always struggle to get enough regular practice time. I find it easier in general to play electric bass as it’s less physical and doesn’t require as much stamina as the double bass. However, finding time to keep up a regular practice routine on the double bass can be tricky. As with all instruments, I believe that regular and paced practice is the way forward. Your brain takes in information better if it is not tired out, so sticking to short practice slots—say 20 minutes, several times a day—allows it to process information properly. You also don’t want to risk injury by overplaying. I’ve suffered a few injuries from…

Welcome back to my column, in which we are going to cover the two-handed tapping technique in some fairly extensive detail. Tapping is one of the least conventional ways of playing the bass guitar and is often unfairly regarded as having little musical value beyond the virtuosic showboating typically found on bass player solo albums. Despite this, I’m a firm believer that when studied methodically, the tapping technique can have significant educational value for bass players when it comes to learning and understanding harmony. This is because applying it effectively encourages us to think in detail about chords and the notes that they contain, as well as their function within the music. As this is an advanced column, I’m going to be assuming that you have some familiarity with the…

Bass players everywhere have been helped in so many ways by the efforts of Jim Roberts. We now have a wonderful community of connected players, helping and supporting each other. I believe Jim’s work at Bass Player magazine was the beginning of much of that. For me personally, his kindness, support, and generosity will be remembered forever. Thank you, Jim! You have improved the world of bass playing in more ways than anyone will ever know. I wish you the absolute best! Your friend Billy Sheehan, first Bass Player cover star…