Innehållsförteckning för August 2019 från Bass Player

Good to see you again, bass players of the gigging world! This month, I will be taking you through the familiar concept of a support slot, and the unspoken etiquette that comes with it. For a lot of musicians, this tends to be the most common way of gigging, at least until you work up to the dizzy heights of headlining. Whether it’s as a one-off support gig for a visiting band, or part of a tour where you’ll be supporting every night, both roles share a lot of the same responsibilities. Here are my top five tips for making the most of these opportunities and building a positive reputation for you and your band. PROMOTION This has changed considerably over the last few decades, going from predominantly tangible means,…

John Patitucci is an archetype for all jazz bassists, whether on the double bass, or in electric mode. The Brooklyn genius was born in 1959, and his formative years were spent digging through his grandfather’s collection of jazz albums. Learning from the work of Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown, he went on to study stand-up bass at San Francisco and Long Beach universities. A move down to LA got him gigs with Henry Mancini, and he has since worked extensively with Chick Corea. Patitucci is also renowned as a session bassist, working with Norah Jones, Sting, Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and many more. He was the subject of a 2015 documentary, Back In Brooklyn, and has received numerous awards including Most Valuable Player from the National Academy of…

Del Palmer first took up the bass guitar after borrowing the princely sum of £20 [$20} from his mother in 1967 to buy himself a Hofner Artist. One of the southeast Londoner’s very first bands, Tame, morphed into the KT Bush Band after Bush’s brother Paddy suggested that the group could offer his talented younger sister some vital live experience. On such fleeting moments does the course of history turn… Palmer had already met Kate Bush back in 1976, when she was aged a mere 18. By 1977, the precocious, gifted teenager had decided to try her hand as a musician on the London pub circuit where, alongside Palmer, she performed early versions of the songs ‘James And The Cold Gun’ and ‘Them Heavy People’. The pair soon developed a…

RRP | $2,200 [Approx] Made In | Germany Body | Swamp ash Neck | Ovangkol, 34” scale Neck Joint | Bolt-on, four bolts Nut Width | 1.5” Fingerboard | Wenge, 24 frets Pickups | 2 x passive MEC MM humbuckers Electronics | Active MEC circuit Controls | Volume (pull for passive mode), Balance, Treble, Bass, 2 x three-way microswitches for series, parallel and single-coil modes Hardware | Warwick tuners and bridge Weight | 8.6lb Case/gig bag supplied | Gigbag Left-hand option available | No WHAT WE THINK Plus | Supremely playable; wide tone range Minus | Nothing Overall | A high-spec variant of a classic design BP RATING…

The review model we’ve been sent of the Frog Omega bass from Maruszczyk is headless, you’ll have noticed, but never fear—it’s also available as a headed instrument. This bass paints the Frog body design in Postbox Red gloss, throws in a high-quality electronics package and red front-facing LEDs for a full-on slapathon... if that’s what you want to do. But surely it offers more than good looks? Let’s find out. Build Quality The Frog offers a shallow depth across the whole of its body, and the streamlined headless design and slim neck make for a very sleek instrument overall. The larger top horn is of benefit to the player in terms of how the bass sits, and also gives them something to work against, but there is a noticeable body…

Kemper PowerHead Price | $1,799 Made in | Germany Power Output | 600W at 8 ohms, 300W at 16 ohms Features | Input ¼ inch TS unbalanced, XLR L&R balanced output, USB 2.0 (FS) compatible, 5-pin DIN connectors for In/Out/Thru MIDI, dedicated headphone output, class-D power amp, Profiler Remote, Rig Manager Weight | 14.3 lbs WHAT WE THINK Plus | An almost flawless reproduction of an unlimited number of sounds Minus | Takes some time to understand Overall | A spectacular addition to any performance scenario BP RATING…

I hope you’ve had a fun month of creative exploration. This month we’re going to have a look at an area of musical practice that we bassists often overlook—or at least over-simplify. We’re going to unpack the whole area of dynamics, and dynamic control. When we’re starting out on bass, depending somewhat on the kind of music we play, we are often steered towards focusing on consistency: That is, playing everything at the same volume level, or ‘velocity’. This is because in many modern pop and rock scenarios, that’s what’s most likely to be at the top of the priority list. ‘Solid’ is one of the first compliments we hope for when we start playing bass, and indeed solidity is an appropriate early aim. However, solidity and consistency are just…

GENERAL LEE The great Lee Sklar has two new signature Warwick basses on the way, the Teambuilt Artist Series Sklar Bass I. Based on the Masterbuilt Sklar Bass I, the Teambuilt four-string comes with vintage sunburst transparent high polish, or burgundy blackburst transparent high polish finishes. It has a mahogany body, and the usual range of exotic woods, including an AAA flamed maple top, a maple set neck with ekanga veneer stripes, and a tigerstripe ebony fingerboard. Two active MEC vintage single-coil pickups and active MEC 2-way electronics provide the loud noises. There is also a RockBass variant. Prices as we get them. www.warwickbass.com BASSWATCH Every month, keen bass-spotter Ray Walker brings us an online bargain Mayones Victorious 4, $1,500 [approx] Ahoy low-enders, up this month is the mouthwatering Mayones…

NO TREBLE KEVIN JOHNSON Kevin Johnson brings the QT from NT No Treble readers were craving bass gear this month, and they got it. First up was the news of Gallien-Krueger’s newest line of bass amps, the Legacy Series. Available in 500, 800, or a whopping 1200 watts, the lineup’s launch coincides with the 50th anniversary of bass amp designs by Bob Gallien. As such, the company explains, the amp shares some DNA with their flagship 800RB. Readers also loved an ‘Old School’ column featuring a vintage 1965 L Series Fender Jazz bass with a 60s Precision neck. Owner Gary Shea shared the story of the bass he calls ‘The Palomino’, but if modding old basses makes you queasy, skip the next sentence. Shea sanded off the finish, put on…

Welcome back! Slash chords are a topic that can cause some unnecessary confusion at first, so let’s try to shed some light on this often misunderstood area. Simply put, a slash chord is a triad over a specific bass note. This can be a bass note that exists within the triad, or one that does not. Generally, when the bass note is also present in the notated triad, the triad is in some kind of inversion—in other words, the bass note is not the root of the chord. An example is F/C—the bass note is the fifth of the F major triad, so F/C is basically an F major in 2nd inversion. When the notated bass note is not contained within the triad, the root of the chord is generally…

“I LOVE TO LOOK OUT IN THE AUDIENCE AND SEE THE LOOK ON PEOPLE’S FACES WHO MAY BE SEEING US FOR THE FIRST TIME” Normally we ignore press releases that run “Aerosmith—Steven Tyler (vocals), Joe Perry (lead guitar), Brad Whitford (guitar), Tom Hamilton (bass) and Joey Kramer (drums)—are a living piece of American music history” as made-up fluff from an overcaffeinated PR intern. Not this time though; the claim is completely accurate. After all, if you’ve sold 150 million albums, won a stack of Grammys, Billboard and MTV Video Music Awards, nabbed a Soul Train award for Best Rap Single (yep) and produced your biggest show ever after half a century on the road, you’ve earned a few titles here and there. Aerosmith are currently enjoying a residency in Las…

Chicago-born actor, comedian, producer, and bassist Mike Hatton pursued a successful career in many areas of creativity, mostly outside the public eye, until last year. All that changed with the 2018 release of Green Book, a Peter Farrelly-directed, Dreamworks co-produced movie in which Hatton played a prominent role as an upright bass player. Set in 1962, the film tells the true story of the late jazz pianist Don Shirley, his equally late minder/driver Tony Vallelonga and their travails in America’s Deep South. Green Book amassed takings of $320 million against a budget of $23 million, a mighty return by anyone’s standards, and was nominated for five Oscars—winning three of them—as well as a stack of other awards. That’s quite a coup for Hatton, and indeed having him in our magazine…

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 cabs, and bass effects. Occasionally we’ll review a guitar effect if it’s useful for bassists, but generally speaking, this zone is reserved for bass-specific gear. We take our reviews seriously. BP has readers all over the world, so we’re responsible about our conclusions. If a product is worth your time, we’ll say so; if it’s flawed, we’ll make that clear. We’re not beholden to advertisers in any way, and our tests are independent of the views of manufacturers and distributors. When you read about a product here, you’re getting a balanced review from an experienced bass tester. Value for money is at the top…

It’s been a while since we looked at a head-turner from GB Guitars, but the inimitable Bernie Goodfellow has been good enough to provide us with a couple of current examples—and who are we to turn them away? After enjoying considerable success with his Spitfire and Rumour models, Bernie has turned his attention to a singlecut model for players who prefer the look and feel of that type of instrument. The Merlin model takes the Spitfire body shape as a starting point and then elaborates on it to create the singlecut design you see before you. Note that Bernie is keen to stress that, as with all GB instruments, all features can be changed to suit the player. Build Quality There’s no disputing the fine aesthetic on show here. With…

Price | $2,480 Made In | Poland Color | Postbox red, gloss finish Body | Alder Neck | Three-piece maple laminate, 34” scale Neck Joint | Through-neck Nut Width | 42mm / 1.65” Fingerboard | Ebony Frets | 24 Pickups | EMG 35 soapbar pickups x 2 Electronics | Delano two-band active 9v preamp Controls | Volume (push/pull for active/ passive switching), pickup pan, bass, treble, LED on/off switch Hardware | Gold ETS hardware, two-piece bridge system Weight | 7.9lb Case/gig bag included | Gigbag Left-hand option available | Yes WHAT WE THINK Plus | Looks, tones, playability Minus | Lack of mid-EQ is a shame Overall | A very impressive instrument all round BP RATING…

Red Sound’s RS-LG12 is a hand-made, active 12” speaker cab, designed to be a reference cabinet for all the principal digital profilers. The enclosure houses a Red Sound DC ‘Total Response’ ceramic driver, which delivers an astonishing array of frequencies thanks to its 60-16Hz tailored response. The sonic capabilities of this unit are extraordinary—with crisp highs, a pronounced (but not ostentatious) midrange, and an aggressively defined low end, it impresses in every respect. The difference in warmth between the custom ceramic driver and a comparable Neodymium equivalent is audible, and although its 500 watt 8-ohm specifications seem quite orthodox by today’s standards, the actual RMS of the RS-LG12 is immense. Red Sound’s beautifully-crafted Class A/B Analogic power amp can amplify just about anything that’s plugged into it, from an outboard…

The world of minor tonality can be a pretty perplexing place to explore. In contrast to major harmony, where musicians find themselves abiding by one set of rules and regulations, minor harmony finds it far more amusing to generate an array of complexities so advanced, that they commonly overwhelm the majority of contemporary musicians. How does it do this? Simple. Minor tonality is essentially three completely different perspectives, each of which has its own individual set of melodic and harmonic vocabulary. There is a lot to say about harmonic and melodic minors, but this month’s focus will be on the third version of minor harmony, the natural. Thankfully, this type of minor harmony should carry a familiar feel to it, as it’s essentially the major scale, starting from a different…

NEW ALBUM Jasmine Cain, Seven (2019) Rocking, bluesing, and low-end-heavy at all points in between, South Dakota-born bassist and songwriter Jasmine Cain delivers the goods in style. OLD ALBUM Kings X, Dogman (1994) If Jimi Hendrix had lived to play bass in the grunge era, he might well have come close to the all-round amazingness of Doug Pinnick. REALLY OLD ALBUM James Brown & The Famous Flames, Please Please Please (1958) Edwyn Conley’s bass may lack the air of insanity of Bootsy Collins’ playing with the late JB, and Brown’s songs here might lack the political fervour of his late-60s albums, but this snapshot of an emerging genius is great.…

For all the technological breakthroughs that continually shape this brave new world of ours, nothing beats a bit of elbow grease, and handcraftsmanship. You won’t find any fancy robots or computers in luthier Brian Watson’s workshop—oh no. Hailing from Yorkshire, UK, Watson is there from conception, to the moment his instruments grace the stage. “All my guitars are made using basic hand tools and woodworking machinery,” he says. “For example, all the inlays are done by hand. I work alone, so I know every inch of each bass guitar I make. I don’t use CNC machines, because it’s important that I have a hands-on approach. That way I can ensure there’s attention to detail. The guitars are hand-finished and hand-rubbed.” Having dabbled in music and woodworking since he was a…

Hello once again, my bass-playing brothers and sisters! This month will be the second instalment of ‘Hamm On Tap’ and we’re looking at the opening riff from a composition of mine entitled ‘Sexually Active’ from my very first album (can I still call it an album?), Radio Free Albemuth, released in 1988 on Relativity Records. This song was written when I was really stretching out my knowledge of what you could do with tapping on the bass, and searching for new ways to incorporate these techniques into my playing and compositions. In a lot of pop and rock music at this point in the late 80s, many bands were using sequencers, and this riff was written partly with that in mind. both our right and left hands. Here is where…

“It’s such a simple little thing. There’s no weird mysterious elements to it that make it like something you find at the top of a mountain. It’s the one, the third, the fourth, the minor seventh and the octave. Not to encourage bad behaviour, but I probably snuck outside, inhaled something and then started grinding away. I was probably doing some endurance-based exercise and got the muscles all warmed up and the thing just floated by. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to make sure I remembered it. I knew I loved the way it felt to hear it, so I kept at it and soon enough I picked up a guitar and thought up a couple of simple things to go with it until I had enough to…

I am mainly a solo artist. My latest album Fusiolicious features some of the most acclaimed jazz musicians of our century, including Dave Weckl, Eric Marienthal, Mike Miller, and Karen Briggs, to name a few. I also have a band for live performances, Oytun Ersan All Stars Band. We recently performed at the world-famous Baked Potato in Los Angeles, and the Bass Bash event. The group features Mitch Forman on keys, Louis Palmer on drums and Bob Franceschini on saxophone. We have an upcoming tour in Europe, and I’m really looking forward to announcing the details soon. My first instrument was the alto saxophone, I played this instrument as a member of the International Nicosia Municipality Orchestra, which I joined at the age of 15. Twenty years ago, while taking…

This Corvette $$ is no run-of-the-mill Warwick, readers. Finished in lustrous Ocean Blue Satin, and with an exclusive AAAA+ grade maple top, it’s been produced strictly for dealers associated with the German luthiers’ UK distributor HTD. Normally, you’d pay around twice as much as the pricetag here for a maple top-equipped Corvette, so it’s an opportunity to snap up a relative bargain. The deal also applies to Streamer LX basses and to both models’ four- and five-string variants, but you’ll need to be quick off the mark to get one. Build Quality We’re still paying $2,200 plus change for this instrument, so we have every right to expect a near-flawless experience. Fortunately the build is exactly as we’d expect. With its fourth decade well underway, the Warwick brand is established…

Price | $6,044 Made In | UK Color | Amber tint, gloss finish Body | Flamed sycamore bodycore with quilted maple front and rear facings Neck | Seven-piece laminate (flamed sycamore, roasted flame maple and black American walnut), 34” scale Neck Joint | Through-neck Nut Width | 40mm / 1.57” Fingerboard | Madagascan rosewood Frets | 24 Pickups | GB Guitars humbucking pickups x 2 Electronics | GB Guitars (John East designed) three-band active 18v preamp Controls | Volume, pickup pan, bass/treble (stacked, push/pull on treble for additional boost), middle/mid-sweep (stacked), LED switch, passive tone control (push/pull for active/passive) Hardware | Black anodized hardware, Hipshot Ultralite (Goodfellow designed) machineheads, Hipshot bridge Weight | 8.6 lb Case/gig bag included | GB cream Hiscox hardcase Left-hand option available | Yes, as a…

Kemper’s seminal Profiler preamp has been hailed for some time as one of the world’s leading all-in-one digital guitar effects processors, but as that well-known double-thumbing expert Bob Dylan said, the times they are a-changing, and in recent years bassists have also started to take interest, headed up by veterans such as Billy Sheehan, Tony Levin, and Pino Palladino. As the era of the traditional backline begins to evolve more towards silent stages, how many of us choose to step away from traditional amps, and into the digital light remains to be seen. For those who are unaware, the Kemper Profiler is essentially the Swiss army knife of guitar and bass processors. Imagine a single box that can emulate every element of your signal chain—from stompboxes, to preamps, and multi-effects,…

Welcome to the second part of my short course on the sweep picking technique. As you’ll have discovered last month, this rather flamboyant technique is more commonly used by guitarists, although virtuoso bassists such as Billy Sheehan, and Adam Nitti have more than proved that it can be effective on the bass as well. In this month’s instalment, we’re going to be expanding on the simple arpeggios from last month. First we'll look at ways of playing seventh arpeggios over one octave, then we’ll play two-octave variations of all of the arpeggios. Before we dive into any new material, let’s recap on the basic premise of the technique we're employing. There are two parts to sweep picking: sweeping, and raking. The ‘sweep’ is the first part, where you use the…