Innehållsförteckning för April 2021 från Bass Player

Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘Give It Away’ (from Blood Sugar Sex Magik, 1991) Inspired by überbeard producer Rick Rubin, the Chilis recorded an astounding album in Blood Sugar Sex Magik, still their biggest hit. ‘Give It Away’ is a monster of a single, with a bass-line from Michael ‘Flea’ Balzary that more or less made up the whole song with its famous, liquid slide motif and some beautifully dexterous fills. There’s some chickengrease guitar and a thunderous drum pattern on top of the bass, but this song is Flea’s through and through.…

Yolanda Charles has been a professional bassist for close to 30 years, playing with Robbie Williams, Sinead O’Connor, Paul Weller, Dave Stewart, Mick Jagger, Hans Zimmer, Squeeze, and—when the pandemic finally lifts—Sting, amassing a long list of sessions and solo releases along the way. An endorser of Fender and D’Addario, she is a player of phenomenal ability, whether that means laying down a funk groove or anchoring a rock pocket. In 2020 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honors, of which she explains: “Initially I was a bit confused about why they were giving it to me, because usually they give these out for notable personal success, or if you’re a hero in your community, and I don’t think I quite fit either criterion. I looked up…

Caution! Speed bumps ahead... If you’ve been playing bass for a while, you probably know that frets are there on your bass neck in order to keep you in adherence to Western-tempered 12-tone tuning. But why are there different sizes of fret wire? The terms ‘jumbo’, ‘medium’, and ‘mandolin’ are commonly used to describe different sizes of fret wire, specifically the height and width of the fret ‘crown’, or its top surface. These terms are generic and vaguely refer to subsets within a wider range of available sizes—and unfortunately they present bass players with a Goldilocks conundrum, challenging them to choose a fret wire that is neither too tall or too wide, but just right. While medium and jumbo frets have always been the most common sizes used for bass…

How did you get into bass, Starr? I’m from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My father was a science professor, and my mother was an educator as well. I asked for a guitar when I was five years old, and I remember my father got me a little Roy Rogers plastic guitar. I looked at it, handed it back to him and said, ‘I want a real guitar’. He was like, ‘How does she even know what a real guitar is?’ and he gives me a little Yamaha classical guitar and I start taking guitar lessons. I also studied cello and viola. On the radio in Philadelphia back then, there was all those great Seventies groups like Earth, Wind And Fire and Parliament-Funkadelic and Cameo, so I started hearing bass. As I recall,…

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. BPis the last English-language print magazine devoted solely to bass in the world, and we have readers all over the planet, 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 answerable to advertisers in any way, and our tests are independent of the views of musicians, manufacturers, and distributors. When you read about a product here, you’re getting…

BASSICALLY BASS GUITARS www.bassicallybassguitars.com $2,499 We’ve reviewed several basses from the Atelier Z Guitar Works range in the past, and here’s their latest souped-up, triple-pickup five-string. With so many tonal options, is it a half-baked jack of all trades? Is it the bass equivalent of ‘buy one, get one free’? There’s only one way to find out. Build Quality We all know the standard design remit for a Jazz Bass, and we all know that a standard J doesn’t come with an added humbucker. Otherwise, this is a familiar design, with contouring front and back, a slightly extended top horn and a sizeable lower cutaway offering full access up to the 24th fret of the maple fingerboard. Player comfort has been addressed sensibly, and weighing in at 8.8 lbs, this…

Price| $139.99 Made In| China Power| 20 watts @ 4 ohms Features| -15dB pad switch, volume, bass, middle, treble, Aux level Speakers| 1 x 8” Ampeg Custom8 speaker Dimensions| 427mm (H) x 381mm (W) x 305mm (D) / 16.8” (H) x 15.0” (W) x 12.0” (D) Connections| 1/4” jack input, 3.5mm auxiliary input, 1/4” jack auxiliary input, 3.5mm headphone out Weight| 23.5 lbs WHAT WE THINK Plus| Fully-featured and portable; bassist-friendly price Minus| Limited performance capabilities, for obvious reasons Overall| A pocket-friendly combo with decent tones and solid build BP RATING BUILD QUALITY SOUND QUALITY VALUE…

I SPY... RYAN MADORA Dig into your favorite bass parts... and discover treasure! Ryan Madora is one of Nashville’s most sought-after touring and session bassists. Recent touring and session credits include Robben Ford, Kyshona Armstrong, and her instrumental trio, The Interludes. For the past five years, she has served as musical director for Bobby Bones, and has played with Garth Brooks, Darius Rucker, and Carrie Underwood. In addition to instructing at Nashville’s campus of Musician’s Institute, Ryan has taught at Gerald Veasley’s Bass Boot Camp, Rock’n’Roll Fantasy Camp, and at universities across the USA. She has contributed columns to No Treble for over a decade and in 2019, published her first book, Bass Players To Know: Learning From The Greats. Ryan offers online education at TrueFire and through her website.…

When you change the bass note, the role of each note in the chord will shift in relation to that note Hello again! Following on from our look at swapping out the bass note to change the chord in the last issue, we’re going to take a look at how this enables us to liven up otherwise simple and repetitive chord progressions. These are methods that crop up all over popular music, and will help your songwriting skills to develop, as well as your bass playing. Let’s take another look at our notes in a major key arranged in a circle, as seen in Figure 1 to our right. Remember that we built triads and then added extensions—7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths—to those chords by just ‘following the star’ in…

NAMM didn’t happen this past January for obvious reasons, but just because we didn’t get to go to California, mingle with 150,000 people and play the coolest bass gear, that doesn’t mean that there’s no bass-related product announcements this year. On the contrary, a ton of amazing basses, amps and effects are incoming, just some of which are detailed below—and in alphabetical order, because why the heck not? The esteemed amp-builders Ashdown are launching a new Twelve-600 Custom Shop head with 600 watts RMS and a 12-band graphic EQ, plus a 300-watt Studio-210 combo, a CTM Tube-Pre rackmounted preamp and more. Bergantino have announced a NXV Series (NEO-XTreme Vintage) cab range that features brand-new Neo X-Treme Technology drivers, combining the benefits of neodymium and ceramic technology. Charvel are bringing two…

Physician and bassist Dr. Randall Kertz has partnered with Bassline Publishing for the re-release of his acclaimed book The Bassist’s Guide To Injury Management, Prevention And Better Health. Out of print for several years, the book is now available to purchase in physical form and contains detailed information on the common physical pitfalls encountered by bass players. These include Tendonitis, RSI, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tennis Elbow, Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, Trigger Finger, Arthritis, Lower Back Pain, and more. Detailed descriptions of the conditions are given, as is information on correctly identifying them. There are also recommendations for treatment paths. Interviews with well-known bassists such as Steve Bailey, Chuck Rainey, David Ellefson, Lemmy, Victor Wooten, Esperanza Spalding, and more are also included in the book. Joining this existing title is a brand-new…

Born in Germany in 1985, Eva Kess grew up in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre and later in Bern, Switzerland, where she lives today. Growing up, she sang songs in German, English, Portuguese, French, and Swiss German with her family, and studied the piano before switching to double bass at the age of 17. Studying and transcribing recordings by Paul Chambers, Oscar Pettiford, Charlie Haden, and Larry Grenadier, she attended the Music Academy of Basel and later won a scholarship to study in New York City. In 2010, Kess released her debut album, Wondering What Is Coming, and followed up in 2017 with Flying Curly, a co-production with the Radio SRF 2 Kultur released on the UNIT Records label. Her current album, Falling Stars, is out now, as she…

Heavy metal was a curious beast in the early Nineties, made even weirder—and cooler—by musicians like Tony Choy, who first entered the public eye in 1991 with the album Unquestionable Presence from the experimental Florida band Atheist. Injecting mind-blowing jazz and funk grooves into Atheist’s complex sound, Choy continued to make waves with the Dutch band Pestilence and has since built a long list of solo and collaborative albums, producing gigs and sessions ever since. You think you’ve got a lot on your plate? Read on. How has 2021 been for you so far, Tony? I’ve never been busier. I started my own TV show called Spotlight With Tony Choy, I created a ministry, and I have a podcast called Talkbox. Of course, I play bass and produce other artists—I’ve…

Price| $2,499 Made In| Japan Color| Translucent white, gloss finish Body| Swamp ash, two-piece Neck| Maple, 34” scale Neck Joint| Bolt-on, four-bolt attachment Nut Width| 48mm Fingerboard| Maple Frets| 24 Pickups| 2 x Atelier Z JZ-5 single-coils, Atelier Z humbucker Electronics| Atelier Z EQ-Z active circuit, 3-band EQ Controls| Stacked volumes (single-coils), volume (humbucker), stacked bass/trebleboost/cut, mids boost/cut, pickup selector switch Hardware| Chrome hardware, Gotoh 205B-5 bridge, Gotoh GB-528 Res-O-Lite machine heads Weight| 8.8 lbs Case/gig bag included| Gigbag Left-hand available| As custom order WHAT WE THINK Plus| Impressive tones, effortless playability Minus| If Jazz and Stingray tones don’t appeal, steer clear Overall| A whole lotta bass for the money. Check it out ASAP BP RATING BUILD QUALITY SOUND QUALITY VALUE…

Martín Méndez, the long-time bassist with the Swedish prog band Opeth, has announced a new signature bass guitar with Sandberg. Based on the German company’s California model, the Martín Méndez Signature features an alder body in white or an ash body in black. Sandberg’s six-bolt-on hard-rock maple neck comes with a matching headstock and ebony fingerboard: a maple fingerboard with black block inlays is also available. Two Delano JMVC pickups, positioned closer to the bridge for extra edge, provide the big tones, modulated with volume, balance, and treble cut controls. The Martín Méndez Signature will be available as a 34”-scale four-string or 35”-scale five-string; price to be announced.…

Hello, bassists! Welcome back to our live performance zone, where I’ll be continuing our deep dive into optimizing tone—so that we cut through with a punch when playing live. Having looked at the bass last month, it’s now the turn of the amp. Firstly, let’s sort out our amp positioning, because the way we hear the sound coming out of it will affect how we shape our tone. Let’s consider the concept of floor coupling, where the sound from your cab transfers directly to the floor, increasing the overall low-end response. These sonic reflections will turn the floor or stage into an extension cab, which may sound cool—who doesn’t want to feel even more of the thunderous power of a bass tone? Coupling your amp to the floor may have…

Not long before a virus took over the planet, the big buzz in music for fans of progressive rock was the announcement that the legendary bassist Mike Rutherford would be rejoining Tony Banks (keyboards) and Phil Collins (vocals) in a reformation of their old band, Genesis. For those of us of a certain vintage, it came as no surprise that the tour, now postponed for obvious reasons, sold out in double-quick time, forcing the trio to add further dates. For those too young to recall, Genesis were one of the world’s premier live touring shows through the Seventies, Eighties, and early Nineties. Back then, they could sell out a US stadium tour in less time than it takes to make a cup of tea, such was their pulling power. Since…

The Florida rock four-piece Alter Bridge are stuck at home like the rest of us at the moment, but that hasn’t stopped them releasing a live EP, Walk The Sky 2.0, recorded on their most recent tour. Fans of the band, and there are many, will admire the album-faithful nature of the tunes. Bassist Brian Marshall, who is joined in Alter Bridge by Myles Kennedy (vocals, guitar), Mark Tremonti (guitar) and Scott Phillips (drums), explains: “When we’re rehearsing for the tour, we try to keep it as much like the recorded version as we can. There are certain parts that we’ll extend, but for the most part, we’ll try to keep it as we recorded it.” You’ll hear clean and distorted tones from Marshall’s Ernie Ball five-strings, he adds: “I…

Price| $459 [MSRP] Made In| Korea Body| Layered maple with single-ply cream binding, Sparkling Burgundy and Faded Pelham Blue finishes available Neck| Mahogany, 34” scale Fingerboard| Indian Laurel, 20 frets Pickups| JCB-1 low-impedance humbucker Controls| Volume, tone, three-way rotary selector Hardware| Die-cast tuners, adjustable bridge and tailpiece Case/gig bag included| No Left-hand option available| No WHAT WE THINK Plus| Effortlessly playable Minus| Tones are a tad pedestrian Overall| A winner, especially at this price BP RATING BUILD QUALITY SOUND QUALITY VALUE…

AMPEG www.ampeg.com $139.99 Combos for home and studio use have seen some refinements in recent times, just as gig amplification has done. As dimensions and weights have decreased, the demands of the home player have grown—tone, features, and flexibility are all paramount considerations. This affordable Ampeg is the second version of their popular BA-108 combo: At this price, can it transcend the limits of its dimensions? Build Quality Fitted with a custom Ampeg-designed eight-inch speaker, this combo is covered in a rugged double-thickness Tolex covering with impact-resistant metal corners, and a mesh-style speaker grille. Rubber feet have been fitted to two sides of the unit; one side for standard positioning and the other to allow the combo to be tilted like a monitor. A handle sits on top of the…

Price | $499 Made In | China Features | Two channels, 10 MOhm Impedance inputs, Individual High Pass/ Notch Filter for each channel, XLR input with phantom power, tuner out, serial/parallel effects loop, balanced output with speaker simulator and ground lift, Aux in, pro grade headphones out Dimensions | 6.6” x 4.9” x 2” Weight 1.5 lb Power Supply DC [included] WHAT WE THINK Plus| Excellent blending possibilities at all volume levels, portable, robust Minus| None Overall| Well built, impeccable design—a must-have BGM RATING BUILD QUALITY SOUND QUALITY VALUE…