Innehållsförteckning för September 2022 från Bass Player

ho’s the greatest bass player?* What’s the best bass guitar?** When was the most innovative decade to be a bass player?*** These questions and more preoccupy us all the time at BP, but far be it from us to tell you what we think the answers are. Instead, we asked you to vote in our recent poll of The 100 Coolest (or Hottest, if you prefer) Bass Parts Of All Time, and 30,000 of you were kind enough to let us know your thoughts. The results are almost guaranteed to cause fireworks among BP’s readership, but in a sense that’s beside the point, much as we enjoy the debate. This poll isn’t just about awarding recognition where it’s due, or about causing controversy among people who love our instrument: There…

The Swedish amp manufacturers EBS launched a new bass amp at NAMM, the Reidmar 752. A lightweight unit, the product supplies 750 watts at 2 ohms via a class-D amplifier. “The analog preamp’s powerful EQ helps dial in any sound you like with ease, and the Drive adds harmonics and dirt when needed,” says EBS. “The built-in adjustable Compressor helps create a consistent and more controlled sound when desired without losing the dynamic response.” Expect to pay $999.…

Have you ever looked longingly at your current bass amplifier and wondered whether it would cut it at a live show? Perhaps you only have a small practice unit, or maybe you only have room at home or in your car for a smaller amp. At the same time, you might be assuming that gigs at larger venues require your modestly-sized bass rig to be upgraded to an 8x10 in order to cut through. Is that actually true? The truth is that having an amplifier for a live show isn’t completely necessary. There are plenty of bassists out there gigging without amplifiers on stage, DI-ing themselves straight into the PA or via a pedalboard/preamp in tandem with an in-ear monitoring system. This solution doesn’t really affect the front-of-house sound in…

NAMM turned out to be largely the same old affair as usual, which I think is a good thing. The big dogs—Fender and Gibson, most notably—were absent, but the cumulative effect was far less significant than I anticipated. The floors were still full and the organizers blocked out the basement this year, which is usually for the smallest vendors—that seemed to be the most conspicuous difference. Everybody else was on the main three floors. This was also the first year NAMM was open to the public—anybody could buy a pass online—but non-members have always played a significant part in the convention, so the effect was negligible. From a bass perspective, there was plenty to cover. Big brands like Ernie Ball, Ibanez, ESP, and Rickenbacker still brought a show of force,…

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 is 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. Let us know what you think of our…

The Last Note You could reasonably state that the Danelectro Longhorn bass goes against the grain—except that its characterful tone comes from a material that, well, doesn’t really have a grain. Designed in the late Fifties by Danelectro founder Nathan Daniel, this 30.5” scale instrument is one of the original lightweight bass guitars. At less than seven pounds in weight, you’ll barely know that you have a Longhorn on your shoulder, aided by the tiny headstock tuners. This bass looks weird. It does indeed, and if the outline of the bass itself hasn’t already had you reeling, then the specification of this strange instrument will. On each side of the Coke-bottle headstock, you’ve got four small tuning keys that would probably be more at home on a guitar. Then there’s…

We’re big fans of the experimental bassist and educator Janek Gwizdala here at BP, so we’re keen to hear his new project, One Way Out. Recorded with keyboard player Tom Cawley and drummer Nicolas Viccaro in Spain, the concept encompasses EPs and a 45-minute documentary. The fourth band-member, according to Gwizdala, is his range of effects pedals. In other news, the latest release from The Immediate Family, featuring the great Lee Sklar, is titled Live From Telefunken Soundstage. The music was recorded at the headquarters of the microphone company of the title in Connecticut late last year, and includes four original songs and two covers. As well as Sklar, the collective includes Waddy Wachtel, Russ Kunkel, Steve Postell, and Danny Kortchmar.…

The Albums That Made Me he Knack’s huge 1979 hit ‘My Sharona’ is instantly recognizable for its bouncing, new wave bass-line. That iconic part was played by Prescott Niles, a musician keen to explore the different timbres of various bass guitars. As well as being in the quintessential new wave act, Niles has worked with many alternative, pop, and classic rock bands. In fact, the New Yorker was hand-picked by none other than George Harrison to appear on the Shanghai Surprise movie soundtrack in 1986. “At the time I lived in England,” says Niles. “The first thing George said to me was, ‘I heard ‘My Sharona’’ so I felt I was respected and that I could play. Then I had the added pressure of playing with Jim Keltner on drums!…

ow you’ve done it! You went and bought another bass. We’ve always liked that about you... but as the endorphins wear off and thoughts of your next credit-card bill begin to loom large, buyer’s remorse sets in and you start wondering about the seller’s return policy. In this era of online point-and-click shopping, more and more consumer spending consists of impulse purchases. For many, the allure of free shipping can be hard to resist. Many online retail offers of consequence-free returns has made ‘buy it and try it’ the new standard procedure for far too much of what we consume. Competition from online giants has compromised brick and mortar retail in virtually every market segment, making ‘try before you buy’ opportunities harder than ever to find. In recent years the…

BP WRITERS Antonio AngottiStevie Wonder, ‘Do I Do’Duff Battye Karnivool, ‘New Day’Jamie Blaine Chic, ‘Good Times’ Silvia Bluejay Stray Cats, ‘Rock This Town’Bob Brinkman Yes, ‘Roundabout’ Mike Brooks Level 42, ‘Kansas City Milkman’ (live) Dave Clarke Chic, ‘Dance Dance Dance’Joe Daly Alice In Chains, ‘Rotten Apple’Hywel Davies Metallica, ‘Orion’Chris Gill Pleasure, ‘Glide’Ian Glasper Rancid, ‘Maxwell Murder’ Ryan Madora Esperanza Spalding ‘I Know You Know’Phil Mann Blockheads ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ Joel McIver Faith No More, ‘King For A Day’ Ellen O’Reilly Anderson .Paak, ‘Come Down’ Chloe Peacock Frank Turner, ‘Untainted Love’Joe Shooman Motörhead, ‘Ace Of Spades’Alison Richter A Taste Of Honey ‘Boogie Oogie Oogie’Kevin Sanders Go West, ‘We Close Our Eyes’Amit Sharma Kyuss, ‘El Rodeo’Joe Shooman Motörhead, ‘Ace Of Spades’Bryan R Tyler Tool, ‘Lateralus’Dan Veall Spock’s Beard, ‘Thoughts…

FENDER www.fender.com $599 At the dawn of rock and roll, if you wanted a bass guitar, you had to buy a Fender. There wasn’t really any other choice. Leo Fender had been first out of the blocks back in 1951, and the brilliance of his design meant that no-one else seriously competed for years. By the start of the Eighties, however, dark clouds were gathering over Fender after a perceived decline in quality following the sale of the brand to CBS. Even more seriously, a couple of Japanese companies—most notably Tokai—started producing inexpensive but accurate copies of Fender’s guitars and basses from the pre-CBS glory days. Something needed to be done, so Fender brought in a new management team, who decided that the only way to deal with this…

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 her website. www.ryanmadora.com Facebook ryanmadoramusic…

Welcome! This month we’re going to continue looking at specific rhythmic groupings, but from a slightly different angle. We’re going to combine the idea of distinct three-, four- and five-note phrases with a consideration of what they require to be played smooth as descending patterns on the neck. Let’s start by recapping a little about string-crossing. A number of times across the life of this column, we’ve talked about string-crossing as one of the most critical aspects of consistent playing, groove and phrasing. To summarize, when the line is ascending—going from the lower-pitched to higher-pitched strings—the first two fingers of our picking hand continue to alternate as we traverse the neck. Play the C Major scale in Exercise 1, starting at the eighth fret on the E string to see…

Oliver Riedel, bassist with Rammstein, sold two of his signature Sandberg basses via the United Charity website in June. Offered as part of the Gear For Hope music auction, the instruments raised money for organizations in Ukraine. The basses featured an aged finish, ebony fretboard, Sandberg pickups, and the brand’s California body shape. Sandberg explained, “[The basses] have been used in countless stage shows around the world for over 13 years. They have been hand-signed and have a unique value. A certificate prepared by Sandberg Guitars confirms the uniqueness and authenticity.” As we went to press, they were being auctioned for €3,100 and €2,500.…

We like a bass discussion as much as the next low-frequency enthusiast, so we welcomed the lively debate that was sparked last year when Jackson launched their new X Series Concert bass. An upgraded version, the CBXNT DX V, has just been announced, and its part-Rickenbacker, part-heavy metal visuals have caused bassists—both in favor of its looks, and the opposite—to lock horns on the subject. The new bass comes in at around £799/$799 and features a 35” scale, a poplar body, a graphite-reinforced neck-through-body design and a ‘speed maple neck contour’ for nippy playing. A 12” to 16” compound radius bound laurel fingerboard and 24 jumbo frets will please the headbangers among us, while a J-style bridge pickup and P-style neck unit will bring the punch, mated to an active…

We all know how common various types of blues progressions are and, due to the familiarity we have with the I, IV, V progression, a blues can be a great context for introducing new harmonic concepts and techniques. It’s probably worth saying that a blues progression can exist in many styles outside of ‘the blues’ and each one of these may have its own harmonic conventions. The theory behind why these work can be a very useful tool to help us apply similar concepts in a range of settings, so this month we’re taking a look at some very common blues substitutions and a reharmonization. What do these terms mean? Well, when we replace a chord with another that has the same function—a desire to resolve or to harmonize—we’re 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. PLAYING TECHNIQUES SLAP AND POP TECHNIQUE Notes slapped with the thumb are marked with a ‘t’, notes popped with the fingers marked with a ‘p’. ADVANCED SLAP TECHNIQUE Fretting hand slaps are marked ‘lh’ and double…

Hello! I’m honored to be filling in for Rich Brown this month. It’s certainly nice to be back and stretching my advanced techniques muscles again. For this month’s column I thought it would be useful to cover the chordal fingerstyle technique. This isn’t something that you’ll require in most conventional playing situations, but it’s a great way to learn to apply harmonic/chordal ideas on the bass. As we bass players don’t play a traditionally chordal instrument, I consider this a great way to stretch our understanding of chords and harmony. You’ll essentially be looking at music in a similar to way to that of a guitarist or pianist, rather than only thinking about single-note bass-lines. In this column, I’ve used a fingering system called PIMA, which is often employed by…