Indice dei contenuti per May 2020 in Bass Player

What do punk rock, funk, classic jazz, desert rock, death metal, weightlifting and ‘semantic chunking’ (bear with us) have in common? They’re all examined in detail in this fantastic issue of the world’s premiere bass magazine, that’s what—and all of them relate to the study, practice and performance of bass in some useful way. That’s why we’re here, after all, whether we’re taking in Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt’s immense new album, digging the deep grooves of Ida Nielsen’s latest compositions or heading out to the prairie with sometime Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder. Between those three bass players alone, there’s wisdom for the ages. It doesn’t stop there, of course, with the combined knowledge of (deep breath) bassists Lloyd Wood, Charlie Wooton, Taylor Lee, Joe Goldman, Lydia Martel, Kristiine Silinja,…

Hello, bass players! I’m starting festival season early with the next column in my Player Series. This month, I will be sharing advice on how to be effective in the world of music festivals and open-air shows. These events can be a completely different experience to playing venues or club gigs, so it’s important that you know how to adapt and what to expect. Get stuck in with these essential tips... PREPARATION Festival shows are some of the most demanding setups and pack-downs that you will encounter in the live world. You rarely get a soundcheck, unless you’re the headliner, and you have a limited window of time to get your gear ready and on stage. Being prepared with a tech spec and monitor mix preferences for each band member…

Improvisation genius Charles Mingus, Jr. changed the world of jazz bass forever. He actually started on trombone before moving to cello, but the overt racism of the 1950s closed classical doors to him, and Mingus settled on double bass in high school. He studied the instrument under NY Phil’s Herman Reinshagen, and his classical influences helped him break through as an innovator, working with Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Teddy Edwards, Lionel Hampton, and the great Charlie Parker. His Jazz Workshop brought together a host of fabulous musicians to try and keep up with his flights of fancy, before Mingus smashed through the early 1960s with a series of boundary-stretching albums. Sadly, in the 1970s Mingus was diagnosed with ALS, or motor neurone disease, which robbed him of his co-ordination, stopped…

If you’re not familiar with the work of Al Cisneros, bassist with the stoner-rock band Sleep and the experimental act OM, we recommend that you head to YouTube without delay. If you’re not into heavy music, don’t let that put you off; bassists of all musical preferences will learn from his unique approach to the instrument. Formed primarily of droned figures and chords, played with a heavy fingerstyle anchored close to (or actually on) the neck, Cisneros’ method refers back to pioneers such as Geezer Butler while also being wholly his own. We mention this because Cisneros’ new Rickenbacker 4003 is designed to fulfil the particular needs of his playing style. For example, had he been a pick player, attacking the strings down by the bridge, the massive bezels which…

Price | $1,900 Made In | UK Color | Three-tone sunburst, gloss finish Body | Alder Neck | Roasted flame maple, 30” scale, gloss finish Neck Joint | Bolt-on, four-bolt attachment Nut Width | 40mm Fingerboard | Roasted flame maple Frets | 20 Pickups | Armstrong custom-wound single-coil pickups x 2 Electronics | Passive Controls | Volume, tone, three-way pickup selector Hardware | Chrome hardware, Hipshot Kickass bridge, Hipshot Superlite machine heads Weight | 7.11 lbs Case/gig bag included | Gigbag Left-hand option available | Yes, as a custom order WHAT WE THINK Plus | Great passive tones Minus | The shorter scale provides a slightly rubbery string feel Overall | A real winner at this price BP RATING…

n view of the impressive strides that Epifani have made in the amplifier space, one might overlook that founder Nick Epifani first made his bones in cabinets. In fact, he launched Epifani back in 1994 after failing to find a reliably-constructed bass cab that offered state-of-the-art engineering, gig-sized power, and economy of design. The DIST2 is a redesign of their DIST line, boasting a new dual voice-coil speaker design and some interesting new electronics. We immediately note the cabinet’s weight. Like the UL 901, the DIST2 proves astonishingly light. As it weighs a mere 42 pounds, we feel like Superman, effortlessly swinging it in and out of our practice room with nary a grunt. Thankfully, the cab’s lower back-friendly portability factor does not come at the expense of power. Plugging…

NO TREBLE KEVIN JOHNSON Let’s support each other through the tough times Sadly, this past month has been another tragic period in the bass world. It began when it was announced that Juan Alderete was in a bicycle accident that left him in a coma with a serious type of traumatic brain injury known as diffuse axonal injury. Weeks after his accident, he’s been showing signs of improvement such as responding to commands by nodding his head. Alderete has been a role model for bassists for decades with his work in Racer X, the Mars Volta, Big Sir, Deltron 3030, and more. He has freely shared his vast knowledge of effects on his website PedalsAndEffects.com. His most recent gig has been laying down the low end for Marilyn Manson, and…

Do you struggle with remembering musical concepts and how they’re used? It’s okay, as this is very common. If you’ve been playing for years, it’s safe to say that you’ve probably forgotten more techniques than you learned in music school—and if you’re a newcomer to the bass guitar, get ready for the same thing to happen. Wait a minute! Does this mean that all is lost, and you’re destined to wade your way through a cacophony of musical concepts for the rest of your life, hoping that one or two of them stick by the end? No! I’m going to share with you five extremely simple steps that will help you to remember any musical concept—and make it stick. Before I enumerate them, let’s explore an important concept when learning…

Being a bass player is all about having discipline and knowing your musical surrounding—yet at the same time, setting no rules for yourself. Here’s an example: I began playing bass when I was 13. I’d originally started playing drums when I was in school, and formed a band with a few friends from my class. One day, our bass player put his bass down... I jumped off the kit, walked over to his bass, picked it up, and that was it. The rest was history! That was my first ever bass—a Legend Jazz copy which I still own. Those Damn Crows started in Wales nearly six years ago. We started putting material together with the plan to cut a full-length album and entered the famous Monmouth recording studio, Rockfield, to…

I’m a solo artist, currently residing in Helsinki, Finland, originally from Tallinn, Estonia. I started my bass journey in my late teens in a local cover band focusing on progressive metal—a tough start for a beginner! I tried several metal and cover projects, but I always yearned to do something different—to deviate, create something of my own, and find my place. I’ve finally come to the point where I know I am a melodic bass player, a soloist, and that I can arrange everything on basses. As a kid, I was told that I was musically deaf with absolutely no potential whatsoever, so I grew up with no musical instruments—but music was always part of my life. I grew tired of hearing ‘you cannot’, and wanted to overcome that by…

hat kind of person was Mulgrew Miller, Richie? Mulgrew was the most amazing person I’ve ever met. He was one of the most respected jazz musicians on the scene, and such a kind, friendly, fun-loving person. He didn’t drink, he didn’t do drugs, he didn’t smoke, but he didn’t look down upon people that did these things. People have to live their lives the way they live their lives, and he lived his the way he lived his. He would introduce me as his left-hand man because that’s the bass side of the piano. How do you go about translating a personality like that into your record? A part of me was like, ‘I just want to do his music justice’, and I was a tiny bit concerned what people…

Price | $3,339 Made In | USA, 420 only Body | Walnut Neck | Maple, 33.25” scale Neck Join | Neck-through Fretboard | Maple, bound, 20 frets Pickups | 2 x hot-wound single-coil trebles, removable bezels supplied Controls | 2 x volume, 2 x tone (push/ pull for vintage tone), 3-way pickup selector Hardware | Rickenbacker ‘newly re-engineered’ bridge, Schaller Deluxe tuners Weight | 9 lbs Case/gigbag included? | Hard case WHAT WE THINK Plus | Superb build quality and playability Minus | Wacky Ricky tones and looks aren’t for everyone Overall | A exceptionally high-functioning instrument; do try it out BP RATING…

Orange’s Terror Bass amp was a notable success—but this new model takes the Class D power stage of the Terror, matches it with a solid-state preamp and throws an optical compressor in for good measure. What happens when we plug in? Stand clear... Build Quality Weighing in around the seven-pound mark, Orange amps are built to last, and the Little Bass Thing is no exception in its white, metallic chassis. Venting is provided on both sides of the casing to improve airflow, and the amp comes with metal handle protectors at the front. The control set is simply laid out and obvious, with a three-band EQ with sweepable mids, compressor, input for the optional footswitch, FX loop and XLR DI output. The controls are solidly attached, although the quality of…

Price | $999 Made In | USA Features | 2 x 10” 250+ Watt Epifani Neodymium Dual Voice-Coil drivers, 1 x 1” compression tweeter with adjustable control, user switchable between 4 Ohms and 8 Ohms, recessed steel handles, Lite-Ply Italian Poplar with Dado joint construction Power | 500+ Watts RMS Response | 40Hz-16kHz Sensitivity | 103dB (1W@1m) Dimensions | 469mm x 584mm x 450mm (18.5” x 23” x 17.75”) Weight | 42 lbs Connections | 2 x Combination Neutrik Speakon and ¼” input/output connectors WHAT WE THINK Plus | Immensely gig-friendly; powerful, sturdy and extremely portable Minus | For professionals only Overall | An elite, gig-worthy cab BP RATING…

Rest assured, there’s a lot of funky, percussive goodness that we’re going to cover in this month’s article! Continuing on from last month’s lesson on the benefits of open-string double-stops and dead notes, we’re going to take a look at a number of techniques that will add something of a percussive charm to your playing. These include plucking, 16th notes, dead notes, slides, muting and double-stops. Remember, it’s not just about the notes that you play, it’s also about how you play them. Example 1 Our first example isolates the primary chord shapes that you’ll be encountering throughout the entirety of your studies. As you analyze the structures, notice that in the majority of the situations you only need to move your fretting hand by a semitone to access the…

WHAT IN TARNATION ARE FILTER PEDALS? These are a group of effects that use electronic ‘building blocks’, also known as filters. A filter, or filter circuit, is like an equalizer in that it shapes the frequency spectrum of an audio signal in some way. Additional electronic building blocks can also help to automate this process, allowing for real-time sweeping, oscillation or envelope tracking to further manipulate this signal. YOU DON’T SAY. WHAT TYPES OF FILTER PEDAL ARE THERE? Well, many! Some pedals will include several types of filter, not just the examples we’re looking at here, especially in the case of DSP-based (digital signal processing) multi-effect units. Wah This effect creates a narrow peak in the audio spectrum which is shifted from low to high by the action of a…

NEW ALBUM Fairport Convention, Shuffle And Go (2020) Dave Pegg reveals 50 years’ worth of awareness of the low end with the restrained but melodic lines he delivers on this energetic album. OLD ALBUM Jaco Pastorius, Jaco Pastorius (1975) Yes, we know you’ve read about this album far too often—we get it. Sometimes, though, you have to go back to the source. REALLY OLD ALBUM Duke Ellington, The Duke Plays Ellington (1953) Then again, this is the real source. Wendell Marshall is on flying form on this surprisingly modern-sounding album.…

“PREPARATION TURNS TO RELAXATION WHICH TURNS INTO SELFLESS CONFIDENCE” We’re a band that enjoys each other’s company. We like to hang out and do the same things, and one of those things is to give back. We’ve had talks about teaming up with organizations like Playing For Change and Blue Monday, who give back in a big way, to learn how to do the same. The Charlie Wooton Project’s current line-up is Daniel Groover on guitar, Keiko Komaki on keys, Jermal Watson on drums and our featured vocalist is Arséne DeLay. CWP has had some of the greatest musicians grace the stage with us, from Oliver Wood to Sonny Emory to Zac Brown. Across the board, the list is long and impressive. I’m very fortunate to work with Hartke, DR…

What does a day in your life at the moment look like, Michael? Well, currently the thing seems to be playing in West End theaters, covering for the principal players. I’m not a chair holder, as it were. I just come in and dep for some lovely people. I finished a decade of fairly heavy touring last year. It began with the Thriller Live tour in 2009, and it was travelling around Europe, but then it spread to places like China, and Israel, and Egypt. That was very last-minute—I had the call two nights previously. I said to them that I couldn’t read music, but I could learn, and if they sent the audio, then I’d be all right in a couple of nights. You never learned to read music…

This bass, a signature model for in-demand sessioneer Rob Mullarkey, is designed to his specification, although it should be noted that all Wilcock basses can be customized to the player’s preference. With their distinctive body shape and short scale, Wilcock basses have garnered considerable attention lately—so what does $1,900 get you? Build Quality The level of finishing and overall quality is striking from the moment you pick the bass up. The gloss body and neck show off the timber figuring; the roasted maple neck is blessed with a flame figure that stands out because of its practically three-dimensional quality—this also extends to the headstock facing. The three-tone sunburst finish gives the alder body an all-round vintage appearance, while the black scratchplate, chrome bridge, pickup covers, and control plate maintain the…

Price | $699 Made In | China Power | 500 watts @ 4 ohms Features | ¼” jack footswitch socket, Volume, Compression, Treble, Mid-Sweep, Middle, Bass, -6dB pad switch, ¼” jack input socket, voltage selector, 2 x Speakon output sockets, ¼” jack Send/ Return sockets, Lift/Ground switch, Balanced DI XLR output socket Dimensions | 86mm / 3.4” (H) x 278mm / 11” (W) x 246mm / 9.7” (D) Weight | 6.5 lbs WHAT WE THINK Plus | Light, powerful and effective Minus | A lot of competition at this price Overall | Sensibly priced addition to the Orange range BP RATING…

Making you a better bass player  elcome to our 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 waiting…

Hello, again! As I mentioned before, one of the pitfalls we often fall into when learning sequences of notes on the bass, whether they’re arpeggios (broken chords) or scales and modes, is that we often play long runs in sequence, despite that rarely corresponding to the kind of playing we actually end up doing in performance. It’s really important to keep the context for your practising rooted in the kind of music you play or want to learn. There are certainly abstract learning paths that can be fun and inspiring, but as beginners, there’s so much more that is directly applicable. Refining the way we practise particular concepts or learn particular patterns can help deepen the connection between practising and performing. Remember the old adage that ‘you are what you…

Welcome back to my new column on the slap bass technique. Last month we delved into the murky world of fretting-hand slaps and learned how to add them into grooves based on open strings. We’re going to continue with this subject this month and focus our attention on fretting-hand slaps played after fretted notes. If you’ve successfully worked through last month’s column, you’ll be well-placed to start this one, but if not… Back to the practice room! The technique of performing a fretting hand slap after a fretted note is essentially the same as it would be from an open string: The fingers of the fretting hand need to slap against the strings with sufficient force to create a pitchless ghost note. The difference here is that you’ll only be…