Bass Player is the world's most comprehensive, trusted and insightful bass publication for passionate bassists and active musicians of all ages. Each issue delivers the latest tips and techniques that are guaranteed to make you a better player.
We asked that very question of AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams, back as our cover star this month after far too many years away. In Cliff’s case, of course, he’s been playing bass for far longer than the four decades in which he’s held down the low end with everyone’s favorite stadium-rockers. With the wisdom of that much experience, we can only benefit from his conclusions about style, techniques, note choices, hand injuries... and the small matter of being in a band that has been through chaos over the last few years. Enjoy our frank interview with him: We certainly did. If you think 1980 is a long time ago, then check out our interview with Norbert Putnam, the great Nashville producer and session bassist who worked with Elvis Presley from…
“This album is about making music for yourself, not music that has to do a job.” Due for release shortly after this issue of BP goes on sale, McCartney III comes 50 years after the release of the then newly-solo bassist’s first album, and a mere 40 after his second. As planned as this neat timeline might seem to be, the rockin’ knight’s third self-titled collection came about quite by accident, he says. “I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family, and I would go to my studio every day,” he explains. “I had to do a little bit of work on some film music and that turned into the opening track, and then when it was done I thought, what will I do next? “I had…
The great stage and session bassist Lee Sklar has a book out with a difference, in that it features no fewer than 6000 pictures of people flipping their middle finger at, with and near him—a bit of a change from the usual earnest autobiography. The tome, titled Everybody Loves Me, bears witness to Sklar’s long and never-predictable career, which is said to encompass around 26,000 album recordings. Celebs alongside whom the mighty Sklar has plucked the bass appear in the book, along with a ton of Hollywood types, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Nicholson, Bonnie Raitt, Katey Sagal, and others among them. Get one from the awesomely-URL’ed website www.lelandsklarsbeard.com.…
Players Path is a new, performance-based learning platform from Scott’s Bass Lessons, the popular bass school led by our buddy Scott Devine. Online since May 2020, this past November the platform underwent a series of improvements, with 18 new songs and a bunch of new tracks to play along with. Loops can be created with a proprietary player, and notation-only sheet music is available for those seeking a tab-free experience. There are nine levels to complete, so what better time to get started than now? www.scottsbasslessons.com…
The new Danelectro ‘59DC short-scale electric bass is said by its makers to “slot comfortably in an area often regarded as a ‘half-way-house’ between electric guitar and conventional full-scale bass guitar”. With this in mind, we’re looking forward to road-testing the venerable luthiers’ new semi-hollow, double-cutaway, shorthorn instrument, as we’re big fans of its long-horned older sibling. Two lipstick pickups provide the thump, while a three-way pup selector and stacked tone controls give you a range of sounds. The expected coke-bottle headstock, smooth-geared tuners fully adjustable bridge and a two-octave neck add to the fun. We’ll review it when we have one.…
Amp-makers Darkglass have announced two brand-new variants for their widely-acclaimed Microtubes and Alpha·Omega bass amp heads. Both of the new models feature an all-new high-efficiency class D power amp module which enables the use of speaker cabs with impedance of 2 Ohms, and a new internal cabinet simulation option: This uses an improved version of Darkglass’s Cab Sim/IR module. Three slots are designed for high-resolution impulse responses . These are active in the case of the headphones out and balanced XLR DI out, and complement a studio-grade one-knob VCA compressor and a new, ultra-quiet six-band graphic EQ.…
