Table of contents for December 2019 in Bass Player

NEW ALBUM Strandberg Project, Progressive Construction (2018) Loaded with Jan-Olof Strandberg’s virtuoso slap and picked bass, this recent album is prog heaven for those looking for something a little different. OLD ALBUM Mortem, Ravnsvart (1994) Miserably brutal black metal isn’t for everyone, but if you’re in the mood for clanky old bass covered in buzzsaw guitar riffs, look no further. REALLY OLD ALBUM Wings, Band On The Run (1973) Macca didn’t quite match the Beatles’ godliness with Wings—but he took one heck of a stab at it with Band On The Run.…

“IF YOU HEARD THIS TRACK NOW, YOU WOULD ASSUME THAT THERE ARE TWO OVERDUBBED BASS PARTS” Hello again, bottom-end groovers of the world, and welcome back! This month we finish up our look at a piece I wrote in the pre-Pro-Tools days, when I actually had to play the notes below, and in time! Amazing, huh? If you heard this track now, you would assume that there are two overdubbed bass parts, but no, no, no, this is probably the most finger- and brain-bending example of two-handed independent bass tapping that I ever wrote and recorded. It was originally recorded on a Kubicki X-Factor bass, which had a short scale 32” neck, so when I play it now on my full-scale 34” neck, it makes playing the parts cleanly even…

Pop, rock, pop-rock—whatever 311 do, people like it a lot. Ten million or so album sales since the Nebraska-raised quartet formed in 1988, the band have stamped their mark on American musical culture, without ever becoming too commercial. Together, the musicians—Nick Hexum (vocals, guitar), Doug Martinez (DJ), Tim Mahoney (guitar), Aaron Wills (bass), and Chad Sexton (drums)—have delivered 13 albums, the latest of which, Voyager, keeps the train a-rolling nicely with its radio-friendly textures. Perhaps at odds with the band’s choice of music, bassist Wills—apparently nicknamed ‘P-Nut’ because of the shape of his cranium, although you’d have to ask him for details—is a monster of a bass player. He specializes in insanely complex funk lines straight from the Bootsy and Flea school, although of course he usually backs off to…

My band is based on assertive bass-lines, complex arrangements and the telling of stories. Earlier this year we released our first full length album, ON, which combines progressive rock, melodic song lines and jazz-funk grooves. To me it’s a continuous effort to write meaningful songs, with intricate arrangements and making the bass both support and lead the band. We’ve just finished the first leg of a tour supporting the release—and believe it or not, our debut concerts consisted of two sold-out nights supporting the legendary Britfunk band Level 42. “ALWAYS BE PREPARED AND MINDFUL WHEN REHEARSING, BUT ALWAYS PLAY WITH CONVICTION” My dad is an accomplished bass player and composer, so instruments were always abundant in our house. I started playing piano as a five-year-old, and singing in a youth…

I played a bit of bass on Rebecca’s first album, Back To The Start, but we have a different way of doing it now. I demo the entire album with programmed drums and then add bass, guitar and vocal parts. I map it all out and then Rebecca and I thrash it all out between us. After that, we have a quick rehearsal, just to make sure that we know what’s what, with the studio band that we use to record the album. My brief to the bassist is: ‘Take this and make it better—your playing is better than mine, your timing is better, you can get better tones out of this instrument than I can’. Usually that works. Occasionally I ask them to have a second go. Essentially I’m…

hen it was announced recently that Spector was being taken over by Korg, eyebrows were raised about what would happen to the respected brand. Fortunately, if these two examples are anything to go by, it looks like business as usual. Both basses are less heavyweight than previous examples of the Euro range, featuring lighter lumber and hardware. With through-neck and bolt-on options, there’ll no doubt be plenty of fun to be had—without incurring too much back pain... Build Quality These are two very different basses when it comes to lumber choices, hardware and neck construction, but both feel robust and sturdy. The legendary curved body design and contoured ergonomics are still prevalent—why change a winning formula, after all?—but the necks are quite different. The EuroBolt, resplendent in Metallic Blue gloss…

Price | $6,200 Made In | UK Color | Natural, high gloss to silk finish Body | Black American walnut body core, sycamore veneer, spalted-quilted maple front and back Neck | Seven-piece flame maple, black American walnut and rosewood laminate, 35” scale Neck Joint | Through-neck Nut Width | 44mm Fingerboard | Snakewood Frets | 24 Pickups | GB humbuckers x 2 (two single-coil pickups in each housing) Electronics: GB Guitars (John East designed) three-band active 18v preamp Controls | Volume (push/pull for active/ passive selection), pickup pan, bass/ treble (stacked, push/pull on treble for additional boost), middle/mid-sweep (stacked), humbucker/single-coil selection switches, passive tone control Hardware | Black anodised hardware, Hipshot Ultralite (Goodfellow designed) machine heads, Hipshot bridge Weight | 9lbs Case/gig bag included | GB Hiscox hardcase Left-hand option…

Welcome 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 for? Dive in... Kickstart your journey…

This month we’re going to continue our choose-your-own-adventure look at improvisation by revisiting an idea that we looked at a while back about pentatonic scales. One of the things we noted was that major and minor pentatonic shapes come in pairs: there’s a major for every minor that shares the same set of notes, and vice versa. It’s the same idea as the concept of modes, for those of you that have looked into that, but at a much simpler level. Let’s recap how that relationship works. C major is often our start point for explaining things because it is the key that has no sharps or flats, so we have fewer elements to keep track of while naming the notes we’re using. Let’s look at a C Major pentatonic.…

Welcome to the latest instalment in my long-running series on the tapping technique. If you’ve followed this column since the beginning, you’ll now be in possession of some seriously powerful tapping chops, which will enable you to employ many ideas on the bass that just aren’t possible with conventional playing techniques. Over the course of this series, we’ve covered all elements of the tapping technique in great detail, and we’re now at the point where we can put them all together and use them in some advanced solo pieces. For the next few issues, we’re going to be looking at some longer, more complex études, which you should treat as material that you’ll work on over weeks or months, rather than hours. These pieces will often be contrapuntal in nature,…

BASSIST OF THE YEAR 2019 After a six-month search for our champion, Italian bassist Leo De Santi was named Bassist Of The Year 2019 at the UK Guitar Show in September, in association with Orange Amplification. Three finalists were selected by a stellar panel of celebrity judges—Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, Stu Hamm, Mark King, and Vulfpeck’s Joe Dart. The live final saw each finalist given a five-minute window to impress our judges, editor Joel McIver, progressive legend Nick Beggs, and noted performer and educator Ariane Cap. Leo has won an Orange Terror Bass head, two OBC112 cabs, an Orange O Bass and other prizes, while the other finalists Marine Courtin and Andreas Oxholm each receive an O Bass and goody bag. Congratulations, all! FAMILY ALBUMS Keep an ear out for two…

Welcome back, bassists! If you’ve been following this column for the past few issues, you will now hopefully feel more than prepared in the run-up to heading out on stage. This time around, I’ll be taking a request from one of our readers, Bob Tantillo, who has asked how to avoid rushing tempos and how the rhythm section can help each other to pull the tempo back when it’s needed. Thanks for getting in touch, Bob. I think the first thing to acknowledge is that live music in most capacities benefits from our own innate human feel and timing. Even against a click track, our timing can be placed differently in order to help drive the track, deliver stability, or to create a more laid-back feel. These three circumstances, commonly…

Most guitar and bass players today will have heard of the high-tech robotic fret service known as Plek, and many will know someone who’s had a Plek service performed on one of their instruments. Conceived in 1990 by German guitar tech Gerd Anke, Plek machines first appeared in the US in 2001 when Joe Glaser incorporated the technology into his business. Since joining Plek as an engineering consultant in 2002, Joe has helped to introduce these devices into the factories of many well known guitar manufacturers. A Plek service is intended to accomplish a precision set-up beyond that of typical truss rod and string height adjustments, even beyond more detailed nut, bridge saddle, and fret adjustments. Many manufacturers promote the Plek advantage, and Plek itself promises that this extra precision…

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the Stray Cats, who are celebrating in style, with a new album—aptly titled 40—and a world tour on which frontman Brian Setzer, bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom have been reminding audiences of the huge power of their amped-up rockabilly brand. We caught up with Rocker at a recent London show for a chat about those early days four decades ago, when the Cats first left New York in 1980 for pastures new in the UK. What did they bring with them? “We sold pretty much every bit of equipment except my one upright bass, which I brought with me” Rocker reminisces. “Brian brought his 1959 6120 Gretsch guitar, and Jim brought a snare drum in his suitcase. We bought four…

EuroBolt 4 Price | $2,479.99 Made In | Czech Republic Color | Metallic blue, gloss finish Body | European alder Neck | Roasted maple (three-piece), 34” scale Neck Joint | Five-bolt attachment Nut Width | 40mm Fingerboard | Roasted maple Frets | 24 Pickups | Passive Aguilar AG 4P/J-HC split and single-coil pickups Electronics | Active Aguilar OBP-2 two-band EQ, 9-volt Controls | Volume, pickup pan, bass, treble Hardware | Black hardware, Spector machine heads, Spector lightweight locking bridge Weight | 7.3lbs Case/gig bag included | Spector gigbag Left-hand option available | No WHAT WE THINK Plus | Roasted maple neck and board Minus | Lacking a bit of X-factor Overall | A great bass, but lacks the pizzazz of the through-neck model BP RATING Spector Euro 4LT Price |…

The vast majority of people reading this review will know that Ernie Ball’s Music Man Stingray is one of bass world’s most iconic instruments. For the uninitiated, go and listen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ deliciously funky masterpiece Blood Sugar Sex Magik, or the absolutely hard-as-nails riff-orgy that is Rage Against The Machine’s self-titled debut album. Yeah, that sound. That’s a Stingray. Recorded on any other bass, those albums just wouldn’t sound the same—not without one of bass guitar’s most recognizable voices running through them. It’s the same story for countless other recordings made since the Stingray’s 1976 inception, so the new Sterling by Music Man Ray34PB and Ray34HH have a lot to live up to if they are to be considered serious alternatives to their more expensive, flagship…

Epifani UL 901 Price | $999 Made in | USA Power Output | 1000W at 4 ohms, 750W at 2 ohms Features | Auto-adjusting Voltage, Switches: Passive / Active, Shift (Treble), Cut (Mid), Mute, Rear Panel Controls: Mix (FX Loop), Level (DI-Out), FX Send & Return, Single Channel Preamp, Switch-mode Power Supply, Class-D Power Amp Weight | 6 lbs WHAT WE THINK Plus | Warm, studio-worthy tones are easy to achieve Minus | Sleek, no-fuss design won’t appeal to players who prefer a wide array of tweaking options Overall | A superb addition to the arsenal of any working musician BP RATING…

We’re ready to kick off a second innings focusing on 6/8 time signatures. But what have we covered so far, and what’s on the agenda today? If you recall last month’s instalment, we devoted our efforts towards developing familiarity and functionality within 6/8. This month, things are going to change up a gear—as where there are eighth note subdivisions, there’s always the potential to throw in some sixteenths! To reiterate last month’s insights, 6/8 is a pretty straightforward time signature to get your head around. Simply follow a counting system such as ‘1-and-a, 2-and-a’ or ‘1-2-3, 2-2-3’. The latter system is particularly useful for sixteenth notes. Adding an “ah” after each one—‘one-ah, two-ah, three-ah, two-ah, two-ah, three-ah’ will provide an effective method for counting each sixteenth note within the same…

Are you a Grabber or a Ripper? On the Grabber side, you’ve the likes of Gene Simmons, John Entwistle, Mike Dirnt, and Suzi Quatro, while Ripper players have included Greg Lake, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, and Krist Novoselic. These Gibson basses were both introduced in 1973. How have they aged? The Grabber, sometimes called the G1, was designed by Bruce Bolen and Edward Klein, to sell at a relatively affordable price point, in the face of intense competition from Far East copyist imports and and the momentous Fender phenomenon. Its build quality was decent, though; early models had a maple body, while later runs were alder. Both versions had a maple fretboard, a maple bolt-on neck and a Flying V-esque headstock. An innovative feature was an adjustable sliding pickup which allowed unique…

NO TREBLE KEVIN JOHNSON One of bass’s most dynamic powerhouses remembered This month sadly marked the loss of bassist Larry Taylor, who passed away at 77 after a long battle with cancer. Born in Brooklyn, Taylor is perhaps best known as the founding bassist for Canned Heat, although he was an integral part of blues, pop, and rock music for his whole life. He began his career as a teenager touring with Jerry Lee Lewis and began landing work as a session bassist in the mid-60s. There he played on music for a load of blues greats, as well as TV sensations the Monkees, with whom he recorded ‘(Theme From) The Monkees’ and bassist favourite ‘Last Train To Clarksville’. Taylor formed Canned Heat in 1967, playing the Monterey Pop Festival…

Welcome back! Leading on from our last column on applying major pentatonic scales, this month we’re looking at major pentatonic application over both major, and minor II, V, I sequences. Ready? Let’s go! We’re only looking at examples in the key of C major and C minor for now, but as always, if it’s a sound and a concept you like, practise it through the keys. Moving around the cycle of fourths is often a good way to ensure you spend a significant amount of time on each key—and be sure to ultimately apply it to a tune, as it’s all about applying the content to the context. Just to recap, our more conventional major pentatonic choices over the relevant chords are shown below. Example 1 shows some phrases using…

hat advice do you offer to to young bass players? A lot of things have obviously changed, but what it means to be an artist is still the same. I think musicians, painters and dancers have to realize that their contribution to our society is important and that it’s to be valued. The concept of having someone who contributes to society in a very positive way, an important way, should be an international concept. A musician is just as valuable as a brain surgeon; when we go to enjoy films, it’s hard to imagine watching without music. I witnessed Yolanda Charles playing for the first time a while back and was just really touched by her as a mum, onstage, performing with her heart and soul in the moment. You…

ehold 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…

e recently gave the GB Merlin a sound going over—and were suitably impressed. However, the bass under review today is a different prospect altogether: the latest ‘all bells and whistles’ model from luthier Bernie Goodfellow. It has all the high-quality aspects you’d expect from a GB instrument, but with the added ability to switch between humbuckers and single-coil pickups at the flick of a switch. As with all GB basses, the Classic is totally customizable to the player’s requirements—so what do we get for the frankly huge outlay of $6,200 Build Quality The Classic’s curvaceous body-lines and contouring are complemented by the sumptuous lumbers that make up the body core, front and rear facings, and seven-piece neck laminate. The warm, natural coloring of the wood lends a compelling appeal, and…

Sterling By Music Man Stingray RAY34PB Price $799.99 Body | Mahogany, poplar burl veneer top Neck | Roasted Hard Maple Neck join | Bolt-on, six bolts Nut width | 1.69” (43mm) Fingerboard | Rosewood Pickups | 1 x Alnico Humbucker Electronics | Active Controls | Volume and three-band EQ Bridge Sterling By Music Man-designed bridge, open-gear tuners Left hand available? | No Case/gigbag included? | Deluxe Sterling By Music Man gigbag WHAT WE THINK Plus | Familar tones, striking looks Minus | Aesthetics won’t be for everybody Overall | Worth considering if you’re in the market for a new Stingray BP RATING Sterling By Music Man Stingray RAY34HH Price | $849.99 Body | Mahogany Neck | Roasted Hard Maple Neck join | Bolt-on, six bolts Nut width: 1.69” (43mm) Fingerboard…