Table of contents for February 2020 in Bass Player

Welcome to 2020, bassists! This year marks the beginning of my Player Series of columns, where I will be holding a magnifying glass to the various roles we might undertake as performing bass players, and how to flourish in those environments. In this issue I will be sharing my own experiences of what it takes to be a touring musician and how best to tackle life on the road. Whether you’re a hardened road warrior or an aspiring touring bass player, there will hopefully be something below for you to get stuck in with... TOOLS OF THE TRADE To be a touring musician, you need the right gear for the job. Not only that, but it all needs to be well-maintained and reliable. I don’t want to impose certain makes…

Welcome back to another instalment of Theory of the Month. This time, let’s look at metric modulation, which changes one tempo to another, often suggesting a new meter in the process. In Exercise 1, you will see two bars of 6/8 with a top and bottom line. The top line contains two dotted quarter-notes per bar, while the bottom line has six eighth-notes per bar. Notice that the relationship between 3/4 and 6/8 are identical as far as the amount of eighth-notes within each bar goes. The purpose for shifting our perception to look at this in 6/8 has to do with understanding the phrasing of two against three. If we then look at Exercise 2, we will see one bar of 12/8, which contains four dotted quarter-notes on the…

The veteran heavy metallers Iron Maiden are so active, four decades after the London band’s inception, and do so much high-profile touring, that it’s hard to imagine that one of them—and the founder member, no less—would ever have time for a side project. Nonetheless, that’s what bassist Steve Harris, Maiden’s undisputed leader, has been doing since his band British Lion debuted in 2012 with a self-titled album. Like that record, the band’s new release The Burning is more about straightahead rock than the progressive flurries that Maiden fans might have expected from its famously fleet-fingered leader, accompanied by vocalist Richard Taylor, guitarists David Hawkins and Grahame Leslie and drummer Simon Dawson. There are some melodic passages and chordal moments from Harris, but essentially this is stripped-down music where the arrangements…

My path to bass has been pretty long. It began with dancing, because I used to dance when I was five years old. At the time, I saw myself as a choreographer, but seeing the example of my brother, who was fond of music, and my parents, who played music as a hobby, I became really interested in it myself. At the age of 15, I started studying classical guitar, but later switched to bass. My first bass was a Yamaha BB four-string, passive. It was a great instrument to start with. Very comfortable, light weight, nice tone. I loved that bass. On entering a college of music, my playing became professional. I moved to Florida three years ago, where I played in a local band, Khemistry, at club gigs…

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 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…

Guy Pratt’s well-travelled 1964 Fender Jazz, referred to as ‘Betsy’, was previously owned by John Entwistle of the Who and despite her vintage, value and general desirability—Burgundy Mist was a very limited color—has covered many miles on the road with Guy. There comes a time, however, where taking certain basses away from home isn’t practical, so Barry Moorhouse of the Bass Centre suggested copying Betsy as part of his Bass Collection British Bass Masters range, so that Guy will no longer need to take Betsy away from home. As Mr Pratt says: “They’ve really captured the feel of the old girl, and it sounds great. There’s a really nice punch and depth. I don’t like taking Betsy on the road too much, so I’ve used two of these on tour…

JK Amplifiers JKB200 Valve Amp Price | $2,699 Made in | Poland Power 200 watts RMS at 8 or 4 ohms Features | 1/4-inch jack input sockets (passive/active [-15dB]), Volume, Bright switch, Treble, Middle, Bass, Master, Bass Cut, Standby switch, Power on/off switch, 2 x Speakon/jack combo output sockets (1 x 4 ohm, 1 x 8 ohm), Line Out Level, Pre/Post EQ switch, Ground/Lift switch, Balanced DI XLR output socket Dimensions | 315mm (H) x 612mm (W) x 320mm (D) / 12.4” (H) x 24” (W) x 12.5” (D) Weight | 60 lbs WHAT WE THINK Plus | Immense bass tones, impressive frequency delivery, simple to use Minus | Size, weight and price Overall | A heavyweight amp with tones to match BP RATING…

Price | $399 Made In | USA Features | Two channel modes with individual Gain and Level controls; Blend control; four-band active EQ (cut or boost ±18dB); Bite switch to activate “Steve” boost; chromatic tuner; XLR out; ground lift; speaker simulation defeat switch Dimensions | 7.75” x 2.5” x 1.25” / 197mm x 64mm x 32mm Weight | 12oz Power | 9V DC power supply (supplied with prong assemblies for EU, UK, Aus/NZ) WHAT WE THINK Plus | Accurate Steve Harris tone, loads of useful features Minus | It’s expensive, although the cost is justified Overall | Fulfilling its claims admirably, the SH-1 is ‘Maiden’ heaven BP RATING…

Welcome back to my long-running column on the two-handed tapping technique. This month we’re going to be applying our now fully developed tapping skills to two new study pieces, each of which illustrates an interesting way to communicate harmony. As the title of this column suggests, these are advanced pieces, and I’m writing this in the assumption that you’ve either been following this column for a while, or you already have a strong grasp of tapping techniques. The inspiration for each of these short pieces comes courtesy of Stuart Hamm, a bassist who, alongside Billy Sheehan, has served as one of the main pioneers of the tapping technique. I’ve been a fan of Stuart’s playing since the early nineties, and I vividly remember finding a copy of The Stuart Hamm…

NO TREBLE KEVIN JOHNSON Time to Rage again! Of all the new gear, albums, and bass videos which No Treble shared this month, there was one bit of news that dominated the site: Rage Against The Machine are back. The revolutionary rock band cryptically dropped the news that they’ll be performing five shows in 2020, including three dates in the Southwest and two headlining spots at Coachella in April. It will mark the first time that members Tom Morello, Zack De La Rocha, Brad Wilk, and Tim Commerford have performed together since L.A. Rising in 2011. Of course, bassists will be crowding the front of each show to watch Commerford’s muscular lines in songs like ‘Killing In The Name’, ‘Calm Like A Bomb’, ‘Take The Power Back’ and more. His…

Main bass Fender Precision from mid-70s with Seymour Duncan SPB-4 Steve Harris pickup, Badass bridge, Bournes pot (volume only; tone pot is not wired in), Schaller machine heads and straplocks, chromed metal pickguard, Rotosound SH77 Steve Harris custom flatwound strings Additional basses Fender Precision from mid-70s with blue metallic/ silver crackle finish, similar fittings as above Fender Kingman V2 acoustic, Rotosound RS44LD strings, B-Ware performance stand Fender Steve Harris Signature Precision Chain Shure Axient Digital wireless AD1 transmitter Custom Pete Cornish switching network: four inputs with individual gain/mute/LED metering, A/B tuner feeds, master mute with remote Tech 21 SH1 Steve Harris Sansamp (DI from Cornish unit) Custom Alectron preamp Aphex Aural Exciter Mike Hill custom interface with signal balancing, A/B system switching, metering DBX 160 compressor used as line amp…

Gene Simmons’ activities outside the scope of music—his womanizing, his love of money, his reality TV shows, and various minor controversies—has often overshadowed the fact that, first and foremost, he is a musician in one of the world’s biggest rock bands. It might explain why Gene isn’t always given the bass props he deserves, despite being one of the exponent’s most famous players. His skill is certainly evident on Kiss’ recordings, particularly in the early days on tracks such as ‘Goin’ Blind’, ‘Black Diamond’, or ‘100,000 Years’. His style is a little unconventional for some, playing solely with a pick, but, as drummer Eric Singer stated before the interview started, “Gene’s on the f****** money. I’ve played with the very best—and Gene is up there with all of them”. Given…

Ared Precision, with a honey gloss maple neck and fingerboard, gold anodized scratchplate, and chrome hardware is a classic look in anyone’s book—and straight from the supplied deluxe gigbag, this beauty returns you to a bygone era. What makes this particular model justify the prestigious F on its headstock? Build Quality When it comes to simplicity, a Precision is as basic a bass design as you can get, although its styling serves it admirably—and considering its history, it hasn’t aged badly. This model calls on vintage visuals to sock you between the eyeballs, which it does to great effect, with all of the characteristics you have come to expect very apparent. Rounded, curvaceous body-lines, front, and rear contouring for player comfort, one-ply gold anodized scratchplate, screw holes where the tug-bar…

Price | $795 Made In | South Korea Color | Burgundy Mist gloss Body | Alder Neck | Maple, 34” scale Neck Joint | Bolt-on, four bolt attachment Nut Width | 38mm Fingerboard | Macassar ebony Frets | 20 Pickups | EMG single-coil passive pickups x 2 Electronics | Passive Controls | Volume, volume, tone Hardware | Chrome hardware, elephant-ear machine heads, vintage bridge Weight | 8.5 lbs Case/gig bag included | Gigbag Left-hand option available | No WHAT WE THINK Plus | Faithful Jazz tones and playability Minus | None Overall | A 24-carat winner 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…

Okay guys, this month we’re going to dig into a little bit of theory and take a sideways look (isn’t this column always a sideways look?) at how to think about the notes in a Major scale. More often than not, when we learn and practise scales, we tend to focus on playing them from the root up to the octave, and less often, back down again—as we can see in Example 1, below. Try this yourself a couple times before we have a look at variation. Example 1 Playing the scale like that is a good way to get the pattern under your fingers, and to learn what it looks like, but it doesn’t really correspond too well to the range of shapes and patterns we’re likely to end…

NEW ALBUM Richie Goods, My Left Hand Man (2019) Amazing tribute to the late pianist Mulgrew Miller, packed with what Jaco used to call “stone jazz”. OLD ALBUM Fear, The Record (1982) Hardcore punk never got more convincing than Fear’s classic debut, with bass mostly played by Derf Scratch. REALLY OLD ALBUM Willie Nelson, Make Way For Willie Nelson (1967) Roy Huskey Jr. was an icon of country music bass playing, and the proof is all here should you need convincing.…

Venture to Brighton on the south coast of England in the UK, and you will find GB Guitars, an innovative company building bass exotica for almost 35 years. The brand began life simply as Goodfellow, after its founder and luthier extraordinaire Bernie Goodfellow—a genial host with a knack for building exquisite instruments. To say that Bernie’s musical life has been colorful would be an understatement, and with enough stories to fill many issues of this magazine, there isn’t much that he hasn’t seen. “I actually started as a guitar player,” he begins, “but I was in a band and the bass player wasn’t very good. I’d always been a very rhythmic guitarist, because soloing didn’t impress me. I was much better with chords, and rhythmically more of a George Harrison,…

Glenn Hughes, born in Cannock on August 21st, 1951, has brought not only the bottom-end but the vocal frills to top-notch groups from Deep Purple to Black Sabbath. His musical adventures began in the 60s as singer and bassist for the proto-funkers Trapeze, and continued when he joined Purple’s Mark III incarnation in 1973. When that version of the band imploded three years later, Hughes released solo albums and collaborations with various artists, but problems with addiction stymied his progress in the 80s. Thankfully, he recovered and has put out several solo LPs since then. Over the years, Hughes has worked with huge names from the KLF, to Tony Iommi, to John Frusciante, and in 2009 he formed the supergroup Black Country Communion, with Jason Bonham, Joe Bonamassa, and keyboardist…

Tell us about the Sound Of London Collective, Stuart. The project originally started with Ollie Clarke and James Larter. James is an amazing percussionist from the Royal Academy School; he’s an amazing musician. Ollie is a virtuoso guitarist, and they’re both really meticulous and great composers. I’ve written two tracks, one called ‘Aquilar’ and ‘Soulmate’, and also co-produced them. It was a cool project to work on, as it’s nice to get involved with putting some music out there and get involved in music that has more of a classical element. The album, Reveries, is out now, and it’s amazing. It sounds like a bit of a change from your previous work. Well, I love world and Latin music, but a lot of this stuff was bordering on classical, which…

“The tour is going amazingly well,” opines Dream Theater bassist John Myung of his band’s current road trip. As he’s not a man prone to exaggeration, or indeed doing anything without extreme care and attention to detail, we know we can trust what he says. “People are digging what we’re doing, and we’re just happy to be playing the 20th anniversary of Scenes From A Memory, as well as splicing in a bit of the past and current catalog in the first set,” he adds. “It’s a long evening—three hours—but it’s been going really well. Everything is dialed in at this point, so we’re looking forward to continuing it over in Europe.” Three hours of ‘Mustang Sally’ or something equally undemanding would give us finger-ache, so we can’t quite imagine…

When I was a toddler, I would listen to the radio, pretending to be a bass player. I never knew why this instrument in particular fascinated me so much—I guess I was always drawn to low notes. My dad brought home a mini Fender bass for me when I was 10 years old. He couldn’t get his head around his daughter wanting to play such a ‘masculine’ instrument, but he was very supportive, and always encouraged me in my musical journey. When I was 10 or 11 years old, I was playing in our family band: My dad on the vibraphone, my brother on the drums, me on the bass. We played together a few years and released the album Glyk Pik Trio, doing a lot of concerts in clubs,…

Price | $899.99 Made In | Mexico Color | Dakota Red Gloss Body | Alder Neck | Maple, 34” scale Neck Join | Bolt-on, four-bolt attachment Nut Width | 44mm Fingerboard | Maple Frets | 20 Pickups | Vintage-style ’50s split-coil pickup Electronics | Passive Controls | Volume, tone Hardware | Chrome hardware, elephant-ear machine heads, vintage slotted bridge Weight | 8 lbs Gigbag/case included | Deluxe gigbag Left-hand available | No WHAT WE THINK Plus | Great visuals, a very pleasing tone Minus | A lot of competition at this price Overall | A certified winner BGM RATING…

Traditionally, the electric bass was very much a melodic instrument, but in today’s world, it’s evolved to become something far greater than its humble beginnings. Whereas once it was heard playing single-note motifs in a customary register, nowadays it’s regularly encountered delivering a vocabulary that dwarfs that of most guitarists. Although any form of progression is a mouth-watering prospect, the question is: ‘How do we actually go about elevating ourselves from performing simple melodic phrases to engaging with complex harmonic arrangements?’ Here’s one solution: double-stops, or chords made up of two notes. This month, we’ll be pairing open-string bass notes with sympathetic chord tones on adjacent strings. Example 1 In our first example, the open D-string is our initial bass note, while triadic intervals are delivered on the G-string. If…

Hello all—I’m back with the second instalment of my pedalboard column! I hope part one last month on compressor pedals has been useful. This time we’re looking at ‘drives’, or to be more specific, distortions, fuzzes, and overdrives for bass. WHAT IS DISTORTION? In brief, it’s driving a source signal into an audio circuit and then upping the gain until the circuit design can no longer reproduce an accurate version of the signal going in. With too much gain, the waveform becomes clipped, and we get that identifiable saturated sound. We often hear about ‘clipping’ in amplifiers, which in most situations is considered neither desirable or pleasant-sounding. However, in drive circuits, distorting the signal in a controlled manner has turned into an art form—and today there’s a mind-blowing array of…