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.
Felix Pastorius, son of the late Jaco, has a unique job to do. He’s a bass player with an ongoing career to maintain; he has to field endless questions about his genius father, taken decades before his time; and he has to live a life with that unmistakable surname, with all the expectations it brings. We’re here to help him to fulfil those tasks, so when he sat down with us to reveal his current activities and future plans, we regarded it as a privilege. Jaco remains an enigma to most of us because he died long before his life’s work was complete: the light which Felix sheds on him can’t possibly come from anyone else. This issue covers a huge amount of ground, as is our stated mission: we…
SILVER MACHINE Fender unleash a glittering new PJ and a finger-friendly Player Series Mustang Fender continues its additions to its Precision and Jazz range, with two new models catching our eye. First, there’s the option to build a P-Bass in Inca Silver over at the Mod Shop, where for $150 or equivalent you can add V-Mod PJ pickups. Who doesn’t need an extra kick at the bridge end, after all? The US Mod Shop prices begin at $1,699, so if you’re interested in a midmarket-value Fender bass and fancy designing one yourself, you know what to do. In other news, remember Fender’s affordable Mexican Standard bass range? Us too, although it’s now a part of Big F history, having been replaced in 2018 by the popular Player Series, designed with…
NEW ALBUM Mabel, High Expectations (2019) Three bassists (Josh Werner, Tre Jean-Marie and Al Shux) supply the low notes on the debut album by newcomer Mabel. Sure, it’s slick R&B for teenagers, but even the most curmudgeonly bassist can’t deny the power of those grooves. OLD ALBUM Eagle Eye Cherry, Desireless (1997) Mabel’s uncle Eagle Eye had a way with grooves himself ‘back in the day’, performing like a maestro on his debut album and tying in serendipitously with this month’s ‘three generations of music’ concept for In The Grooves. REALLY OLD ALBUM Don Cherry and John Coltrane, The Avant-Garde (1966) On this astonishing record, bass players Charlie Haden and Percy Heath show more talent than 10 of the rest of us. The way that Cherry, Mabel’s grandfather, weaves around…
Hello, bass players! In this issue, I want to go all the way back to the beginning, where most of us commence our journeys into live performance—when we were gigging for the first time as part of our local music scenes. This prospect can be quite daunting, but I assure you that it’s an experience like no other. For all of you who enjoy playing their local venues, or even who are yet to take the leap to performing live in public, here are my top tips to help you get going! DON’T WORRY—YOU’LL FIND THE RIGHT BAND We’ve all been at this point, figuring out how we take our bedroom playing to the stage—and what needs to happen for this to become a reality. For most of us, it’s…
Don’t you just hate it when somebody comes up with an idea so genius that you can’t help but kick yourself for not coming up with it first? Jonny Coffin did that over 25 years ago—and what started as a one-off guitar case has grown into one of the most recognizable brands in the world. How did this ball get rolling, we ponder? “In the beginning, I had a handmade coffin case that I was gigging around with in LA, in the late 80s and early 90s,” he recalls. “I had guitarists and bassists asking me, ‘Where did you get that case?’, so after a few hundred requests I decided to look into registering the patents and trademarks. I had a small wood shop in my garage to hand-make custom…
Welcome back! In our previous look at the Lydian Dominant, we established that it has applications over dominant chords which appear not to be resolving. This included dominant chords which resolve down by a semitone, for example D b 7 to C, and also dominant chords which resolved up a tone, such as B b 7 to C. We’ve also looked at its place relative to its parent scale—it’s the IV mode of melodic minor, so rests on the fourth degree. As this scale occurs on the fourth degree of its parent scale, it’s a great choice for dominant chords built on the same degree. This is a common harmonic movement, but tread carefully from a stylistic perspective—as it may not be appropriate for every setting. This month, we’re taking…
