Ellen O'Reilly

Articles by: Ellen O'Reilly

Guy Pratt

Guy Pratt reveals the gear he uses to replicate vintage Pink Floyd tones with Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets

By Ellen O'Reilly published

The session great walks through some of the incredible bass gear that his current world tour with Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets requires. Be warned, your mind may be blown...

Todd Kerns

Slash bassist Todd Kerns: “Guns N’ Roses’ music was in my DNA, so when I met Slash, it was like, ‘What are we doing? Nightrain? Okay!’ I just knew the songs”

By Ellen O'Reilly published

Kerns is on a mission to deliver the very best bass – and vocal harmonies – he can, and leaves us some valuable nuggets of career advice

Holly Montgomery

Holly Montgomery: “Playing John Paul Jones’s basslines and singing Robert Plant’s lyrics is no joke”

By Ellen O'Reilly published

Running two bands on opposite sides of America is all in a day’s work for Holly Montgomery, who tells us “I have a little bit of a strange career right now.”

Geddy Lee

Rush’s Geddy Lee on A Farewell To Kings, Les Claypool the bassist, and what he thinks of Primus playing the album live in its entirety

By Ellen O'Reilly, Joel McIver published

Playing A Farewell To Kings in full is not for the fainthearted. Even Geddy Lee, the man who recorded it, thought Les Claypool “was a little bit nuts” for attempting it

Les Claypool

Les Claypool: “Singing Geddy Lee parts and playing bass, or just singing Geddy Lee parts period, is f**king hard, because it’s up in the upper stratosphere”

By Ellen O'Reilly, Joel McIver published

Primus are currently on the road, playing the Rush album A Farewell To Kings in its entirety. We ask Claypool what made him embark on such a mad endeavor

John Myung

John Myung dishes on his new signature bass amp, practice regime and whether he ever screws up

By Ellen O'Reilly published

The Dream Theater bassist checks in to talk gear, tone and technique following the release of A View From the Top of the World

Phil Thornalley

Phil Thornalley recalls playing bass on The Cure's Love Cats: “I’m sure jazz players feel like crying whenever they hear that line!”

By Ellen O'Reilly published

We speak to the man behind one of the most memorable bass parts of the '80s, and hear about his remarkable career as a “bass manipulator” with the likes of Bryan Adams and Natalie Imbruglia

Bill Gould

Bill Gould: “I learned to play by writing songs. To me, it’s more about feeling and passion than technical playing”

By Ellen O'Reilly published

The Faith No More bassist may not be back on the road as soon as he’d like, but he still has tons of bass wisdom to share...

Tal Wilkenfeld

Tal Wilkenfeld: “Take improvising one step at a time. Don’t think too far ahead, otherwise it’s not genuinely reacting to the moment”

By Ellen O'Reilly published

The Australian bass sensation on how stand-up comedy can inform your playing and approach to songwriting

Vicky Warwick: "I love playing Fender Mustang basses, but the Jazz has more punch"

By Ellen O'Reilly published

The fast-rising Charli XCX, Gabrielle Aplin and Josh Kumra bassist talks high-profile collaborations and her love of short-scale Fender basses

Victor Wooten: "Music is about more than the time spent on your instrument. It’s about the time spent on yourself"

By Ellen O'Reilly published

How the Wooten Brothers ended up among the most accomplished musical families in history