Latest articles by Joel McIver
"Chris Squire was an early hero to me": Primus bass hero Les Claypool on the five tracks that helped shape his bass career
How Michael Jackson influenced Queen's biggest selling single
In this classic 2003 interview, the pioneering bass guitarist and rock legend talks Cream, explains why Clapton was better than Hendrix and confesses his love for gangsta rap
Valentine reveals high times and low points in her memoir, All I Ever Wanted – a deep dive into abuse, addiction, and redemption, as well as blazing a trail for a generation of bass players
If only more acoustic-electric bass guitars combined this much quality with a price this low...
We celebrate Burton's career, and dig into his tones and talents with the help of Metallica’s incumbent bassist, Robert Trujillo
Journey are back with a new album made with the returning Randy Jackson, whose story goes beyond bass. A&R, TV star, producer, entrepreneur... And to 40 million TV viewers, he’s the man who sat next to Simon Cowell on American Idol
Why do they call it the Trapper? Who can say, but it has two distortion circuits to give options to those who need some low-end growl and thunder
The evolution of the Yes man’s incredible low-end sound
Seven years since his death and half a century since his band Yes released their masterpiece, Close to the Edge, the influence of Chris Squire is felt as keenly as ever
Gnarly overdrive and fuzz options for the bass player's pedalboard, with sounds as good as the enclosures look
We explore the Burton legend, reveal the secrets of his playing and head to Sweden to visit the new Cliff museum
The Canadian jazz bass stalwart reflects on his roots as a bass player, working with Oscar Peterson and what technology has taken from learners
The Bangladeshi bass icon has survived multiple bouts of cancer, a near-fatal road accident and a stroke, but is still performing at the top of his domestic music industry
Meet the Fender offset for bassists looking for a radical alternative to P and J archetypes, and for some oomph from the active Fireball humbucker pairing
The late bassist and former Warwick colleague, saluted by Chris P. Dekker, editor of De Bassist.
The late Yes man is joined by amazing bass players from Chic, Korn, the McCartney/Starr bands and more
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
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
She's joined by Nikki Sixx, Bassbaba Sumon, Stefan Olsdal of Placebo and a posse of other ace bassists
Will Lee has done more in his career than any 10 other bass players combined, including the small matter of 6,000 Letterman shows, but he’s not resting on his laurels just yet
On May 14, hundreds of Metallica fans flew to rural Sweden for the Museum’s grand opening – and celebrated Burton’s life with loud music and a ton of headbanging
In a half-century of the British heavy metal institution, Hill has seen it all – here, he talks about the influence of Jack Bruce, his rig over the years, and the band's staying power
The Mastodon bassist and vocalist on why the Atlanta metal institution doubled up for their latest album, Hushed And Grim, and taking the opportunity for a bass solo
