Latest articles by Nick Wells
"You can’t talk about distorted bass without mentioning Ace of Spades": Listen to Lemmy’s isolated bass on Motörhead’s born-to-lose anthem
"His tone was so huge!" The secrets behind Lemmy's distorted bass tone
How a pair of weight-lifting gloves helped Louis Johnson play slap bass
Louis Johnson: “I wear gloves to slow me down. When I take them off, it makes me play too fast”
Tom Hamilton: "I thought, I'll be damned if I'm going to play eighth-notes on the root all my life!"
Aerosmith’s long-serving bassist reflects on becoming a "music-book junkie", channeling John Paul Jones and "smoking a bowl" before writing Sweet Emotion
Paul Weller: “People should check out some of my bass playing on that first solo album”
The former Jam frontman lifts the lid on his bass playing career saying: “I’ve written some great bass parts”
When Cliff Burton met Geddy Lee: “He started pacing, he started smoking pot, and he was like, ‘Oh my God!’”
Kirk Hammett remembers when Rush frontman Geddy Lee showed up at a Metallica show
Veteran record producer Don Was names his 5 all-time favorite bassists
Producer Don Was on his favorite players, how to get a great bass tone, and the most common mistakes people make in the studio
Ampeg SGT-DI review
With tube amp emulation and a built-in cab simulator, has Ampeg developed the perfect all-in-one pedal rig for bass players?
Flea names the one bassline that he would “go back and fix” from the Red Hot Chili Pepper's 1995 album, One Hot Minute
Flea on the making of One Hot Minute: “I thought it sounded like another stupid white boy trying to be funky!”
"Bewildering technique that went way beyond any standard root/5th ideas": Listen to John Entwistle’s isolated bass on My Generation
“You can’t talk about classic bass playing without mentioning The Who and Live at Leeds”
Tina Weymouth: “I know Bono used me to taunt Adam Clayton when U2 were starting out”
One of the bass world’s most influential female figures talks gender stereotypes and why her small stature was “almost like a dare to boys”
In 1965 Elvis Presley was playing bass guitar, with a little help from Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney: “He was trying to learn bass, so I was like, ‘sit down, let me show you a few things’”
“The phone rings and it's Jaco Pastorius. He says, 'I’m in room 265, come up here and get your lesson!'” Marcus Miller on an encounter with the self-proclaimed ‘greatest bass player in the world’
Marcus Miller on what he learnt from Jaco Pastorius and why replacing him in Weather Report was “a beat down waiting to happen!”
"I thought, 'Wait a minute – we never practiced this…'" Jimi Hendrix bassist Billy Cox remembers Woodstock
From the archive: Billy Cox on Hendrix, Band of Gypsys, his influences and that Woodstock show
Kate Bush on John Giblin: “We’ve all lost a great man and an unmatchable musician”
Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Guy Pratt and many more pay tribute to bassist John Giblin
Sting, Nikki Sixx and Paul McCartney to guest on new Dolly Parton album
Rockstar sees McCartney reunite with Ringo Starr for a cover of The Beatles Let It Be, with Mick Fleetwood and Peter Frampton also making up the numbers
Listen to Paul McCartney’s isolated bass on Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Paul McCartney: “That probably ended up being my strongest thing on bass”
Larry Graham on when you really need to use a 5-string bass
The godfather of slap bass says “I actually love playing a 5-string for other artists, but not for live shows”
Jeff Berlin: “Look at Jaco Pastorius: clearly a genius, but misunderstood”
Jazz bassist Jeff Berlin debunks a myth surrounding Jaco’s early years
Lee Sklar: “If the drummer doesn’t swing – let him serve French fries in McDonald’s"
Session legend Lee Sklar was asked to name his studio pet hates: sequenced basslines, Pro-Tools and lacklustre drummers came out on top
Mike Dirnt: “Even Flea told me he wanted to play a P-Bass live”
Green Day’s Mike Dirnt reveals why so many top bass players switch back to Fender
How Billy Sheehan learned to slap
“I could never figure out where those notes were coming from. Then I’d go see Victor Wooten and just give up!”
Watch two bassists shred-off using Tosin Abasi's selective picking technique
Toby Peterson-Stewart and Jacob Umansky throw down: “Technique-wise, we really threw the kitchen sink at it”
Aguilar Agro Bass Overdrive review
Back with a brand-new look, the Agro aims to cram Aguilar’s AG 500 overdrive channel into something you can stomp on
