Bass Player Features

Hatebreed‘s Chris Beattie: ”No matter what you do in life, but especially as a bass player, you’ve got to keep learning”

By Bass Player Staff

Beattie checks in to talk about his journey on bass, the melodicism underpinning Hatebreed's pit-starting sound, and explains why he's loving the bass after some time off

Trapped in Purgatory's Jon Hoare: “I don’t go for expensive gear. If I can make it from the car to the rehearsal room in one trip, then it’s mission accomplished”

By Bass Player Staff

The bassist talks gear, influences, high school bands and Trapped in Purgatory's thrashy debut album, Damned Nation

Lee Rocker: ”Elvis was like Batman or Superman when I was a little kid – even before I was aware of his music. It’s so raw”

By Bass Player Staff

The Stray Cats’ rockabilly legend talks writing an album on an Airstream trailer, the energy of the old stuff and why there are still plenty of note choices to discover after all these years

Renforshort: "I get surges of creativity at 3 in the morning – I'll be up in bed, trying different tunings and seeing if I come up with anything cool"

By Cheri Amour

Following the release of sophomore EP, Off Saint Dominique, we speak to the prodigious 19-year-old about teenage angst, alternate tunings and working with Mateus Asato

Alter Bridge‘s Brian Marshall: “Bass is a different skill set and a different mindset. I think we’re just born that way“

By Bass Player Staff

Marshall checks in to share some advice for bass players and reminds us that “we're unicorns“

9 best bass amps for practice 2021: top combos for working on your chops at home

By Chris Schwarten

Get the most out of your playing at home with one of these great bass practice amps

Session great Yolanda Charles on her best (and worst) bass albums

By Bass Player Staff

Charles reflects on playing with BB King, Paul Weller, Squeeze and P-Funk legend Bernie Worrell

Starr Cullars: "Prince used to come out to P-Funk shows – he was tripping that I was playing with them"

By Bass Player Staff

The former Parliament-Funkadelic bassist and solo artist recalls her early career, and a legendary encounter with Prince

Bootsy Collins: “It’s not about being the greatest bassist in the world – you want to do great, but learn some kind of discipline as well“

By Joel McIver

With The Power of the One, the master takes a cast of stars for an album that lives and breathes funk

Brian Bromberg: “Hendrix's presence as an artist was overwhelming, and that’s what makes his music so special“

By Bass Player Staff

The legendary jazz bassist discusses the challenge of adapting Jimi Hendrix for bass, and recalls his greatest collaborations

Armored Saint's Joey Vera: ”I heard Kiss’s Alive! and that was about it for me. I just wanted to play an instrument”

By Bass Player Staff

The Californian metal stalwarts' bassist talks influences, playing styles, and how rescuing a P-Bass from under John Bush's bed got him started

Eva Kess: "The sound of bass comes from the left hand. The right hand is important as well, but it’s how you press the strings that forms the tone"

By Bass Player Staff

Upright bassist Kess brings a wide range of influences into her music. We hear how a chance meeting launched her bass journey

Mike Rutherford: ”I covered a lot of ground with the double-neck and bass pedals – they gave the band an extra sound”

By Mike Brooks

The Genesis and Mike + The Mechanics icon on pulling double shifts on a single instrument and finding inspiration on the pedalboard

Paul Chambers: the double bass great's best (and worst) albums

By Bass Player Staff

Highlights from the jazz legend's catalog ranked and rated – Kind of Blue is number one, but what else makes the cut?

Gene Simmons: “We are the hardest-working band in show business, but we do have an awful lot of fun. I have more fun than the Pope!“

By Jason Hunt

With Kiss’s final world tour on hold, the Demon takes time out to partner up with Gibson on a new line of bass guitars, G2

Bass speaker cones explained

By Dan Veall

Everything you need to know about the different speakers found in bass amps

The bass guitar summit: Dave Swift meets Juan ‘Snow Owl’ Garcia-Herreros

By Bass Player Staff

Jools Holland's in-house bassist Swift and the Grammy-nominated Snow Owl talk career paths, Jaco and gear

Foo Fighters' Nate Mendel: “After all these years, I've realized that notes are so much fatter with fingerstyle“

By Joel McIver

The Foo Fighters bassist checks in to talk Medicine At Midnight, chasing overdriven tones and his newfound appreciation of fingerstyle bass

Cat Popper: “Writing is complicated for me, because voices in my head tell me I should sound more like someone else”

By Bass Player Staff

Having earned her stripes playing bass with a laundry list of heavy hitters, Popper goes solo with new single, Maybe It's All Right

Bryan Beller on the search for the perfect bass and thinking visually when songwriting

By Bass Player Staff

The Aristocrats and Joe Satriani bass phenom unpacks his epic pedalboard, and explains the importance of video in music today