Bass Player Features

Shavo Odadjian: "After 30-something years, my playing has just become its own thing. I never said I wanted to play like anyone else"

By Amit Sharma

The heavy metal maestro talks playing guitar and bass in North Kingsley, those new System of a Down recordings, and the time he hung out with Les Paul

Passive vs active bass guitars: bass electronics explained

By Dan Veall

Bamboozled over passive vs active basses? Don't be. Here we'll walk you through the distinctions

Best acoustic bass guitars 2021: Unplug and play with our pick of 7 top acoustic basses

By Chris Corfield

Our expert guide to the best acoustic bass guitars will instantly boost your low-end game, and enable you to play on the go and to practice at home

Colin Bass: “It’s an unknown future for musicians and crew. But hopefully we will all rise like phoenixes from the ashes“

By Bass Player Staff

The Camel bassist is hoping to bring a little light to the world with his meditative new album, Still

Timothy B. Schmit: “I didn’t peak in my 20s or 30s, like a lot of songwriters do. I’m starting to get it now, which keeps me feeling hopeful“

By Neville Marten

The bass great looks back at his favorite sessions, and being asked to join the Eagles in 1977, just as they hit the big time...

The best bass gear of 2020

By Bass Player Staff

Despite a mutant virus, presidential upheaval and the end of all our gigs, we’ve had plenty of new bass guitars, amps and effects to enjoy

Suzi Quatro: ”I grew up in Detroit, so I was weaned on James Jamerson. He’s still the best. I very much take my style from him”

By Joel McIver

Kicking down boundaries, 50-million album sales, primetime TV star and awesome bassist... Suzy Q explains how she ended up owning the '70s

60 years of the Fender Jazz Bass

By Joel McIver, Roger Newell

We meet Allen Abbassi, Senior Product Development Manager, for a look back – and forward – on the subject of the mighty J...

Best bass strings 2021: Get the best tone, feel and lifespan from your bass guitar with these string sets

By Jonathan Horsley

Strings to bring the thunder from Ernie Ball, D’Addario, Rotosound and more

Bass guitar pickups explained

By Dan Veall

Confused about the pickups on your bass? Don't be. Read on for the skinny on split-coils, soapboars, humbuckers and actives

Cold's Lindsay Manfredi: ”There’s a feeling when you’re playing bass. It’s different from other instruments”

By Bass Player Staff

Essential survival advice, for life in general as much as related to bass playing

Broadway and West End bassist Ian King: “Hamilton is an intense gig – I’m playing four instruments in the show!“

By Bass Player Staff

King has played Hamilton, Mamma Mia!... You name it, he's played it, and this is the story of his journey to the stage

Destruction's Schmier on his love of Dean basses and how Born to Thrash was bought with Jack and Coke

By Bass Player Staff

The bass giant holds court as the German thrash metal titans return with a Covid-era live album

Madina Lake's Matthew Leone: "I was so clueless, I brought my first bass to my first-ever show in a garbage bag"

By Bass Player Staff

The bassist for the returning Chicago alt-rock heroes on piece-of-crap basses, love of the groove and Chi Cheng's influence

Christian McBride: “I was doing things on the double bass that I wasn’t supposed to. It helps to be a rebel sometimes“

By Andy Hughes

The jazz and session maestro looks back at his career in bass

Dave Pegg and Testament's Steve Di Giorgio talk Jethro Tull, folk rock, fretless bass and Fairport Convention

By Steve Di Giorgio

Worlds collide when a thrash legend meets his hero...

Doug Wimbish looks back at 5 of his best – and worst – bass sessions

By Bass Player Staff

From an inspired collaboration with Annie Lennox to a sliding doors moment with the Stones...

Jeff Ament: “Stone was always writing from a Zeppelin angle, so seeing if fretless bass could work in that realm was exciting“

By Joe Daly

The Pearl Jam bassist looks back at the making of Ten, and details his new solo project, American Death Squad

What you need to know about wireless systems for guitar and bass

By Dan Veall

A guide on how to unplug and stay amplified

Este Haim: “It’s funkier to concentrate on the notes you’re not playing, rather than the notes that you are”

By Amit Sharma

The Haim bassist talks tracking down her first Fender P-Bass, her love of fusion, and the group's multifaceted new album, Women In Music Pt. III