Latest Updates

“I deserved a songwriting credit. They sold millions and I only got $200!” Flea’s bittersweet hip-hop recording experience
By Nick Wells Published
In 1989, as the Red Hot Chili Peppers enjoyed their first big hit, Flea was hopping around MTV in the video for Young MC’s Bust A Move

The origins of Ernie Ball Music Man – and how it all started with a bass
By Phil Weller Published
The StingRay was worked on by Sterling Ball, Leo Fender and others, initially under the Music Man brand name

The bass Bootsy Collins used to record a James Brown anthem has been listed on eBay
By Nick Wells Published
The Fender Jazz Bass bought at auction for $40,000, has now been listed on eBay for almost twice as much. But you’ll have to bid an extra $299 if you want the original strings

How bassist Andy Fraser electrified a Free classic with his less-is-more brand of fiery blues-rock
By Nick Wells Published
When Andy Fraser joined Free in 1968, he arrived as a teenage guitarist, but his melodic bass style became essential to the band’s success

Bought from grunge icons and stolen before Soundgarden reunited – the story of Ben Shepherd’s 1972 Fender Jazz Bass
By Brian Fox Published
Shepherd was robbed of all his music gear in 2008 just as he was about to mix his first solo album

The bass used to record The Special’s gloomy political anthem, Ghost Town, is headed to auction
By Phil Weller Published
The Fender Precision was also used in Horace Panter’s supergroup with members of The Clash and Dexy’s Midnight Runners

The late Michael Rhodes provided an unshakable foundation for Buddy Guy’s 2013 salute to his home town
By Chris Jisi Published
Rhodes played his ’57 Fender P-Bass for the Meet Me in Chicago session at Nashville’s famed Blackbird studios

Thundercat on getting his start with hardcore punk legends Suicidal Tendencies
By Janelle Borg Published
Thundercat may best be known as a funk and R&B-oriented bassist – yet, he got his start in thrash metal and hardcore punk

Bass phenom Kinga Głyk recalls the moment her rendition of an Eric Clapton classic went viral – and made her career
By Janelle Borg Published
Głyk also touches on how social media can be used as a democratizing tool for musicians to access the industry

From sleeping in tents to Woodstock, rock ’n’ roll's ‘Forrest Gump’ Leo Lyons shares the story of Ten Years After
By Henry Yates Published
The Ten Years After bassist survived Hamburg’s Star-Club, sparked the blues boom, achieved immortality at Woodstock – and is still going strong at 82. “Music,” he says, “it’s a drug…”

“I was auditioning during the making of the album”: Bassist George Murray’s six-year stint with David Bowie
By Chris Jisi Published
As a member of Bowie’s band, George Murray cut the studio albums Station to Station, Low, Heroes, Lodger, and Scary Monsters

How Tal Wilkenfeld taught Sting the correct way to play an Aerosmith classic
By Nick Wells Published
Sting was performing alongside Steven Tyler and Jeff Beck at the MGM Grand when Wilkenfeld intervened

Fred Smith, influential Television and former Blondie bassist, dies at 77
By Matt Owen Published
Smith helped define the proto-punk pioneers' sound, and had plans to return to the stage later this year

“A grave miscalculation”: Grammy Awards criticized over Anthony Jackson’s inclusion in rock/metal In Memorium section
By Nick Wells Published
Jackson’s longtime manager voiced her disappointment at how the Recording Academy’s tribute was categorized

Bassist Johnny Colt reveals the inside stories behind the Black Crowes’ controversial Amorica album
By Scott Malandrone Published
Colt hung around for one more album, before jettisoning himself from the band in 1997

He’s played with Lady Gaga and played on SNL – now Stu “Bassie” Brooks has officially joined Nine Inch Nails on bass
By Jonathan Horsley Published
Brooks just played his first show with Trent Reznor and co. at the Smoothie King Center, New Orleans

He was schooled by James Jamerson and freaked Larry Graham out – how William ‘Billy Bass’ Nelson founded the Funkadelic sound
By Chris Jisi Published
The late Funkadelic co-founder tells the story of his encounter with Larry Graham, bass lessons with James Jamerson, and life in George Clinton’s ever-changing band

William Billy ‘Bass’ Nelson, Funkadelic bassist who coined the band’s name, dies aged 75
By Nick Wells Published
Flea has led tributes to the Funkadelic bassist, who was one of the founding architects of funk’s most audacious musical revolution

