Squier treats its uber-affordable Sonic range to limited-edition colors – including the Jeff Beck-pioneered Graffiti Yellow By Matt Owen published 24 July 23 The successor to Fender's entry-level Bullet range arrived earlier this year – and now it's got some fresh new finishes
“I was in my sixth year as a studio guitarist when one day the bass player didn’t show up. The producer asked me...” How Carol Kaye became a session bass icon By Denny Ilett published 24 July 23 If you’ve ever wondered what connects Frank Zappa to Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach to The Beach Boys, the answer is Carol Kaye. The session legend tells the story behind her career and legendary bass recordings
"If you swing too much, it interrupts the head-banging, and that’s the last thing I wanted to do – the head-banging reigns supreme!" In praise of Living Colour's Vivid By Mike Brooks published 23 July 23 Jagger produced them but that sound was all theirs. Inside Living Colour's late 80s classic debut
“There’s not much swagger in that band.” For Glenn Hughes, joining Deep Purple wasn’t the clear-cut choice that you’d think By Nick Wells published 21 July 23 The ‘Voice of Rock' looks back on his decision to quit Trapeze in 1973, and why Ritchie Blackmore was “a bit eccentric”
“A lot of Sugar Hill records were clichéd bass riffs that DJs would spin in the clubs” : How a bassline by art-rockers Liquid Liquid became one of the biggest hip hop anthems of all time By Nick Wells published 21 July 23 In 1983 Doug Wimbish was asked to recreate a bassline that was tearing up NYC clubs. Transformed into White Lines (Don’t Do It) it became an enormous worldwide hit – but the original creators never received a dime…
Roger Waters has shared the first single from his re-recording of The Dark Side of the Moon – and there's not a guitar solo in sight By Matt Owen published 21 July 23 The former Pink Floyd bassist's reinterpretation of Money swaps Gilmour's searing solos for brooding acoustics and a reflective spoken word passage
“Whenever we’d drop that bass riff, places would become unhinged”: Listen to Tim Commerford’s isolated bassline on Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine By Nick Wells published 20 July 23 The beginning of RATM best-known song is a sinister D plus octave of D#
Boss is back in the synth business – and its new GM-800 could be the best way to get keyboard sounds from your guitar yet By Matt Owen published 20 July 23 A new Series GK digital interface and an advanced operating engine lifted from Roland's collection of keyboards head up the powerful stompbox
Gene Simmons says Geddy Lee "didn't understand what a blues scale was" when they first jammed together By Jackson Maxwell published 19 July 23 At that point, the Kiss bassist says, "Geddy played purely by ear." Of course, he continued, "later on, he learned what the notes were and stuff like that“
John Lennon: “Willie Weeks was supposed to do it, but he was doing a George Harrison session”: In August 1980 John Lennon could have called just about any bass player on Earth. He went with Tony Levin By Nick Wells published 19 July 23 The King Crimson bassist recalls the making of Double Fantasy and why he laughed at The Beatle’s first ever words to him
Apogee Jam X review By Andy Jones published 19 July 23 Meet Jam X, the Tim Henson-approved mobile interface with built-in compression and bite
Need more control over your tone? This new preamp from Aguilar was made to “push your bass sound to the limits” By Nick Wells published 18 July 23 The latest addition to Aguilar's pedal range is an all-analog preamp unit with a built-in boost
“You would make Jimi proud if he heard that solo”: Greg Sover and Jimi Hendrix bassist Billy Cox cover Hendrix’s deep cut, Remember By Matt Parker published 18 July 23 The Philadelphian guitarist and singer steps up to fill some of the biggest shoes in guitar history – with David Bowie’s amp along for the ride
Green Day's Mike Dirnt wrote the bassline for Longview on LSD: "Later, it took me a long time to be able to play it, but it made sense when I was on drugs" By Mike Brooks published 16 July 23 In praise of Dookie, the 1994 album that put Green Day on the pop-punk throne
“So that harmonic, I'm kind of ripping The Firm's Radioactive”: How Jeff Ament discovered a slide harmonic on Pearl Jam’s Even Flow By Nick Wells published 15 July 23 “I remember accidentally hitting harmonics and sliding on it, so I just started experimenting”
Paul Simon: “People have tried to cop that bass solo, but it’s physically impossible” – how engineer Roy Halee created the iconic bass break on Call Me Al By Gregory Isola published 14 July 23 Bakithi Kumalo: “Listening back, I didn’t know what happened – I thought it was from God, you know?”
“I still have the strings I used on that session in a Ziploc bag”: How Muzz Skillings took the rock world by storm on Cult of Personality By Brian Fox published 13 July 23 Muzz Skillings kept things fresh on this heavy, riff-based smash from Living Colour's debut album
“I remember thinking, ‘What would Paul McCartney do?’” How Justin Smolian channeled his inner Beatle with Dirty Honey By Nick Wells published 13 July 23 Dirty Honey's Justin Smolian opens up on touring with Guns N' Roses, and why Paul McCartney is still a bass playing genius
Randall Wyn Fullmer of Wyn Guitars has died, aged 73 By Nick Wells published 12 July 23 The bass builder who collaborated with Abraham Laboriel and starred in the 2004 documentary, Restrung, has passed away
“I made my own bass and used bicycle brake cables as strings…” How Richard Bona went from homemade guitars to being hailed as “the African Jaco” By Scott Rowley published 9 July 23 "I don't want to play for bass players – I want to play for truckdrivers! I want people to dance!" The rise of a reluctant virtuoso
