Standing Tall

Best known for his playing with the progressive rock act Jethro Tull, the late Glenn Cornick knew his way around a fretboard like few others...

Queen Of The Groove

In 1963, A-list studio guitarist Carol Kaye walked into a recording session and was asked to fill in for an absentee bass player. Little did she, or anyone else, know that they were about to create history...

MAYONES Federico Malaman Jabba Mala 5

Our pal Federico Malaman has a new signature bass out, courtesy of Mayones. Mike ‘The Hutt’ Brooks delivers a fully-featured assessment

Liverpool Lad

Unlike the question of drummers, there was never any question about who the best bass player in the Beatles was. We salute the Knight Of The Realm, the one and only Paul McCartney

His Master's Brew

Tim Bogert, the bassist’s bassist, has enjoyed a career like few others. No wonder he was such an influence on our Guest Editor...

FENDER American Ultra Jazz and Precision

Yet more Fender P and J variants, you say? Let’s see what Stuart Clayton has to say, in this in-depth first look at the new Ultra series

By The Yard

The best-dressed bass player of all time? We salute the sometime Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith

BASS OF TOMORROW

Blurring the line between artist and luthier, Parizad Hatcher brings creativeness and know-how to her stunning basses. Hywel Davies investigates

AUDIENT: Sono Amp Modelling Audio Interface

A ‘plug and play’ audio interface for recording and modelling that is simple to use. Interested? Brooksy is

Squier - Classic Vibe '60s Jazz

‘Not another Jazz’, you may be thinking. Well, looks can be deceiving, as Mike Brooks discovers

SIMS Enfield Lionheart Standard Air 4 and 5

A newly-designed Enfield Lionheart, they said... Do we want to take a look? Of course we do, says Mike Brooks

Going To California

The Winter NAMM Show is the biggest, loudest event since that meteor wiped out the dinosaurs a while back. Joel McIver heads west, and returns with tales of the bass gear that will be kicking off the new decade...

Winter Of Sam

Sam Bean has played bass in a lot of spooky bands—the Antichrist Imperium, the Senseless, the Berzerker, and Mithras among them—but Werewolves may be his most demanding yet, he tells us

Travelling Man

While his main band Megadeth is enjoying a break, bassist David Ellefson has plenty to keep him occupied. We catch up with the bassist who can’t be stopped...

Piano Man

Leon Lee Dorsey returns with MonkTime, an accomplished new album of Thelonious Monk compositions. Joel McIver hears how Dorsey paid tribute to the jazz icon

Miked Up

Jazz maestro and record label owner Michael Janisch digs deep

Heavy Weather

How does a classic band, two decades past its biggest sales, suddenly start selling out shows and achieving major success? Let’s ask Andrew Levy of the acid jazz legends, Brand New Heavies

Charli Says

Fast-rising bassist Vicky Warwick considers the way forward

BROTHERS BEYOND

Are the Wooten Brothers the most accomplished musical family in history? After a sit-down with Victor Wooten and his siblings, Ellen O’Reilly makes that very case

Gamechanger Audio Plasma Pedal

This hypnotic distortion pedal is pure witchcraft. Actually it’s xenon, but it’s much the same thing, says the editor

Markbass Little Mark Vintage Amp

Italy’s kings of bass amplification serve up a new recipe, incorporating a valve preamp for added low-frequency goodness. Mike ‘Gordon Ramsay’ Brooks hooks up some cabinets, and prepares his taste buds

Yamaha Attitude 3

Round three for Billy Sheehan’s wondrous signature Yamaha. Stuart Clayton prepares his tapping fingers

Watt Prevails

Bassist for a generation of punk rockers, symbol of perseverance against the odds, winner of Bass Player ’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and pioneer of the less-is-more ethos—just take a look at his signature bass—Mike Watt is that rare bassist: one of a kind. We take a meeting with the sometime Minuteman

Low End Of Love

Joe Shooman signs off each issue by celebrating an iconic bass guitar This month: The Hagström Super Swede

Life Begins...

...at 40! We visit Chris May of Overwater Basses for a look back across four decades of low (and high) frequencies

High Score

Stanley Clarke is known for his work in many musical fields. We talk to him in this issue about his career as a composer for film and television… and where the bass fits in

Giving It Away

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Michael ‘Flea’ Balzary needs no introduction, thanks to his genuinely iconic status in our world—but you’ll read about another side of the great man in his new autobiography, Acid For The Children. Joel McIver goes deep with the spokesman for an entire generation of bass players

Bassist Of The Year 2019

At the London Bass Guitar Show UK back in September, we crowned the winner of this year’s Bassist Of The Year competition, in association with Orange Amplification. It was a close-run contest between our three finalists, who were chosen by Robert Trujillo, Stuart Hamm, Joe Dart, and Mark King—but in the end the victor was Leo De Santi, whose performance narrowly outdid the equally talented runners-up Marine Courtin, and Andreas Oxholm. All of them took home a much-deserved haul of Orange bass gear, but before they headed off to celebrate, we got interviews out of them!

A-Mazed

Claudia McKenzie of 4th Labyrinth ended up as a bass player by accident—but it yielded results, she tells us

P-Funky

P-Nut, as most people call 311 bassist Aaron Wills, is a man on a mission. We ask him about his plans to deliver the groove to the people