Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2021 i Bass Player

You will recall the unusual signature bass which Vulfpeck bassist Joe Dart developed with Ernie Ball a couple of years back. The limited-edition run sold out rapidly, but anyone who missed out will be pleased to hear that two all-new full- and short-scale models are on the way. We haven’t played them ourselves, but EB tell us that the new basses are equipped with lightweight ash bodies, maple necks, and streamlined control layouts. The smaller model will be limited to 50, so order one now if short scales are your slab of funk.…

Madonna’s lengthy career has encompassed many, many different areas of activity. Movies, businesses, philanthropy... you could almost forget that under all the white noise there is a talented songwriter. We like a lot of her songs here at BP, although we think her early stuff was her best, and especially the songs gathered on 1990’s Immaculate Collection, possibly the finest ever best-of album after Queen’s Greatest Hits. From a bass player’s point of view, there’s tons of fun to be had with this album: Maddy—or her MD, more likely—roped in some serious low-frequency talent for the 17 songs here, even discounting the large number in which a tinny synth bass appears, for example on ‘Material Girl’. Let’s face it, if you invite players like Bernard Edwards and Anthony Jackson to…

Welcome back, ‘itching-to-gig’ bass players! This is part three of my post-pandemic live performance column, on our continuing mission to rebuild the skills necessary for playing live. In this issue, I’ll be addressing the potential anxieties of getting back on stage again, hopefully to be faced with a great many more people than we have been used to over the last year or so. Even if you feel that the transition back will be an easy one, and you’re ‘born to play live’, I think—if we’re truly honest—there are some doubts in all of our minds about what our first few gigs back will look and feel like. Anxiety is essentially born from pressure and fear of the unknown. If we unpack these further, the real pressure that accompanies live…

For the first, say, 50 years of the bass guitar’s existence, the idea was that if you wanted to build a career on the instrument, first you worked privately to master it, then you recorded music onto pieces of plastic, and then you went out and played the bass in front of people. That was how you got a) known, and b) paid. Times are a-changing, though, and thanks to the rise of the internet from being merely a communications medium to an essential part of everyday life, playing bass on YouTube and social media is how a lot of musicians make their living. We at Bass Player magazine feature these new musicians from time to time, but we’ve never devoted our cover to these innovative people until now. Why…

The following numbers are necessarily approximate because information varies so much between sources, but a quick consultation of a few different websites indicates that we’re in the right ballpark here. We’re just talking about income from YouTube views, not any other ancillary deals that might follow from sponsors, merchandise sales or whatever. Say you shoot a film, stick it on YouTube, and a million people watch it. Depending on where these people are, how much of your film they watch, if they watch the ads that come with your video, and depending on what those ads actually are, you might reasonably expect to end up earning between $2,000 and $10,000 after YouTube’s deductions. Davie504’s most popular clip currently stands at 32 million views, and a quick look at his video…

258K INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS 93K TIKTOK FOLLOWERS How are you, April? I am fuckin’ thrilled! Bass Player magazine is talking to me now. It feels incredible. Well, if you go on social media playing bass to thousands of people, these things happen. Apparently. It’s wild. How much time do you spend playing bass, as opposed to all the other stuff that you do? Well, three years ago, my band IMANIGOLD—which is fronted by my sister Nikki and me—put out a single, and we did a big fundraiser to raise money to build a home studio. When we did that, I neglected to realize that it meant that I would have to learn to produce. That’s been a three-year process, where I’ve been basically teaching myself to produce. Throughout that, I’ve gotten…

As part of one of the most legendarily eardrum-obliterating bands of all time, Dinosaur Jr. co-founder Lou Barlow naturally courses plenty of powerful-yet-poppy, gain-cranked bass-lines throughout Sweep It Into Space, the Massachusetts-based trio’s 12th album overall, and fifth since reforming their classic line-up in 2005. Live, he’s happily decimating crowds with multiple stacks. It’s trickier in the studio, however, with the bassist admitting he’s still seeking an idyllic boom to best complement—or perhaps compete with—the screaming leads of guitarist J Mascis. “To be perfectly honest, it’s hard to get a recorded sound with Dinosaur Jr. that I feel is there,” he reveals. “Because of the nature of the way the records are mixed, the bass really gets pushed back in the mix. I have a fighting chance live—I’ve got my…

Price| $1849 Made In| Finland Controls| 7” multi-touch colour display, 11 dual-function rotary footswitches, volume knob, power switch Presets| 10 setlists, 256 presets per setlist Number of effects| 70+ Amp Modelling| 50+ amps, Neural Capture technology Impulse Response| 1,000+ IRs, third-party IR support Inputs| 2 x XLR-1/4” combo (instrument/ mic), 2 x 1/4” (return 1/2) Outputs| 2 x XLR, 2 x 1/4” TRS, 2 x 1/4” (send 1/2) MIDI I/O| In, Out/Thru, USB USB| 1 x Type B Other I/O| 2 x 1/4” (expression 1/2), 1 x 1/4” (capture signal out) Features| Wi-Fi (preset sharing, firmware updates), 2GHz Quad-Core SHARC Processors, 7” multi-touch display Software| Neural CNS mobile app Weigh| 4.2 lbs Dimensions| 11.4” x 7”x 2” Power| 12V DC, power supply included WHAT WE THINK Plus| Ridiculously powerful, easy…

I SPY... 62 RYAN MADORA Dig into your favorite bass parts... and discover treasure! Ryan Madora is one of Nashville’s most sought-after touring and session bassists. Recent touring and session credits include Robben Ford, Kyshona Armstrong, and her instrumental trio, The Interludes. For the past five years, she has served as musical director for Bobby Bones and has played with Garth Brooks, Darius Rucker, and Carrie Underwood. In addition to instructing at Nashville’s campus of Musician’s Institute, Ryan has taught at Gerald Veasley’s Bass Boot Camp, Rock’n’Roll Fantasy Camp, and at universities across the USA. She has contributed columns to No Treble for over a decade and in 2019, published her first book, Bass Players To Know: Learning From The Greats. Ryan offers online education at TrueFire and her website.…

Welcome to another lesson, everyone! Consider this... When it comes to playing any piece of music, there are three ways we can understand what’s going on—and these ways form a triangle. At the most basic, the three ways are what the music sounds like (ear training), what the notes are called (theory), and how the music maps out on the bass (technique). Each of these can be developed in a number of ways. Ear training can develop beyond just being able to recognize musical notes by ear, to us hearing intricate harmonies and imagining all kinds of possible sounds in our heads for altering and developing the music. Our theory knowledge obviously extends way beyond note names to understanding of keys, chords, unusual scales, and the ways that chords build…

It’s time to get voting! Bass Player magazine is running the biggest poll of our 31-year history to decide, once and for all, who the world’s greatest living (or dead) electric or upright bass player is (or was), across several relevant categories, with the results to be published in Issue 413, on sale September 7 in North America and August 20 in the UK. Will it be a rock star? Will be a jazz icon? Will it be a hot young gunslinger, or a veteran of a long-gone era? Only you can decide, with online voting opening at our social media on July 12. Visit facebook.com/bassplayermagor twitter.com/bassplayerweb before August 4 and make your choices!…

Stevie Wonder, ‘I Wish’ (1976) Back in the Seventies, you could write simple bass parts and they sounded cool because no-one had written all the good lines yet. This applies in abundance to Stevie Wonder’s remarkable ‘I Wish’— up there with ‘Sir Duke’ in terms of sheer funkability, but somehow even more catchy. The great Nate Watts was responsible for this supremely cool line, and remains a hero in our world for this and many more iconic parts.…

Tony Levin’s stellar career in progressive rock, jazz, and world music can be tracked through an estimated 500 album appearances. He has been a long-term member of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel’s band, as well as his own outfit, Stick Men, which he formed in 2010. Whether playing a traditional electric or stand-up bass, occasional keyboards, or the Chapman Stick with its blend of bass and high-register strings, Levin has always been in demand as a session player. He has worked with John Lennon, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Paul Simon, and Stevie Nicks, and has toured extensively with Herbie Mann, Peter Frampton, Judy Collins and many more. An innovator and sonic explorer, his inventive methods of manipulating his equipment with all manner of weird and wonderful household goods are legendary.…

Ace luthier Rob Elrick brings decades of wisdom to the table. Listen up as he delivers the verdict! Last month, we discussed the basic rules of understanding fretboard radius. Today, let’s delve into the more complicated concept of compound radius. Now, while a fixed radius can easily be visualized as the cross-section of a circle, a compound radius is actually the cross section of the surface of a cone. Like a cone, a compound radius fretboard does not maintain a regular fixed radius along its length—its surface radius changes from one end to the other. A common compound radius for bass guitar is 12” to 16”, with the smaller radius at the headstock end of the fretboard: This becomes progressively larger along its length. So how is a fretboard with…

9.43M YOUTUBE SUBS 840K INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS 833K FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS 262K TIKTOK FOLLOWERS 141K TWITTER FOLLOWERS Davie, we know you were born in 1994, but no-one knows much about your early life. I grew up in a very beautiful town near the beach called Albisola Superiore, near Genoa in north-west Italy. Before bass I had other passions such as astronomy and geology: I loved to collect minerals. Italy winning the 2006 World Cup really inspired me to start playing soccer as a goalkeeper—I am very tall—and becoming one of the best goalkeepers was my goal. Unfortunately, while I was good in training, I just didn’t have the right mindset, and I would get very anxious while playing official matches, so after a few years I quit, and switched to bass. I…

288K INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS 21K TIKTOK FOLLOWERS 8.7K YOUTUBE SUBS You have a large online following. Are you in personal contact with these people? Well, I do work with some of them: People that send a message, like ‘Hey, can you play bass on this?’ And sometimes there’s a few celebrities that might ask me ‘Do you want to work on this?’ I try to interact where I can. I love your synth bass versus real bass videos. Was the idea to open people’s minds to the fact that bass can come from another source? Oh, thank you. Yeah, definitely. I’m always trying to stick in more synth bass when I can. I have a piano keyboard background so it’s very easy for me. How much of your session work is…

Nilanjana Ghosh Dastidar Phenomenal, high-speed bassist in the metal realm Daric Bennett Founder of his own Bass Academy Aldana Ace Solo bass player Chris ‘9Goma’ Goma Multi-talented multi-instrumentalist Julia Hofer Austrian slap and tap specialist Ana Karina Sebastião Supremely funky chops Yuki Atori Fusion prodigy from Japan Vincen Garcia A slapper supreme Fernando Rosa The funk runs deep in this one Giane Rangel Thumb-friendly lines from Brazil…

Price| $1799.99 Made In| Korea Body| Maple with burl poplar top Neck| Maple, 34” scale Neck Joint| Through neck Nut width| 40mm Fingerboard| Rosewood Frets| 24 Pickups| Aguilar AG-P (neck) Aguilar AG-J-HC (bridge) Electronics| Aguilar OBP-2 active preamp Controls| 2 x pickup volumes, Bass and Treble cut/boost Hardware| Gloss black Weight| 8.4 lbs Case/gig bag included?| Yes Left-hand option available?| No WHAT WE THINK Plus| Film-star good looks and some of the best electronics available Minus| The two available colors might not be for everyone Overall| A desirable Spector at a price that is achievable for more players BP RATING BUILD QUALITY SOUND QUALITY VALUE…

Hi, and welcome to Assume Nothing, the place where you can have an honest conversation about challenges we all face as a musician. It’s also where you can find insights from those who have been through similar situations, allowing you to feel confident and supported. I’ve been a professional bassist and multi-instrumentalist for over a decade. I play in the indie folk band Unkle Bob, who have recently got back together after a nine-year hiatus. I’m fortunate to have experienced a lot of highs throughout my career—but I’ve also seen some awkward situations, ones that I’m not alone in experiencing. One issue that resonates with colleagues of mine, mostly women, is that we spend a large amount of time talking to people who assume we don’t know what we’re doing.…

Anthrax bassist Frank Bello has announced the publication of his autobiography, Fathers, Brothers, And Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, And Anthrax, set for release by Los Angeles publisher Rare Bird in October. Bello’s co-writer is Bass PlayerEditor Joel McIver, and the book comes with a foreword by Kiss bassist Gene Simmons. “This book has been a long time coming. Bass made me who I am!” Frank Bello Bello, bassist with the New York thrash metal band Anthrax since 1984, grew up in difficult circumstances. With an absent father and no male role model, Frank found inspiration in bass players, following their example and forging a career with Anthrax from his early teens, first as a roadie, and then as the group’s bass player. International stardom came Frank’s way by the mid-to-late…

Three decades ago, Metallica released the biggest metal album of all time... On August 12, 1991, the Californian/Danish heavy metal band Metallica released their fifth record, a self-titled effort usually known as ‘the Black Album’. Packed full of bass courtesy of Jason Newsted, the record was a first in that sense for Metallica, whose previous albums had focused more on guitars and drums. Indeed, their most recent LP, the otherwise admirable 1988 release ...And Justice For All, had included no audible bass whatsoever. As drummer Lars Ulrich accurately said at the time: “The bass guitar has always been this weird instrument in the band, it’s always been overlooked. With Jason I guess we misfired on Justice, but this time around I didn’t want to make the same mistake, so early…

It’s that time again, theorists! This month’s column leads on from our previous investigation into various types of dominant scales and modes. Ready? The Altered Scale derives its name from the fact that it has the most ‘altered’ tensions of any seven-note scale in western harmony. It’s found on the seventh degree of melodic minor, the seventh mode. If we identify chord tones and extensions in the usual way for tertiary harmony, we would find ourselves with a min7 b 5 chord. While this is theoretically correct, it has a more widespread application as a scale that we can employ over dominant chords because it contains a root, major 3rd and b 7th. The ‘altered’ description gets its name from the fact that both a raised and flattened ninth are…

28K TIKTOK FOLLOWERS 652K YOUTUBE SUBS 94K INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS What does your daily routine look like, Charles? YouTube takes up about 80 percent of my time, whether that’s recording, editing, uploading, or promoting on social media. I do record on the side, as a traditional session bassist, for websites like Fiverr. I do it all except the YouTube thumbnails, which my fiancée does for me. I might try and outsource some of the video editing at some point, but at the moment, it’s pretty much all me. You have 650,000 or so subscribers on YouTube. Are those numbers important to you? Well, it’s all relative. Three years ago, that number of subscribers would have seemed crazy to me, because I only had 3000 or something at that time. I’m really…

STUART HAMM Ari, you’re my closest musical neighbor in Los Angeles. I’ve really valued your friendship over the years. We go hiking, we go for coffee, I take Logic lessons with your lovely husband. It’s great. ARIANE CAP Remember how we first met? My husband and I were at a branch of Whole Foods in Los Angeles, and all of a sudden, my husband says, ‘You know that bass player you were talking about? I think that’s him over there’. SH Later, we met at a Warwick Bass Camp in Germany, and you told me that you’d seen me at Whole Foods, and we figured out that we lived five miles apart in LA. AC Right! After that you sent me a text saying you were going on a solo…

Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas PJ IV (JJ V) Price| RRP $899.99 ($999.99) MSRP Made In| Mexico Body| Alder Neck| Caramelized maple, reinforced with graphite rods, 34” scale (35” scale) Neck join| Bolt-on Fretboard| Caramelized maple, 20 frets, GraphTech nut Pickups| DiMarzio Model P DP122 (middle), Model J DP123 (bridge) (Area J DP550 [middle], Area J DP551 [bridge]) Controls| Volume, pickup blend, three-band active EQ Hardware| Charvel chrome (gold) tuners and hi-mass bridge Weight| 8 lbs (8.5 lbs) Left-hand option available| No Case/gig bag included| No WHAT WE THINK Plus| Comfortable body, great EQ, insanely playable neck Minus| Pickups don’t sound very different Overall| Not just an exercise in nostalgia BP RATING BUILD QUALITY SOUND QUALITY VALUE…

LANEY DIGBETH DB500H AMP  Price | $749 Made in | China Power | 500 watts @ 4 ohms (minimum load 4 Ohms) Features | Input, FET volume, FET/Tube selector switch, Tube Drive, Tube Volume (push/pull for FET Mix), Bass, four pre-shape Mid selector, Mid, Treble, Tilt, Run/ Mute selector switch, Speakon/jack combi output socket, Tuner output, Remote input, Send/Return sockets, FX loop level switch, 3.5mm Aux In and level control, Headphone output and level control, Line Out level, Emulated output/DI output selector, Balanced XLR DI output socket, Ground/Lift switch, pre/source/post EQ output switch Dimensions | 8” (H) x 16.5” (W) x 8.7” (D) Weight | 15.7 lbs LANEY DIGBETH DBV212-4CABINET  Price| $749 Made in| China Power| 500 watts @ 4 ohms Impedance 4 ohms Speakers| 2 x 12-inch HH Black…