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THE TRUTH ABOUT: 2 | History Defined

“Atlantic Records told me, ‘Eric should be the singer. You’re just the bass player.’ So I cried in the corner while they came up with Strange Brew”: Eric Clapton was Cream’s biggest star, but Jack Bruce sang most of the band’s classic tracks

In later years, Bruce jokingly referred to Cream as Da Creams, in a nod to the band’s supergroup status

Guitar World

“I don’t know if Jaco was a Van Halen fan. We were both more intent on getting drunk than anything else”: When Michael Anthony met the self-proclaimed “greatest bass player in the world”, Jaco Pastorius

How the accidental meeting of two of the ’70s and ’80s greatest bass icons – neither recognised by the other – came about in a Tokyo hotel

Guitar World

“Young bass players should diversify their sound if they want to land gigs. Not everyone can be in Foo Fighters”: How Juan Alderete’s infatuation with bass gear made him one of the world’s greatest authorities on pedals and effects

The Mars Volta and Racer X tone wizard imparts decades of wisdom on stompboxes and all things bass effects

Guitar World

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“I looked at the bass, Billie looked at me, and I picked it up. I thought, ‘Did I just become a bass player?’” Green Day’s Mike Dirnt looks back on his early bass days – as Epiphone launches signature version of his cult classic Grabber G-3

Dirnt has championed the oddball 1970s bass throughout his career. Now he's got his own signature Epiphone version

Guitar World

“I was almost throwing down a challenge with some of those basslines: play me if you can!” John Paul Jones’ best Led Zeppelin basslines – including an eight-string classic

A choirmaster, organist and expert in many archaic music styles, John Paul Jones also happened to play bass guitar in the biggest heavy rock band there has ever been

Guitar World

“Jeff Beck would pick up my fretless and play the craziest licks. I was in awe”: Pino Palladino’s adventures with The Who, John Mayer, Eric Clapton and his Music Man fretless bass

One of the most identifiable bass players on the planet on why he shifted back to fretted, embracing flatwounds even though they were unfashionable, and how he’s still topping the charts with the likes of Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé and Ed Sheeran

Guitar World

“It’s so hard when you come in to bands like Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers where the fans actually care who the bass player is”: How Oteil Burbridge set about replacing Phil Lesh to become Dead & Company’s new singing bass hero

Burbridge played with The Allman Brothers and Tedeschi Trucks Band before joining Dead & Company alongside guitarist John Mayer

Guitar World

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"Sam Rivers wasn’t just our bass player – he was pure magic…" Limp Bizkit bassist Sam Rivers has died, aged 48

Nu metal bassist Sam Rivers has died, Limp Bizkit confirm

Guitar World

“It’s nasty and greasy and oozing funk. It’s a masterclass in funk bass”: Robert Wilson had his step-out performance on this Gap Band classic, which features two bass parts, both cut on a flatwound-strung P-Bass

The main riff is likely familiar to many via Victor Wooten’s song Bass Tribute

Guitar World

“I couldn't afford a real bass guitar, so I just tuned the strings down on a Telecaster”: How Geezer Butler went from playing bass on a guitar to the ominous riff that defined one of Black Sabbath’s darkest moments

Geezer Butler’s iconic bassline announces this tune from the classic 1970 LP Paranoid

Guitar World

“I was attracted to melodic bass players like Carol Kaye. Why should a rock bassist play dumb notes all the time?” How Tony Visconti rethought rock bass for David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World

The legendary producer revisits his ground-shaking bass work on Bowie’s 1970 breakthrough album

Guitar World

“I’m the first bass player to ever MD a stadium tour like this. We make history every night”: As Musical Director for Kendrick Lamar, Tony Russell could be the greatest bass player you've never heard of

He’s played with Usher, Jamie Foxx, P. Diddy, and Jay-Z – is Tony ‘Chicago’ Russell the best-kept secret in bass?

Guitar World

“Never in a million years did I think that doing those once-a-month Friends sessions would turn into the highest-paying gig I've ever had”: Elton John bassist Matt Bissonnette looks back on one of his best gigs – playing on the Friends soundtrack

Despite playing with bona fide stars, Bissonnette reveals that playing on the hit show was his most lucrative gig

Guitar World

“I lost everything – the only thing I held onto was my Fender Jazz Bass”: How Tommy Shannon broke a 7-year cycle of jail and halfway houses to record his most famous bassline with Stevie Ray Vaughan

Shannon played an Olympic White 1962 Jazz Bass tuned down a half-step to match Vaughan's Eb tuning

Guitar World

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“I remember when Led Zeppelin II came out and hearing The Lemon Song. That bass solo is one of my favorite bass parts ever”: Why The Lemon Song is John Paul Jones’ finest moment in Led Zeppelin

The third cut from 1969's Led Zeppelin IIis considered the peak of John Paul Jones’ melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic brilliance

Guitar World

“Metallica is nearly equal to Ozzy in terms of the respect factor – not all the way, but nearly”: When Jason Newsted swapped bands with Robert Trujillo

Why Jason Newsted got the call from Ozzy – and what lay in store for Robert Trujillo, who signed with Newsted’s old band, Metallica

Guitar World

“When I played with Jason Newsted, I knew he was the one. Not that Robert Trujillo is a bad bass player, but Jason just has this edge”: In March 2003, Ozzy Osbourne introduced the world to his new bassist

Earplugged journalists from MTV News, CNN, and ABC News, gathered to hear Jason Newsted turn out alongside Ozzy, Zakk Wylde and Mike Bordin

Guitar World

“Cliff played guitar as well as bass – I picked up a few things from him that ended up on Master of Puppets”: Before Robert Trujillo and Jason Newsted, Cliff Burton set the musical bar for Metallica and established an indelible legacy

Cliff Burton’s playing style may have been an offbeat fit for the cutting-edge thrash of Metallica, but it worked perfectly

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Guitar World

“I just went nuts and added lots of parallel distortion!” Thunderstruck on bass? With slapping and tapping? Modern-day bass hero Toby Peterson-Stewart flexes his formidable chops in tribute to AC/DC

From parallel distortion to cutting-edge tapping, Toby Peterson-Stewart breaks down some of the highlights from his latest cover

Guitar World

“He got really upset and ran off down the street. He turned the corner, and I never saw him again”: Jack Bruce’s final encounter with Jaco Pastorius

According to his brother, Rory Pastorius, Jaco was influenced by the late Cream bassist’s midrange sound and aggressive lead style

Guitar World

“If we played a two-hour show, the blood would be dripping down the bass!” Nile Rodgers on what made Bernard Edwards a bass genius – and the making of some iconic 4-string moments

With Chic, Bernard Edwards delivered some of the most infectious basslines of all time

Guitar World

“We were all ready to become millionaires after a couple of years... He was great at that age. I couldn’t believe it”: How Gary Moore came to join Skid Row at just 15 years old – and why the guitar legend left

Brush Shiels, bassist with the Irish blues rock band, explains why despite two albums plus prestigious support tours with The Allman Brothers Band and Mountain under their belt – Moore still decided to leave

MusicRadar

“If you’re a bass player in a rock band, you are by definition a moron”: As Frank Zappa’s bassist, Scott Thunes rose to legend status, then turned his back on it all

The bass enigma delivers the inside track on Zappa’s genius and why bass players need to know their place

Guitar World

“Bass players aren't supposed to have ideas. If you're a bass player in a rock band, you are by definition a moron”: He was Zappa’s bassist and remains a low-end enigma – but Scott Thunes has never held back on his opinions

Scott Thunes blazed a unique trail with Frank Zappa – but maintains solo bass is a complete no-no

Guitar World

“Keep your mind on the music. I never thought of myself as a ‘woman’ musician at all, but a guitarist and then a bass player”: Studio bass icon Carol Kaye on why it is not about who you are, but how and what you play that defines you as a musician

As one of L.A.’s top studio musicians during the ‘60s, Carol Kaye’s credits rival anyone's. In this classic 2009 interview, she talks influences, teaching, and how she feels about being a role model

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