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THE TRUTH ABOUT: 6 - Caught on Camera

How to play bass guitar for beginners: start playing today

From basic finger techniques to slap bass, here’s what you need to get started on your bass guitar journey

Guitar World

“I’d be there with bass pedals, a triple-neck guitar and keyboards, and Robert Plant would ask, ‘Can you sing, as well?’” How John Paul Jones became Led Zeppelin’s ultimate wingman

Armed with years of experience as a session bassist and arranger – having worked with the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck and the Rolling Stones – John Paul Jones could do it all

Guitar World

“I bought a right-handed Hofner, re-strung it and learned to play like a lefty, which was a nightmare”: How The Bootleg Beatles’ Steve White became a carbon-copy Paul McCartney

Think you can play a bit like Sir Paul? It’s not as easy as you think, says Bootleg Beatles bassist Steve White

Guitar World

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“I was scared to death. Miles didn’t say a word to me. Afterwards, I asked what he thought of my playing. He said, simply, ‘It was cool’”: T.M. Stevens on playing with Miles Davis and James Brown – and what went wrong on Vai’s Sex & Religion project

Vai hired the “flashy bassist with the long hair” after spotting him in a Joe Cocker video

Guitar World

“Am I a good bassist? I’m a f**king good bassist!” Sting on bass playing, Cream and his “battered looking” P-Bass

From the Bass Player Archive: An interview with Sting

Guitar World

“Playing with Victor Wooten? It’s always as much fun as a challenge. But I quickly learned that you should go first when it comes to soloing!” From the Allman Brothers Band to Dave Grohl, Oteil Burbridge has played with them all

The Dead & Company and Tedeschi Trucks man might wield a six-string bass, but he prefers feelings and intentions to technical wizardry

Guitar World

“I've always played with a pick, but up until the fifth Foo Fighters record, I never played downstrokes”: How Nate Mendel changed the way he played bass to “support Dave’s songs as best as possible”

From the Bass Player Archive: An interview with Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel

Guitar World

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“The last thing Bernard Edwards wanted to be was a bass player who used a pick”: Nile Rodgers on the funk behind Chic’s Le Freak

In 1973 Bernard Edwards helped define one of the most distinctive sounds of disco

Guitar World

“Early on I discovered that the bass player decides the chord – not the guitar player”: R.E.M.’s Mike Mills on finding the perfect bass part and becoming a “one-bass guy”

From the Bass Player Archive: An interview with R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills

Guitar World

“That incredible musicality James Jamerson would bring to his parts – nobody wants to hear that today”: Duran Duran bass legend John Taylor on why music is becoming simpler

The British bass player says pop music has lost its complexity – and he understands why

Guitar World

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

The King Crimson bassist recalls the making of Double Fantasy and why he laughed at The Beatle’s first ever words to him

Guitar World

Paul McCartney's 12 greatest Beatles bass performances: "I did get quite proud to be the bass player. Once you realised the control you had over the band... They can’t go anywhere, man. Ha! Power!"

Let's Come Together and celebrate Macca

MusicRadar

YouTuber gives Tim Henson a run for his money by turning Playing God into a fretless bass masterclass – and it will literally blow your mind

Charles Berthoud is back, and his latest display of bass playing brilliance might be his best yet

Guitar World

"I never wanted to be just the bass player, plonking away. I played a lot of notes – too many sometimes!" Trevor Bolder and the low-end magic of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust

Ziggy Stardust was recorded in just one day. It made David Bowie a star. But bass players could only hear Trevor Bolder...

Guitar World

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Guitar World

Veteran record producer Don Was names his 5 all-time favorite bassists

Producer Don Was on his favorite players, how to get a great bass tone, and the most common mistakes people make in the studio

Guitar World

Flea names the one bassline that he would “go back and fix” from the Red Hot Chili Pepper's 1995 album, One Hot Minute

Flea on the making of One Hot Minute: “I thought it sounded like another stupid white boy trying to be funky!”

Guitar World

Mike Watt: “I think for every 7-string bass they should make a 1- string!”

The patriarch of punk unravels his punk rock roots and the making of his 1995 solo album Ball-Hog or Tugboat?

Guitar World

Epiphone El Capitan J-200 Studio Bass review

Epiphone is aiming high with this new electro-acoustic bass

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Guitar World

"With no disrespect to Cliff Burton, I think my picking brought a new tightness to Metallica. Cliff's sound wasn't very defined": An interview with Jason Newsted on the release of The Black Album

From the Bass Player archive: Jason Newsted on picking vs fingers, the gear and technique behind The Black Album and how it feels to fill Cliff Burton's shoes...

Guitar World

“Sometimes I think, 'What would John McVie do?' That’s how I wrote the bassline to Losing My Religion”: The secrets of R.E.M.’s Mike Mills

From the Bass Player Archive: An interview with R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills from 1991, the year that Out Of Time took them from cult status to million sellers.

Guitar World

"The Breeders, Hole, Sonic Youth, The Smashing Pumpkins all had female bass players. That was definitely an inspiration": When Melissa Auf Der Maur went solo

From the Archive: Melissa Auf Der Maur on gear, grunge and the fine art of going solo

Guitar World

“I had been warned I might be shot immediately but I decided to do it anyway": The unstoppable Charlie Haden

One from the archive: Bass Player’s July 1991 profile of legendary jazz bassist Charlie Hayden

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