Latest articles by Nick Wells
In 1965 Elvis Presley was playing bass guitar, with a little help from Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney: “He was trying to learn bass, so I was like, ‘sit down, let me show you a few things’”
“The phone rings and it's Jaco Pastorius. He says, 'I’m in room 265, come up here and get your lesson!'” Marcus Miller on an encounter with the self-proclaimed ‘greatest bass player in the world’
Marcus Miller on what he learnt from Jaco Pastorius and why replacing him in Weather Report was “a beat down waiting to happen!”
"I thought, 'Wait a minute – we never practiced this…'" Jimi Hendrix bassist Billy Cox remembers Woodstock
From the archive: Billy Cox on Hendrix, Band of Gypsys, his influences and that Woodstock show
Kate Bush on John Giblin: “We’ve all lost a great man and an unmatchable musician”
Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Guy Pratt and many more pay tribute to bassist John Giblin
Sting, Nikki Sixx and Paul McCartney to guest on new Dolly Parton album
Rockstar sees McCartney reunite with Ringo Starr for a cover of The Beatles Let It Be, with Mick Fleetwood and Peter Frampton also making up the numbers
Listen to Paul McCartney’s isolated bass on Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Paul McCartney: “That probably ended up being my strongest thing on bass”
Larry Graham on when you really need to use a 5-string bass
The godfather of slap bass says “I actually love playing a 5-string for other artists, but not for live shows”
Jeff Berlin: “Look at Jaco Pastorius: clearly a genius, but misunderstood”
Jazz bassist Jeff Berlin debunks a myth surrounding Jaco’s early years
Lee Sklar: “If the drummer doesn’t swing – let him serve French fries in McDonald’s"
Session legend Lee Sklar was asked to name his studio pet hates: sequenced basslines, Pro-Tools and lacklustre drummers came out on top
Mike Dirnt: “Even Flea told me he wanted to play a P-Bass live”
Green Day’s Mike Dirnt reveals why so many top bass players switch back to Fender
How Billy Sheehan learned to slap
“I could never figure out where those notes were coming from. Then I’d go see Victor Wooten and just give up!”
Watch two bassists shred-off using Tosin Abasi's selective picking technique
Toby Peterson-Stewart and Jacob Umansky throw down: “Technique-wise, we really threw the kitchen sink at it”
Aguilar Agro Bass Overdrive review
Back with a brand-new look, the Agro aims to cram Aguilar’s AG 500 overdrive channel into something you can stomp on
Epiphone El Capitan J-200 Studio Bass review
Epiphone is aiming high with this new electro-acoustic bass
Nikki Sixx “played his butt off” on Dolly Parton’s upcoming rock album
The country legend recruited Mötley Crüe's bassist for her tentatively titled Rock Star LP
Cliff Burton wrote one of Metallica’s heaviest riffs on a de-tuned classical guitar
Kirk Hammett: “To this day, I think: ‘How did Cliff write that?’”
Steve Lukather: "The bassline was easy. It wasn't like I had to be Jaco Pastorius"
How the legendary guitarist ended up playing bass on Michael Jackson’s Beat It
NAMM 2023: Dingwall Guitars launches the John Taylor Rio Dream Bass
The new John Taylor Signature model salutes Duran Duran’s breakthrough album
Thundercat: “People are telling me to turn down, and I’m like, No! I’m trying to burn down the stage!”
The 6-string superhero on his gigantic bass tone, and how he nearly set fire to the Sydney Opera House
10 reggae records that every bass fan should know
The 10 best reggae albums from Jamaica’s main bass men. From Sly and Robbie to Bob Marley and the Wailers
Dunlop Cry Baby Bass Wah: the most recognizable effects pedal ever made?
Classics don’t come much more heavyweight than the Cry Baby wah-wah and the 105Q Bass edition is no exception
Watch the trailer for Flea’s new podcast series
First guests on the show will include Rick Rubin, Patti Smith and Thundercat
Paul McCartney: “Somebody whispered to me ‘That’s Nirvana. You’re Kurt.’ I couldn’t believe it”
Bassist Krist Novoselic revisits the time the ex-Beatle fronted a Nirvana reunion gig
