BassPlayer 2017-02

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TABLE OF CONTENTS LINK FACE TECH PLAY LEARN 

C ontents 

February 2017 | Volume 28, Number 2 | Bassplayer.com D B S T W 

21 SPECIAL ISSUE! 

The 100 Greatest Bass Players 

It was brutally difficult, but our 13-person panel managed to rank the most 

influential and artistic bassists of the past 117 years. By the Bass Player Staff 

54 Led Zeppelin’s “Communication 

Breakdown” at the Paris Cinema 

John Paul Jones stretches out, syncopates, and gets funky on this live 1971 

version from The Complete BBC Sessions. 

Bass Player (ISSN 1050-785X) is published 13 times a year, monthly plus a Holiday issue to follow the December issue, by 

NewBay Media LLC, 1111 Bayhill Drive, Suite 440, San Bruno, CA 94066. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Bruno, CA and at 

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Send address changes to Bass Player, Box 469069, Escondido, CA 92046. 

DEPARTMENTs 

Soundroom 

12 COMMUNITY 

Lowdown, Dig My Rig, 

the Real World, Court of 

Opinion 

14 BP ReCOMMends 

18 NEW GEAR 

Fender, ESO Straps, 

Acme Audio 

66 THE INNOVATORS 

Roger Sadowsky 

48 Mitchell FB700 4-string & 

TB500 5-string 

50 Markbass Little Mark 

Tube 800 head 

52 UlTIMATe Ears UE 11 PRO 

in-ear monitors 

8 bassplayer.com / february2017

www.bassplayer.com 

Vol. 28, No. 2, February 2017 

Editorial Director Michael Molenda, mmolenda@nbmedia.com 

Editor Chris Jisi, bpeditor@nbmedia.com 

Consulting Editor Karl Coryat 

Senior Contributing Editors E. E. Bradman, Jonathan Herrera 

Contributing Editors Ed Friedland, John Goldsby 

Web and Contributing Editor Jon D'Auria 

Staff Writer Jimmy Leslie 

Art Director Paul Haggard 

Assistant Art Director Laura Nardozza 

Production Manager Amy Santana 

The NEWBAY MUSIC GROUP, Business 

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Manring, Christian McBride, Marcus Miller, Pino Palladino, John Patitucci, Josh Paul, Dave 

Pomeroy, Chuck Rainey, Rufus Reid, Steve Rodby, Billy Sheehan, Lee Sklar, Steve Swallow, 

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COMMUNITY LINK FACE TECH PLAY LEARN 

C ommunity 

LOWDOWN 

Only 100? 

What did I learn from this issue’s massive undertaking of a cover story? That 

100 is a small number! When our VP and general manager, Bill Amstutz, wondered why there wasn’t an authoritative 

list of the 100 greatest bass players, and asked if we’d ever done one (we hadn’t), our story was in motion. 

Music isn’t a competition, and no one here is a fan of ranking artists—but lists can be fun and informative, and 

if it was going to be done, BP had to be the publication do it. Being the ultimate bass nerd, I had little problem 

coming up with 250 names worthy of consideration. The challenge was whittling down that list within the parameters 

and criteria we set, and comparing notes with the 12 other colleagues on the selection panel (see the story’s 

introduction). There are so many genres and sub-genres in music, the choice often became: Well, how can I 

include my seventh-best fusion or session monster when we have none of the influential players from another 

idiom/style? To the bass players I voted for who didn’t make this list, you know who you are. To you, the readers, 

I say: Hit me up at bpeditor@nbmedia.com, and let me know where we got it wrong and where we got it 

right. Let the debating begin! 

chris jisi 

DIG MY RIG! 

My weapons of bass production, from left to right: 

2004 Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass (with push/pull mid pot Aguilar OBP-3, 

Bartolini bright-tone dual-coils, and Rotosound Swing Bass 66 stainless steels), 

fretless Squier VM (with the original pickups from the Marcus Jazz Bass and DR 

Strings Neon pinks to commemorate my wife’s battle and victory over breast cancer), 

Fender ukulele, 2004 MIM Strat with Hendrix reverse-bridge-pickup pickguard, and 

a Warmoth/Telemann “Musicaster” bass (with a neck from a Japanese full-scale 

Squier Bullet Bass, an EMG MMTW pickup with stock tone control, and Badass II 

bridge). I built the Warmoth/Telemann as a kind of tribute to Leo Fender with a 

bunch of different elements from his designs through the years; it has Ernie Ball 

Cobalt flats on it right now. And on the floor, my Fender Victor Bailey acoustic/ 

electric, strung with DR Strings Black Beauties. 

My amps: TC Electronic BH250 head, Hartke HyDrive 112 1x12 with black 

painted grille on top of my Avatar SB112 Neo 1x12 (with my old SWR Triad badge), 

SWR Workingman’s 300 bass head with BBE MaxCom dual-channel compressor and 

Sonic Maximizer, SWR Hank 8x8, SWR Workingman’s 2x12, another TC Electronic 

BH250 head, SWR California Blonde combo, and SWR Blonde on Blonde powered 

extension cab. Pedals by TC Electronic, Markbass, Source Audio, Electro-Harmonix, 

Radial, DOD, Boss, EBS, Line 6, Ernie Ball, and Morley. —Chris Boggeln 

Got a rig you think we’d dig? Send a photo and description to digmyrig@gmail.com. 


The Real World 

Chris Davison 

Home base Red Bank, NJ 

Occupation Musician, marine mechanic 

Gigs The Inversion Circus (instrumental jazz/fusion/hard rock) 

Basses Ken Smith Design Burner 6 Deluxe (my go-to bass), custom 6-string and 

J-style bass that I built, Agile (Brice) HXB 406, Alvarez AEB6 6-string, Dean 

EAB 4-string, Fender Precision 

Rig Carvin B2000 head, Carvin BRX 10.4 cab 

Effects dbx 266xs compressor, Alesis Microverb 4 (with RFX wireless controller) 

MidiBuddy MP128P, Korg Pitchblack rackmount tuner, LiveWire PC1100, Morley 

Little Alligator volume pedal, Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi, Boss AB-2 A/B 

switch, EBS OctaBass, SKB PS-45 pedalboard 

Strings, etc. DR Strings Hi-Beams (.030–.130), Comfort Strapp 

Heroes & inspiration Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Anthony Wellington, Stanley 

Clarke, Oteil Burbridge, and other amazing players 

Contact BassistChrisDavison@gmail.com 

How did you come to play bass? What’s a lesson you’ve learned along the way? What are your musical goals? 

A family friend introduced me to Hughie 

Thomasson (guitarist for the Outlaws and 

Lynyrd Skynyrd) and opened my eyes to the 

world of music at age ten. He then gave me my 

first bass, a Fender Precision which I still have. 

No matter what, play with passion, and be kind 

to everyone you meet along the way. Be 

professional, always, and do exactly what you 

say you are going to do. 

To play music I love to play and never stop 

growing as a player and musician. 

Introducing Players Circle - Buy Strings, Get Points, Claim Rewards 

Enter to win 2,500 Players Points by visiting bassplayer.com/realworld And go to 

Playerscircle.daddario.com to join today! 

Court Of Opinion 

Who are your Top 5 bass players of all time? 

Victor Wooten: technique. Geddy Lee: multi-tasking. Edgar 

Meyer: versatility. Renaud Garcia-Fons: flamenco, unique. Cliff 

Burton: a huge talent stopped. —Daniel Camargo 

Geddy Lee, Bernard Edwards, John Taylor, Tina Weymouth, Tony 

Levin. 

—Nick Simon Capone 

Clearly I lean toward metal/rock bassists, but: Steve Harris, Cliff 

Burton, Alex Webster, Geezer Butler, Robert Trujillo. 

—Charles Teague 

Mick Karn, Burke Shelley (Budgie), Michael Manring, TONY 

FREAKING LEVIN, Avishai Cohen. 

—David Bole 

Doug Rauch, John Gustafson, Chris Squire, Ray Shulman, Scott 

Thunes. 

—Pekka Rant 

Paul Jackson, Jerry Jemmott, Wilton Felder, Gary King, George 

Murray. All incredible feel players with fat Fender sounds. 

—Rory Heagney 

Donald “Duck” Dunn, Chuck Rainey, Tony Levin, Nick Beggs, Cliff 

Burton. Jaco goes without saying, so he doesn’t count. 

—Eloy Romero 

Anthony Jackson, Jimmy Johnson, Jimmy Earl, Skúli Sverrisson, 

and Carles Benavent. 

—Mauricio Negrón Oyarzo 

Norman Watt-Roy, Flea, Geddy Lee, John Entwistle, Bruce 

Foxton. If you’re not from the U.K., you may have to look a couple 

of these up, but you won’t be disappointed. —Alaistar Keen 

James Jamerson, Graham Maby, Mike Watt, Robbie Shakespeare, 

Bill Laswell. 

—Aaron Hutzel 

Alex Webster, Cliff Burton, Derek Boyer, Jeff Hughell, Erlend 

Caspersen. And Les Claypool and Victor Wooten. 

—Tom Swinnen 

Jaco Pastorius, Charles Mingus, Tal Wilkenfield, Les Claypool, 

Flea. 

—Laura LaBranche 

bassplayer.com / february2017 13

LINK FACE TECH PLAY LEARN 

BASS NOTES 

B 

BASSNOTES 

BP RECOMMENDS 

Sting 

57th & 9th [A&M] 

Sting’s first rock album in 13 years, 57th 

& 9th (named for the Manhattan intersection 

near the recording studio), is a 

first-rate, ten-song collection that touches 

on all phases of Mr. Sumner’s broad musical career. The first 

single, “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You,” has a heavy Police 

presence—with its chugging-eighths groove, arpeggio guitar 

parts, and shifting key centers—while “Petrol Head” pivots 

between the Police and roots rock. “50,000,” dedicated to such 

departed greats as Prince, Glenn Frey, and Lemmy, rides a 

muted verse (with Sting tuning the E string on his ’53 Fender 

Precision down to D) before bursting into a stadium-ready classic 

rock hook, a formula present on “Down, Down, Down,” as 

well. Sting’s Celtic persona emerges on the 6/8 “Pretty Young 

Soldier” and the guitar-and-vocal ballads “Heading South on 

the Great North Road” and “The Empty Chair” (for journalist 

and ISIS victim James Foley). 

Summoning the jazzy, solo Sting side is the Middle Eastern-tinged, 

European refugee-focused ballad “Inshallah,” and 

the exotic “If You Can’t Love Me,” with descending bass notes 

creating harmonic colors against a repeated four-note pattern, 

set to Vinnie Colauita’s 7/8 drum figure. Finally, there’s 

the somber topic of climate change presented via the upbeat, 

super-catchy rock bossa “One Fine Day,” which, with its Latinlike 

pushes in the bass line, make it Sting’s best 4-string work 

on the album. —Chris Jisi 

RUSH: Time Stand Still 

[Anthem/Zoe] 

It’s no secret that Rush aficionados are 

more hardcore than most: Many of us 

have bought every Rush album and seen 

them live dozens of times, relishing 

our membership in a geeky, worldwide 

family of fanatics. So the announcement 

last year that Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, 

and Neil Peart were getting off the road was more than just 

the end of an era—it was a devastating setback, and another 

reminder that even for the gods, time does not stand still. 

Fortunately, this two-hour documentary tells the story of the 

trio’s final shows and momentous decision with grace, humor, 

and sensitivity, perfectly capturing the complex emotions of 

fans (including sadness, shock, and nostalgia) and the band 

(reluctant acceptance from Geddy and relief from Alex and 

Neil, whose bodies were more than ready to retire). Along the 

way, there’s great live and backstage footage, as well as cool 

interviews and a handful of bonus goodies. A truly moving, 

bittersweet picture that captures the essence of what Rush 

and its fans mean to each other. —E.E. Bradman 

Glenn Hughes 

Resonate [Frontiers] 

Resonate is a bona-fide rock record that 

Deep Purple fans will utterly salivate over. 

Songs like “Steady,” “God Of Money” and 

“How Long” are heavy, well-crafted gems 

KEVIN MAZUR 


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B 

BASSNOTES 

that highlight Glenn Hughes’ left-hand vibrato, one 

of the greatest contributions to the world of rock 

bass. With his roaming, upper-register excursions, 

Hughes wrings every last drop of emotion from the 

neck of his instrument, elevating this record into 

the realm of essential listening. 

—Freddy Villano 

Bonobo 

Migration [Ninja Tune] 

Electronic trip-hop guru Simon 

Green’s sixth album combines 

atmospheric currents with 

entrancing rhythms to create a 

moving album that is somehow even more cathartic 

than 2012’s The North Borders. While Green (a.k.a. 

Bonobo) often creates beautiful walls of synth bass 

under strings, vocals, and choral samples, his beloved 

Music Man StingRay provides the foundation on many 

tracks, including the deep swells on “No Reason” 

and the constant runs of “Figures.” —Jon D’Auria 

The Rolling Stones 

Blue & Lonesome 

[Polydor] 

The Stones most successfully 

return to their inspirational 

roots with this set of mainly 

Chicago blues covers, cut in three days in the U.K., 

with Don Was producing. Down below, Darryl 

Jones runs the stylistic and sonic gamut, from 

minimalist, upright-sounding parts on “Just Your 

Fool” and “Commit a Crime” (even laying off the 

one on the latter) to a more modern, electric bass 

tone on “All of Your Love.” Toss in his syncopated 

pattern on Willie Dixon’s “Just Like I Treat You,” 

and Jones once again earns his supreme-sideman 

status. —Chris Jisi 

Wakrat 

Wakrat [Earache] 

With a storied history of lighting 

himself on fire, getting waterboarded, 

and breaking bones 

during music-video shoots, 

Tim Commerford has finally created an album 

that is an aural representation of the self-inflicted 

violence he has endured. His latest trio’s debut is 

a brutal beatdown of vicious tones, blistering bass 

lines, and Commerford’s aggressive and politically 

driven vocals. On a relentless album that never lets 

up, Timmy C proves that he has even more rage now 

than ever before. —Jon D’Auria 

Dot Hacker 

N3 [ORG Music] 

Jonathan Hischke has always 

taken a bold approach to writing: 

He never shies away from welcoming 

the weird and putting 

the bass at the forefront. On Dot Hacker’s newest 

album, Hischke takes this mentality to the next level. 

His usually heavily effected tone is more focused on 

gain-fueled grittiness, contrasting the brash guitar 

playing of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Josh Klinghoffer. 

For a proper Hischke crash course, dive into 

the bass-centric tracks “C Section,” Forgot to Smile,” 

and “Apt Mess.” —Jon D’Auria BP 


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100 

The 

Greatest Bass Players 

What is it 

about lists? People love making them, reading them, 

and listening to them. Lists bring order to chaos. 

They help us remember things. They’re easy to scan. 

They promise instant knowledge. And they give us 

an opportunity to disagree. 

Bass Player has done very few list-style issues. 

We shy away from big lists because they’re timeconsuming, 

and we don’t really think of the folks 

we cover in a “Top 100” kind of way. But when our 

group’s general manager, Bill Amstutz, suggested an 

issue celebrating 100 great bass players, we thought, 

why not? It’d be a great way to revisit players and 

albums we haven’t heard in a while. So we got down 

to business by choosing criteria: What is each candidate’s 

degree of lasting influence? What is their 

impact on the role of the bass? Does the average 

music fan know any of their bass lines? How innovative 

was the player’s technique, sound, and gear? 

And, in the context of their era, how impressive was 

their technical prowess? We limited candidates to 

non-classical players with careers after 1900 (sorry, 

Domenico Dragonetti). We also skipped keyboardists 

with awesome left hands, which meant no 

Stevie Wonder, Greg Phillinganes, Bernie Worrell, 

or Herbie Hancock. Last, we omitted part-time 

bassists such as Prince, Sly Stone, Ronnie Wood, 

and Shuggie Otis, who occasionally threw down 

killer bass parts. With those parameters in place, 

we got down to making our picks, bringing in BP 

folks present and past: current staffers Chris Jisi, 

E.E. Bradman, Jonathan Herrera, Karl Coryat, and 

Jon D’Auria; former editors Jim Roberts, Richard 

Johnston, Bill Leigh, and Brian Fox; and longtime 

writers Ed Friedland, John Goldsby, Freddy Villano, 

and Rick Suchow. 

As in many situations, personal taste trumped 

Vulcan logic. Here at Bass Player, we’re quite a 

diverse lot, so a big part of the fun was engaging in 

passionate conversations about why a player should 

or shouldn’t be included, and deciding how high or 

low players should be ranked. No single contributor 

would have arrived at this exact list, but we can 

(almost) all agree on the Top 10. 

In the end, though, how much do these rankings 

matter? Not much. Consider this gem from Joy 

Division/New Order bassist Peter Hook, when writer 

Thomas Wictor asked him how he felt about being 

considered influential: “How are you supposed to 

feel about something like that? You’re an ‘innovative 

bassist who’s influenced hundreds of bass 

players,’ but when you’ve got a flat tire on your 

car or you’re trying to stop your baby from crying, 

that isn’t any use whatsoever, is it? It makes me 

embarrassed, mostly.” 

By The Bass Player Staff 


CS 

100 GREATEST BASS PLAYERS 

1 

2 

JON SIEVERT 

3 

James Jamerson 

The most important and influential bass guitarist 

in the 66-year history of the Fender Precision 

he played, South Carolina-born, Detroit-raised 

James Jamerson wrote the bible on bass line construction 

and development, feel, syncopation, 

tone, touch, and phrasing, while raising the artistry 

of improvised bass playing in popular music 

to zenith levels. As Funk Brother #1 in Motown’s 

“Snake Pit,” Jamerson customized his approach 

to fit the style of each artist he cut with, including 

Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross & 

the Supremes, Smokey Robinson, the Four Tops, 

the Temptations, and the Jackson 5—resulting 

in such masterworks as “Bernadette,” “I Was 

Made to Love Her,” “I’m Wondering,” and “What’s 

Going On.” That he tops our list adds to the irony 

of his dying in relative obscurity in 1983, at age 

47, considering all of the accolades since then that 

have shined a light on his genius. It also speaks 

to a collective bass player understanding that the 

instrument’s function is still about support. Or 

as Stanley Clarke said in his March ’15 BP cover 

story, “Creating a great bass line is much harder to 

do than soloing. The true genius bassists are not 

the ones who play a million notes—it’s the ones 

whose bass lines are loved worldwide and remembered 

through history.” 

Jaco Pastorius 

After a year in which the music community suffered 

the loss of so many heroes, it’s sobering to 

realize just how drastically Jaco Pastorius changed 

our world in the short time he was here. In seven 

years, between 1975 and 1982, Jaco’s staggering 

contributions to discs by Pat Metheny, Joni 

Mitchell, and Weather Report radically upended 

our expectations of electric bass, and he further 

cemented his legend on records by Herbie Hancock, 

Albert Mangelsdorff, Michel Colombier, Al 

Di Meola, and others. In his own work, the charismatic 

Philadelphia native fused seemingly disparate 

elements—big bands, Motown, the Caribbean/ 

Latin flavors of his South Florida upbringing, the 

influences of jazz heroes like Charles Mingus and 

Paul Chambers, the funk of James Brown’s bassists, 

Western classical, the innovations of contemporaries 

like Jerry Jemmott, and Paul McCartney’s 

melodicism—into a hip, soulful, signature cocktail 

with more than a twist of rock & roll attitude. 

Three decades after Jaco’s death at the hands of 

a South Florida bouncer, he’s still the gold standard 

for expressiveness and intonation on fretless 

bass, Jazz Bass back-pickup tone, and 16th-note 

stamina, but few can match his effortless blend of 

abundant technique and earthy groove. 

Paul McCartney 

While Jamerson and Jaco were changing the 

electric bass in their own way, Paul McCartney 

was doing it with extreme visibility, front-andcenter 

with the Beatles. Early on, his bass lines 

were highly effective but fairly conventional, such as 

the energetic “I Saw Her Standing There” and “All 

My Loving” (1963). By 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely 

Hearts Club Band, McCartney was creating unique 

ear-catching statements—from the loping swingoffbeats 

of “With a Little Help From My Friends” 

to the loopy, sliding lick on the choruses of “Lovely 

Rita.” Later Beatles bass masterpieces include the 

bouncy, sliding subhook on “Dear Prudence” (1968) 

and “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” 

(’69), which goes from stately in the first verse to 

funky and syncopated in the second. And, of course, 

there’s “Come Together,” one of those songs where 

every lister knows that the bass is doing something 

special. A few of Macca’s most memorable machinations 

came after the Beatles, with Wings. Who 

could forget the ultra-catchy subhook under “Silly 

Love Songs” (1976)? It’s good enough not only to 

anchor the verses, but also choruses that would 

otherwise be about as melodically and lyrically 

powerful as boiled lint. Perhaps most important, 

McCartney inspired an entire generation to play: 

The Beatles’ first Ed Sullivan appearance—opening 

with “All My Loving”—launched the careers 

of more rockers than any other moment in popculture 

history. 


4 

Larry Graham 

The story goes that as a teenager gigging with his 

mother, Larry Graham played organ pedals and 

guitar alongside a drummer. When the organ 

broke, he switched to bass until the organ could 

be fixed—and then the drummer left the band. 

“That’s when I started thumping with my thumb,” 

he said, years later. “It was the only way I could 

get that rhythmic sound.” That rhythmic sound 

changed the world, inspiring millions of wouldbe 

(and wannabe) bass heroes. Nearly half a century 

after Graham and his Jazz Bass invigorated 

Sly & the Family Stone standards like “Family 

Affair,” “Everyday People,” and “Thank You (Falletinme 

Be Mice Elf Agin)”—followed by stonecold 

Graham Central Station classics like “Release 

Yourself,” “Can You Handle It,” and “Hair”—ageless, 

dapper Graham is still the baddest thumbslinger 

around. As Victor Wooten says, “He is to 

funk bass what the Bible is to religion.” 

5 

Stanley Clarke 

The first superstar of playing the bass, Philadelphiaborn 

Clarke revolutionized and liberated the low 

end for a boundless wave of followers—including 

his SMV bandmates Marcus Miller and Victor 

Wooten—in myriad ways. This includes the artistic 

and economic feasibility of becoming a doubling, 

bandleading, composing, touring, and recording 

bass solo artist. More specifically, the Coltraneinspired 

Clarke took the acoustic bass to new 

technical and musical heights, and with Trane and 

Hendrix in his ears, innovated by reaching upward 

on the bass guitar via tenor and piccolo versions. 

From Return To Forever, his seminal solo sides, 

and his funky pairings with George Duke, to the 

Rite Of Strings, his composing and conducting 

film scores, and producing, Clarke remains the 

Lord of the Low Frequencies. 

6 

Ron Carter 

Ron Carter has anchored the jazz scene since the 

late ’50s. With early influences including Oscar 

Pettiford and Paul Chambers, in 1961 he made 

his first recording with avant-garde legend Eric 

Dolphy. Carter is best known for his work with 

the Miles Davis Quintet, which he joined in 1963. 

The quintet recorded many landmark albums, 

including Seven Steps to Heaven, Miles Smiles, and 

Live at the Plugged Nickel. Along with Tony Williams 

(drums) and Herbie Hancock (piano), Carter 

explored and established innovative rhythm section 

techniques that set the stage for all modern 

jazz to follow. He recorded albums with Herbie 

Hancock (Maiden Voyage), McCoy Tyner (The Real 

McCoy), Sam Rivers (Fuschia Swing Song), and Freddie 

Hubbard (Red Clay). Playing double bass and 

often featuring himself on piccolo bass, Carter has 

led his own groups since the ’70s. His recordings 

as bandleader include Piccolo, When Skies Are Grey, 

and My Personal Songbook. Carter penned several 

bass method books, and taught at City College of 

New York, where he remains Professor Emeritus. 

7 

John Entwistle 

Rock’s original lead bassist was also a highly influential 

cornerstone of the instrument, despite his 

unique style, having impacted Geddy Lee, Chris 

Squire, Billy Sheehan, and countless others. Among 

Entwistle’s trailblazing musical and sonic efforts 

as a founding member of the Who include the use 

of treble frequencies, the development of roundwound 

strings with Rotosound, technical innovations 

such as “typewriter” tapping and strumming, 

and bi-amping, splitting his signal between overdriven 

high end and clean low end. Maintaining he 

was not a “proper” bass player, the West London 

native started on piano, trumpet, and French 

horn before the attraction to rock & roll led him 

to bass. Inspired by the twangy guitars of Duane 

Eddy, Eddie Cochran, and the Ventures, and the 

featured role he had on horn, Entwistle formed a 

fresh approach best captured on Who songs like 

“My Generation” (with its landmark bass solo 

breaks), “Sparks,” “The Real Me,” and “Dreaming 

from the Waist.” 

8 

Anthony Jackson 

New York City-born Anthony Jackson is one of 

the most important bassists in history, with an 

uncompromising approach to his art. Starting 


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with the diverse influences of James Jamerson, 

Jack Casady, and French composer Olivier Messiaen—and 

a vision of the electric bass as a member 

of the guitar family, with the tone of a piano’s bass 

strings—Jackson invented the 6-string contrabass 

guitar in the early ’70s, launching the wave 

of extended-range basses. By then he had already 

made his mark musically with his pioneering use 

of a pick and flanger pedal on the O’Jays’ 1973 

smash, “For the Love of Money.” Further years 

of perfecting his craft as a first-call session ace 

resulted in landmark sides with Billy Paul, Chaka 

Khan, Chick Corea, Steely Dan, Al Di Meola, Paul 

Simon, Quincy Jones, Eyewitness, Michel Camilo, 

Mike Stern, Wayne Krantz, Hiromi, and many 

more. Buried in that vinyl are such Jackson staples 

as his thumb-and-palm-mute technique, his 

use of a volume pedal (inspired by the early French 

electronic keyboard Ondes Martenot), and spontaneous 

reharmonization while improvising bass 

lines behind soloists—a skill at which he is without 

equal. Indeed, among bassists, one of the most 

reverential words spoken is “Anthony.” 

9 

Ray Brown 

Impeccable technique, gorgeous sound, and driving 

swing define Ray Brown’s contribution to jazz. 

Brown (1926–2002) was present from the inception 

of bebop in the ’40s, playing alongside Charlie 

Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell, and was 

a founder of the Modern Jazz Quartet. The traveling 

show Jazz at the Philharmonic brought him 

in contact with Oscar Peterson in the early ’50s, 

and he played in the Oscar Peterson Trio from ’51– 

’66. The Ray Brown Bass Method, first published in 

1963, influenced a generation of jazz players. In 

the ’70s, he worked with his group the L.A. Four, 

and from the mid ’80s onward with the Ray Brown 

Trio. More than any other bassist, Brown outlined 

CONCORD MUSIC GROUP 

his unmistakable style with flawless time and intonation, 

combined with an affinity for blues and 

bebop, setting a high standard for straightahead 

jazz playing. He maintained a rigorous performing, 

recording, and touring schedule throughout 

his career, and appears on hundreds of albums. He 

cited Jimmie Blanton, Walter Page, Israel Crosby, 

and Oscar Pettiford as early influences. 

10 

Marcus Miller 

Unlike Jaco’s spectacular rise (and fall), Brooklynborn 

Marcus Miller rose gradually through the 

ranks rise to become a universally copied, gamechanging 

bassist. Weaned on the New York City 

club scene, Miller broke in as a Gotham session 

ace—an invaluable training ground. From there 

he became a Grammy-winning composer, producer, 

and multi-instrumentalist for the likes of 

Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, and David Sanborn, 

finally focusing on becoming a solo artist in the ’90s. 

By then, the bass-hero ingredients were in place: 

pocket-expanding phrasing for grooves, solos, and 

his trademark “singing” lead bass melodies; a new 

technical and sonic level of slapping that remains 

the standard for feel and tone; and deep, nuanced 

compositions in the tradition of Mingus, Stanley 

Clarke, and Jaco. All of which has led to the general 

consensus among thumpers that Miller is a 

modern musical genius who happens to play bass. 

11 

Jack Bruce 

When he was asked to play electric bass on a 1964 

session, Jack Bruce immediately recognized the 

instrument’s potential. Classically trained at Scotland’s 

Royal Academy of Music, he had been playing 

upright in London jazz clubs—but also listening 

to James Jamerson and “striving to play melodies 

… while maintaining the bass’ function as an 

anchor.” He found the perfect vehicle for his vision 

of the instrument’s expanded role in Cream, where 

he could improvise freely within (and beyond) the 

chord progressions, creating lines that linked the 

blues-inflected guitar of Eric Clapton with the jazzinspired 

drumming of Ginger Baker. His playing in 

the trio’s legendary live jams liberated the bass for 

generations of players who followed. After Cream, 

Jack continued to explore what he called “the blues 

element” in a long solo career and many collaborations—always 

pushing the limits, always seeking 

the profound self-expression that was his life’s goal. 

12 

Charles Mingus 

The badass of jazz bass, Charles Mingus (1922– 

1979) worked with everyone from Duke Ellington 

to Langston Hughes. His in-your-face style was 

informed by bebop, Ellingtonian swing, and the 

MICHAEL SHERER 


lues of the church. Mingus’ early career focused 

on the swing and bebop scenes of the ’40s and 

’50s. In 1956 he released his first noteworthy 

album, Pithecanthropus Erectus, which was followed 

by a string of groundbreaking recordings: 

The Clown, Mingus Ah Um, and Blues and Roots. 

In 1963, Mingus produced the large-ensemble 

album The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and one 

of his best small-group efforts, Mingus, Mingus, 

Mingus, Mingus, Mingus. As a prolific composer, 

Mingus stood out with bass-friendly tunes like 

“Boogie Stop Shuffle,” “Haitian Fight Song,” and 

“Better Get It In Your Soul.” His style of playing 

was bold, exciting, and always grooving. Mingus 

had an uncanny knack for playing complicated 

harmonies, laced with blues. His willingness to 

explore all elements of bass playing—from free 

jazz to bop to down-home gospel blues—secures 

Mingus’ place in bass history. 

13 

Geddy Lee 

Rarely do bassists achieve such universal acclaim. 

The 21 studio discs and 11 live albums bearing 

Geddy’s singular voice and signature bass tone 

have garnered seven Grammy nominations and an 

estimated 40 million sales since 1976. The most 

impressive numbers, however, are related to Geddy’s 

multi-tasking chops: His ability to trigger samples, 

play keys, step on bass pedals, and sing vocal 

parts in odd time signatures while nailing Rush’s 

complex yet catchy bass lines will always be mindblowing. 

We’re sure his bass closet—packed with 

Rickenbackers, Jazz Basses, Wals, P-Basses, Steinbergers, 

Gibsons, Moog Taurus pedals, and even 

a fretless Ampeg AUSB-1—is pretty rad, too. And 

no stat could ever measure the depth and intensity 

of Rush’s worldwide fan family, which will most 

likely continue growing even though the trio has 

decided to stop touring. 

14 

Victor Wooten 

The initial technical impact Nashville-based Wooten 

had on the bass guitar—via the first handful of 

albums by Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, and his 

stunning 1996 solo debut, A Show of Hands—was 

simply seismic. But that was just the first set for 

one of the most profound and influential post- 

Jaco/Stanley bass heroes. Wooten’s 1997 side 

“What Did He Say” revealed the considerable musical 

depth behind the double-thumbing and countless 

other techniques he innovated. What followed 

includes Victor’s unique and alternate way of looking 

at music: his popular Bass & Nature Camps; 

his book, The Music Lesson; his Bass Extremesand-more 

partnership with fretless 6-string and 

false-harmonics phenom Steve Bailey; seven more 

solo albums; and musical growth via stints with 

SMV, the Word Of Mouth Big Band, Mike Stern, 

and Chick Corea. He remains a leading light and 

the instrument’s top ambassador. 

15 

Pino Palladino 

After four decades, here’s what we know: Every 

time the Welsh session giant reinvents himself, 

a legion of bassists follow. Pino began by putting 

fretless on the pop-music map with a Jaco-like 

presence, via soaring Music Man-issued subhooks 

on hits by Paul Young, Don Henley, and 

many others. Moving to a flatwound-strung 

Fender Precision and a fingerstyle technique rife 

with thumb-plucks, he connected with D’Angelo 

and sat way back in the pocket, setting the standard 

for neo-soul and hip-hop bottom. With calls 

from the Who, John Mayer, Paul Simon, and Nine 

Inch Nails, he has since elevated rock and singer/ 

songwriter bass, as well. 

16 

Scott LaFaro 

In his short career, Scott LaFaro (1936–1961) 

opened our ears and minds to the possibilities of 

jazz with no boundaries. His virtuosic chops and 

heartfelt delivery have influenced every modern 

jazz musician. LaFaro first attacked the jazz scene 

with a Ray-Brown-on-steroids walking and solo 

style, which he employed in the ’50s with Buddy 

Morrow, Victor Feldman, Ornette Coleman, and 

Pat Moran. LaFaro reinvented rhythm-section 

playing when he joined the Bill Evans Trio in 1960, 

which explored a conversational improvisation style 

that set a new standard for jazz rhythm sections. 

LaFaro’s unmatched solo flights inspire bassists 

to this day. In his brief tenure with Evans, LaFaro 

recorded several classic albums, including Portrait 

in Jazz, The 1960 Birdland Sessions, Explorations, 

Sunday at the Village Vanguard, and Waltz for Debby. 


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17 

Chuck Rainey 

Rainey credits the 16th-note pulse 

of New York City drummers as the 

ingredient that set him apart from his 

peers in other cities’ classic rhythm 

sections. That percussion perk led 

the Ohio native to forge one of the 

cornerstone R&B styles, making an 

indelible mark with King Curtis, 

Aretha Franklin (“Rock Steady”), and 

many others. His early-’70s move to 

Los Angeles at the behest of Quincy 

Jones resulted in more seminal sides 

with Steely Dan (Kid Charlemange, 

Aja), Marvin Gaye, and the Jackson 5. 

18 

Bootsy Collins 

Bootsy has made bass history at least 

three times: as a teenage sideman with 

James Brown on classics like “Super 

Bad” and “Soul Power” (1961–’71); as 

co-creator of immortal Parliament– 

Funkadelic classics such as “Mothership 

Connection” and “Up for the 

Down Stroke” (1972–’80); and as 

ringleader of Bootsy’s Rubber Band, 

whose songs like “Stretchin’ Out (In 

a Rubber Band)” catapulted Bootsy— 

plus his Space Bass, vocal stylings, 

and Hendrix-inspired effects—to 

Saturday-morning-cartoon superhero 

status. 

19 

Rocco Prestia 

A living legend of the groove and one 

of the most inimitable bass stylists, 

Rocco has spent five decades defining 

fingerstyle funk via muted and 

ghosted 16th-notes as a member of 

Oakland’s iconic Tower Of Power. 

Credit drummer Dave Garibaldi for 

inspiring Prestia’s bass lines on such 

anthems as “What Is Hip?”, “Soul 

Vaccination,” “You’ve Got to Funkifize” 

“Oakland Stroke,” and “Credit.” 

But as ’90s TOP drummer Herman 

Matthews told BP, “Without Rocco, 

Tower is just another horn band.” 

20 

John Patitucci 

Brooklyn-born Patitucci remains the 

preeminent doubler in bassdom. On 

the electric bass side, he (along with 

Anthony Jackson) firmly established 

the 6-string bass guitar, inspiring a 

generation of chopsters in all styles 

via his early solo sides and his role 

in Chick Corea’s Elektric Band. On 

upright, his 1996 return home from 

L.A. culminated in top playing and 

teaching stints and his fixture role in 

Wayne Shorter’s quartet. His underlying 

mission remains the acceptance 

and advancement of the bass guitar 

in a jazz context. 

21 

John Paul Jones 

Led Zeppelin’s “secret weapon,” JPJ’s 

love of odd times and sophisticated 

harmonies created a sound that could 

rock both your pelvis and your noggin. 

His twisted “Black Dog” riff (1971) 

was his attempt to trip up fans who 

would dance at the band’s concerts. 

His tasty subhook on “Ramble On” 

(1969) brings the song’s verses to a 

completely different place, and “The 

Lemon Song,” also from ’69, is a masterwork 

blues that every developing 

bassist should try to transcribe or 

learn—preferably, both. 

22 

Paul Chambers 

His famous bass line on “So What” 

from Kind of Blue propels Paul Chambers 

(1935–1969) into the Top 25. 

In the ’50s, Chambers played with 

the first incarnation of the Miles 

Davis Quintet, later becoming John 

Coltrane’s first call and recording 

Giant Steps with the tenor titan. As a 

bandleader, Chambers recorded Whims 

of Chambers and Bass on Top. His ebullient 

walking, swinging eighth-note 

solos, and arco mastery puts Chambers 

on the top among hard boppers. 

23 

Jack Casady 

A cornerstone rock bass innovator, 

Casady made his sweeping melodic 

mark helping to create the “San Francisco 

sound” with Jefferson Airplane 

and forming Hot Tuna with guitarist 

Jorma Kaukonen—recording with 

Hendrix in-between. A diligent and 

discerning advocate for the art and 

craft of bass playing, Casady drew from 

classical music, Jelly Roll Morton, 

Mingus, and Eddie Condon to master 

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the finer points of creating musical 

bass lines, incorporating dynamics, 

and especially shaping tone. 

24 

Beach Boys (Pet Sounds, “Good Vibrations”), 

Quincy Jones (“Hickey Burr”), 

Sonny & Cher (“The Beat Goes On”), 

Mel Tormé (“Games People Play”), 

and Joe Cocker (“Feeling Alright”). 

26 

JIM CROCKETT 

The Chicago native credits such mentors 

as his brother Maurice, Charles 

Stepney, and especially Chess session 

bass ace (and later EWF trombonist) 

Louis Satterfield—but Verdine is the 

true shining star. 

28 

global stage. Ensuing group such as 

Mr. Big, Niacin, and Winery Dogs 

have enabled Sheehan to remain 

chart- and arena-relevant. 

30 

Israel “Cachao” Lopez 

The father of Latin bass and king of 

the tumbao, Cachao transformed 

the Cuban traditional dance, danzon, 

into mambo, and his seminal recordings 

of jam sessions called descargas 

changed popular Afro-Cuban music 

and paved the way for generations 

of artists to follow. As a classically 

trained bassist who made his symphonic 

debut at 13, Cachao developed 

a hard-swinging style rife with inventive 

figures that included hitting the 

body of the bass, all to create rhythmic 

counterpoint—the true mark of 

great Latin bass playing. 

25 

Chris Squire 

When Squire first hit the FM airwaves 

with Yes, listeners weren’t even sure 

they were hearing bass. His zingy, 

aggressive riffs under songs such 

as “Roundabout” (1971), played on 

his Rickenbacker RM1999, made 

for a completely new sound—especially 

since he used both a pick and 

roundwounds. Squire’s machinelike 

precision, too, was a key part 

of the band’s vibe. “He was thinking 

outside the box,” says Yes guitarist 

Steve Howe. “It was like he jumped 

over the fence and saw it from the 

other side.” 

27 

George Porter Jr. 

The Meters legend’s style, built alongside 

Zigaboo Modeliste’s second-line 

syncopations, has inspired generations 

of funk fans to try mastering 

gems like “Cissy Strut,” “Funkify Your 

Life,” and “Africa.” Although he has 

retired his main Fender Telecaster 

and Precision axes, Porter and his 

Lakland Bob Glaub are still on fire 

with the Runnin’ Partners, the Funky 

Meters, and several other bands, soulfully 

epitomizing the New Orleans 

bass sound. 

29 

NEIL ZLOZOWER 

Flea 

Flea’s aggressive, slap-heavy style 

with the Red Hot Chili Peppers lit 

up the mid-’80s L.A. scene, exemplified 

by their cover of Stevie Wonder’s 

“Higher Ground” (1989). By ’91, 

Flea had emerged with a refined style, 

largely trading in his slapping for 

muscular melodic statements, such 

as the back-and-forth ostinato on 

the hit “Give It Away.” Through the 

’90s and beyond, Flea has remained 

one of the most visible and admired 

representatives of rock bass. 

31 

Carol Kaye 

The first lady of bass is a pioneering 

legend both as a performer and 

educator. A bebop guitarist, Kaye 

picked up a Fender Precision at a 

1963 Capitol session for an absent 

bassist. Possessing a deft touch and 

funky feel, she began a rapid rise as 

a member of L.A.’s Wrecking Crew, 

which recorded seminal sides with the 

Verdine White 

How do you anchor a band like Earth, 

Wind & Fire? If you’re Verdine White, 

you do it with bass lines as powerful 

and memorable as the songs they support. 

White’s running-start pickups 

and pocket-widening post-one pops are 

key components to the EWF sound. 

Billy Sheehan 

The prolific rock-bass virtuoso honed 

his craft in the Buffalo bar trio Talas, 

where he recreated on his fingerboard 

many of the missing parts on cover 

songs. Talas opened for Van Halen 

in 1980, leading Sheehan to join 

David Lee Roth’s band and advance 

his groundbreaking techniques on a 

Lee Sklar 

Highlights from the bearded bass 

master’s incredible L.A. session reign 

from the late-’60s to still-going-strong: 

His melody-first, singer/songwritertemplate 

bass lines with James Taylor. 

His remarkable first-take creativity 

and extreme versatility, heard 

on major road and record runs with 

Phil Collins, Toto, Lyle Lovett, Billy 

Cobham [Spectrum], and Carole King’s 


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recent reunion with Taylor. And the 

“producer switch,” a dummy toggle 

on his bass that speaks for itself. 

32 

34 

36 

38 

Will Lee 

The quintessential Gotham bassist 

since 1971, Lee redefined support 

bass with a new level of stylistic versatility 

via his ability to shade the 

pocket in myriad ways and move 

seamlessly from finger-plucking to 

slapping, which he introduced to 

the studio scene. “Uncle Will” has 

played and recorded with everyone, 

invented late-night TV bass and the 

term “subhook,” sings his butt off, 

and is eternally hip. 

33 

Oscar Pettiford 

Just as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie 

created bebop language on 

their instruments, Oscar Pettiford 

(1922–1960) defined bebop on bass. 

He had a sleek walking style, precise 

in melodic choices and steady 

in tempo, with brilliant and complex 

solo lines. Pettiford penned several 

must-know bass standards, including 

“Tricotism,” “Bohemia After Dark,” 

and “Blues in the Closet.” 

35 

Tony Levin 

Whether he’s playing lines on a Chapman 

Stick, a tiny Guild Ashbory, or 

a 3-string bass, Levin’s innovations 

with King Crimson and Peter Gabriel 

have resulted in sounds never heard 

before. Perfect example: his strap-on 

wooden extensions called “funk fingers,” 

which evolved from drummer 

Jerry Marotta banging on Levin’s 

strings for Gabriel’s smash hit “Big 

Time” (1986). And, he’s played with 

a ton of other artists. 

37 

Louis Johnson 

A songwriter, session wiz, and funk 

bass-hero, “Thunder Thumbs” was an 

intense master whose earthy, sophisticated 

grooves changed history, most 

famously with the Brothers Johnson 

and on Michael Jackson’s Thriller 

(still the best-selling album ever). 

His grooves, played on P-Basses, Gibsons, 

Alembics, Trekers, and Music 

Man basses, left an imprint on pop 

culture that will never die. 

39 

Les Claypool 

No ’90s alt-rocker reimagined the 

bass more than Claypool with Primus, 

and on a fretless 6-string, no less. 

On “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver” 

(1991), Les slaps, taps, and tritones 

his Carl Thompson bass to produce 

a frenetic whack-fest with a strong, 

slightly swinging 16th-note groove. 

Claypool got players asking, What 

on earth is he doing? And how can 

I do it, too? 

Aston “Family Man” 

Barrett 

What would reggae be without Bob 

Marley, and what would Marley’s 

music be without Family Man’s infectious, 

rock-solid bass melodies, most 

often played on Jazz Basses with flats? 

“I’ve played before Bob, with Bob, 

and after Bob, and along the way, I 

created a whole new concept of bass 

playing,” he said in 2007. “That’s just 

my thing. That’s my destiny.” 

Jimmie Blanton 

Without Blanton (1918–1942) there 

would be no Ray Brown, Oscar Pettiford, 

Ron Carter, or Dave Holland. 

The granddaddy of modern jazz bassists, 

Blanton played with the Duke 

Ellington Orchestra from ’39–’41. His 

features with Ellington on big band 

tunes like “Jack the Bear,” “Ko-Ko,” 

and “Sepia Panorama” brought the 

bass to the forefront of jazz. 

Nathan East 

Cracking the L.A. session scene in 

1980, East has enjoyed a storybook 

career, thanks to his melodic grooves 

and innate musicality. Key associations 

include Eric Clapton, Quincy 

Jones, Phil Collins, Kenny Loggins, 

Whitney Houston, David Foster, 

and Daft Punk. East’s 26 years in 

Fourplay developed his singing and 

writing chops, leading to his acclaimed 

2014 solo debut. 


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40 

42 

44 

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46 

Donald “Duck” Dunn 

With a penchant for finding the perfect 

pocket, Duck was to Memphis 

soul what Jamerson was to Motown. 

As a member of Stax Records’ house 

band, Booker T. & the M.G.’s (inducted 

into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 

in 1992), Dunn influenced a generation 

of deep groovers with his tight, 

economical P-Bass lines, playing on 

eternal soul classics like “In the Midnight 

Hour,” “Soul Man,” and “Dock 

of the Bay.” 

41 

Abraham Laboriel 

Among the second wave of L.A. session 

bassists, none was more original 

and innovative than Mexico City-born 

Laboriel, whose radical fingerstyle, 

slap, and two-handed techniques found 

their way into mainstream film and 

TV scores, and landmark recordings 

by Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, 

Quincy Jones, Clint Black, Andráe 

Crouch, George Benson, Paul Simon, 

and Donald Fagen. 

43 

Paul Jackson 

On Headhunters classics like “Chameleon” 

and “Actual Proof,” Jackson 

made famous the sound of rhythmically 

sophisticated, rubbery lines that 

incorporated harmonics, soulful double-stops, 

and string bends—essential 

additions to any hip bassist’s skill 

set. His dirty tone, courtesy of Fender 

Telecaster and maple-board Precision 

Basses, has stood the test of time. 

45 

Berry Oakley 

In his all-too-brief 24 years, the 

Allman Brothers legend set the template 

for Southern rock and jam-band 

bass with a pick and the “Tractor,” a 

’62 Fender Jazz with an added Guild 

Starfire pickup. Oakley’s style was 

contrapuntal and probing, especially 

during solos, when he would engage 

Allman guitarists by gradually moving 

up the fingerboard. Listen to Live at 

Fillmore East (1971). 

47 

PAVEL KORBUT 

Charlie Haden 

Charlie Haden (1937–2014) told his 

story with few notes. He rose to stardom 

in 1959 with the Ornette Coleman 

Quartet. In ’69, Haden founded 

the Liberation Music Orchestra and 

expanded his vision as a composer 

and bandleader. From 1986 on, he 

worked with Quartet West. Haden’s 

earthy, beautifully austere style was 

rooted in the folk music of his youth. 

Joe Osborn 

Bass was felt more than heard in pop 

when Osborn—with a 1960 Fender 

Jazz Bass and pick in hand—innovated 

a melodic, legato style filled 

with trademark slides and upperregister 

phrases as a member of 

L.A.’s Wrecking Crew. His canvases 

include #1 hits by Ricky Nelson, the 

Fifth Dimension, the Mamas & the 

Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, and the 

Carpenters (whom he discovered). 

Geezer Butler 

Black Sabbath literally invented 

heavy metal in 1970, and Geezer Butler’s 

adventurous, unbound playing 

style remains the perfect foil to Tony 

Iommi’s monolithic guitar riffs. When 

they detuned to C# on 1971’s Master 

of Reality, they singlehandedly forged 

the template of the doom/stoner 

metal subgenre. Career highlights 

include Black Sabbath, Paranoid, and 

Heaven and Hell. 

Eddie Gomez 

Eddie Gomez joined the Bill Evans 

Trio in 1966 and took jazz bass technique 

to a new level, expanding on 

Scott LaFaro’s style. Rooted in classical 

training, Gomez’s playing is forceful, 

rhythmic, and melodic. After leaving 

the Evans trio in 1977, Gomez worked 

with Steps Ahead, Chick Corea, and 

his own trios. 


CS 100 GREATEST BASS PLAYERS 

48 

49 

DANNY CLINCH 

50 

LYNN SPINNATO 

51 

Andrew Gouché 

Gouché is so strongly linked to 

modern gospel bass that it’s shocking 

to think the genre didn’t exist before 

“Gooch” helped will it into existence 

in the early ’70s. This world-class 

sideman (Madonna, Michael Jackson, 

Prince) and his MTD 6-string 

personifies the swagger and tone of 

current gospel—and by extension, 

the sound of modern pop and R&B. 

Willie Weeks 

Best known for arguably the greatest 

recorded bass “groove solo,” on 

“Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)” 

from Donny Hathaway’s 1972 

Live album, Weeks has parlayed brilliantly 

tasteful, subtle variations on 

your basic root–5–octave shape into 

an iconic career backing everyone from 

Eric Clapton and the Doobie Brothers, 

to Vince Gill and Mark Ronson. 

Bakithi Kumalo 

Three decades after the humble South 

African and his fretless Washburn 

4-string first appeared on Paul Simon’s 

Graceland, Kumalo’s immediately recognizable 

tone and touch on classics 

like “The Boy in the Bubble” continues 

to shine as pitch-perfect examples 

of non-American bass magic. 

Steve Harris 

Iron Maiden’s signature gallop on 

singles like “Run to the Hills” and 

“The Trooper” catapulted the band 

to the forefront of the New Wave of 

British Heavy Metal. Founder Steve 

Harris’ propulsive playing and punkmeets-prog 

songwriting laid the 

framework for the ensuing powermetal 

subgenre. Killers, The Number 

of the Beast, and Piece of Mind are all 

essential listening. 

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52 

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55 

Gary Willis 

The 5-string ace pioneered propulsive, 

improvised fretless bass lines 

and bebop-infused solos, both as a 

member of Tribal Teach and as solo 

artist. Equally as influential, he promoted 

turning up your amp and using 

a lighter touch, developed a comprehensive 

right- and left-hand fingering 

approach, and helped to popularize 

the thumb-pluck/palm-mute. 

Bernard Edwards 

Edwards grounded chart-topping 

Chic hits like “Good Times” and “Le 

Freak” with tight, motive lines via his 

“chucking” technique, where he emulated 

holding a pick and struck the 

strings with both nail and finger. He 

and guitarist Nile Rodgers also supplied 

their signature grooves on hits 

for Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Diana 

Ross, Rod Stewart, Sister Sledge, and 

Madonna. 

Jeff Berlin 

The bridge between Stanley and Jaco 

and the second wave of fusion bassists, 

Berlin combined his classical 

violin training with a love of rock 

and jazz to fashion a fleet, melodic 

support-and-solo style that broke 

ground with Bill Bruford and led to a 

successful solo career. As founder of 

the Players School, his volatile views 

on music education are ongoing. 

Cliff Burton 

In only four years with Metallica, 

Cliff Burton recorded Kill ’Em All, Ride 

the Lightning, and Master of Puppets, 

and changed the world of metal bass 

forever. Known for his lightning-fast 

fingers, articulate soloing, and “lead 

bass” role, Burton achieved legend 

status before he died in a band bus 

crash in 1986. 

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56 

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59 

Steve Swallow 

Along with Jaco Pastorius, Swallow is 

perhaps the best-regarded composer 

and player to wield a bass guitar in 

jazz. His singular technique (he uses 

a copper pick on a 5-string with a 

high C), unerring melodicism, and 

implacable swing have made him a 

stalwart sideman with artists like 

Gary Burton, John Scofield, and 

Carla Bley, and a bandleader of lasting 

import. 

Phil Lesh 

More an improvising composer than 

mere bassist, Lesh elevated the Grateful 

Dead from hippie jam band to an 

artistic ensemble capable of reaching 

heights of interactive ecstasy. 

Balancing roots with bouncy, offbeat 

upper-register figures, he could 

spin long motivic statements sometimes 

lasting over a minute, often 

steering the band into daring new 

harmonic territory. 

Edgar Meyer 

While we feel that all these bassists 

are geniuses, Edgar Meyer 

was actually deemed one, by the 

MacArthur Foundation in 2002. One 

listen to his virtuosic arco and pizzicato 

compositions and it becomes 

evident why. His work with Yo-Yo 

Ma, Béla Fleck, Chris Thile, and 

James Taylor has solidified his place 

as one of the greatest upright bassists 

of all time. 

Bob Babbitt 

Establishing himself behind James 

Jamerson at Motown on hits like 

Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues” 

and Dennis Coffey’s “Scorpio” (boasting 

a 90-second bass solo), Babbitt 

forged his own R&B-rooted style. 

His hundreds of sessions in Philadelphia, 

New York, and Nashville 

include Gladys Knight’s “Midnight 

Train to Georgia” and Robert Palmer’s 

“Every Kinda People.” 

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60 

61 

62 

63 

Meshell Ndegeocello 

The songwriter/bandleader—best 

known for her go-go-influenced 

grooves and back-pickup sound 

on a Jazz Bass or signature Reverend—is 

reliably strong and undeniably 

stanky, whether on her own 

or with luminaries like Herbie Hancock 

and Chaka Khan. “I’m like Prince 

and Sting,” she says. “If they had a 

baby, that’s my style.” 

Jerry Jemmott 

Summoned South from New York to 

fix Aretha Franklin’s “Think” with his 

street-smart syncopation—forged 

as a member of King Curtis’ band— 

Jemmott went on to cut classic recordings 

with Wilson Pickett, Duane 

Allman, Otis Rush, and the Rascals. 

His stuttering bass lines (check out 

B.B. King’s Live and Well) laid the 

template for Rocco, Jaco, and other 

16th-note masters. 

Matt Garrison 

Garrison, the son of Coltrane bassist 

Jimmy Garrison, expanded the bass 

guitar’s harmonic and sonic capabilities 

by stringing his 5-string with a 

high C and adding a MIDI pickup. The 

resulting blend of played and programmed 

content on his landmark 

first two albums, as well as stints 

with Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, 

and Herbie Hancock, have influenced 

a wave of followers. 

Lemmy Kilmister 

The Rickenbacker bass, the black 

hat, the bottle of Jack Daniels, the 

mole, the legend. Few bassists have 

been the iconic face of rock in the 

way that Lemmy was. His playing 

with his speed-metal outfit Motörhead 

taught future generations of 

bass players that attitude is just as 

important as talent. 

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64 

65 

INGRID HERTFELDER 

66 

67 

Oteil Burbridge 

Earning instant bass-hero status 

via his chordal 6-string mastery and 

heartfelt scat-and-play solos with 

Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium 

Rescue Unit in 1990, Burbridge 

took an unexpected turn joining the 

Allman Brothers Band in ’97, supplying 

fat-pocketed 4-string improvisations. 

Oteil combined both styles on 

his solo albums and with the Tedeschi 

Trucks Band and Dead & Company. 

Richard Bona 

Bona is the complete package: a preternaturally 

talented entertainer and 

multi-instrumentalist blessed with a 

mellifluous voice and show-stopping 

bass technique. The supremely confident 

solo artist, high-profile sideman, 

and New York club owner is 

a master at connecting with audiences 

of every stripe. Is there a gig 

this Fodera man can’t do? 

Niels-Henning Ørsted 

Pedersen 

NHØP (1946–2005) took Ray Brown’s 

style and technique to dizzying 

heights. He got his start at age 15 

in the house band of Jazzhus Montmartre 

in Copenhagen, later working 

with American jazzers Sonny Rollins, 

Ben Webster, and Oscar Peterson. 

His incredible technique featured 

three-finger plucking, a four-finger 

left-hand system, and a saxophonelike 

melodic approach. 

Doug Wimbish 

The envelope-pushing slap-’n’-tap 

and effects master parlayed the freedom 

he was given as house bassist at 

rap-dawning Sugar Hill Records into 

the cutting-edge ambient band Tackhead. 

That led to sessions with Mick 

Jagger and the Stones, Madonna, 

Jeff Beck, Annie Lennox, Mos Def, 

Carly Simon, and Seal. Since 1992, 

Wimbish has held the bass chair in 

Living Colour.

68 

DREW GOREN 

69 

70 

Michael Lutch / JAMES TAYLOR 

71 

DEBORAH FEINGOLD 

Dave Holland 

Holland appeared on legendary Miles 

Davis albums of the ’60s like Filles 

de Kilimanjaro, In a Silent Way, and 

Bitches Brew. In 1972, he recorded 

Conference of the Birds, his first project 

as a leader. Since then, Holland 

has maintained a full touring schedule 

as bandleader and sideman, influencing 

all modern jazz bassists with 

his precise technique and experimental 

musicality. 

Robbie Shakespeare 

The bass half of one of Earth’s most 

successful production duos, Robbie 

Shakespeare has partnered with 

drummer Sly Dunbar on more than 

200,000 recordings since the ’70s. 

And not just with reggae artists: His 

Fender, Höfner, Steinberger, and Paul 

Reed Smith basses, always with flats, 

have done wonders for folks like Bob 

Dylan, Paul McCartney, and Sinead 

O’Connor, too. 

Jimmy Johnson 

Descended from a Minnesota family 

of great bassists, Johnson was the 

first to use a 5-string (with a low B) 

on the Los Angeles session scene, 

popularizing the instrument with 

both his fellow studio aces and bassists 

at large. Followers also flocked 

to his forward-leaning fusion forays 

with Allan Holdsworth and Flim & 

the BB’s, and his longtime role with 

James Taylor. 

Christian McBride 

Sporting Ray Brown-like skills and 

savvy as a teen, the Philly-born 

McBride has gone on to become a 

jazz ambassador both as a bandleader 

and as the upright bassist for everyone 

from Pat Metheny to Sting. On 

the electric side, his James Browninformed, 

groove-refining bass guitar 

playing has helped bridge the two 

instruments while inspiring countless 

bassists to double. 


CS 


72 

74 

76 

Victor Bailey 

A natural talent blessed with Jaco’s 

bravura, the Philly-born phenom 

was the perfect Pastorius replacement 

in Weather Report, issuing 

his own dramatic Jazz Bass 

tones. Bailey’s elastic grooves 

redefined the pocket, his bebop 

lines and phrasing raised the bar 

on blowing, and his radical techniques 

(like double-thumbing and 

tapping) across four solo sides 

remains under-heralded. 

73 

Dee Murray 

With Elton John’s wildly successful 

’70s band, Murray’s smartly 

syncopated R&B approach 

first pushed the boundaries of 

the piano/bass/drums rocktrio 

format on the early album 

11-17-70. Over the next decade, 

Dee’s upfront sound and upperregister 

fills helped bring dozens 

of Elton’s tracks to life on classic 

albums like Honky Chateau and 

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. 

75 

KEVIN MAZUR 

Esperanza Spalding 

Sure, she’s a stylish young artist 

who sings beautifully in three 

languages while casually handling 

acoustic (and her fretless 

Propert and Fender electrics) 

like a virtuoso. After last year’s 

multi-hued Emily’s D+Evolution 

explosion, however, this gifted 

32-year-old is laying the foundation 

for a lifelong career that will 

continue to defy expectations. 

77 

Michael Manring 

Manring has become one of the 

bass guitar’s greatest experimenters 

and innovators. First 

making his mark as a Windham 

Hill Records fretless specialist, 

Manring developed the Hyperbass 

(with builder Joe Zon) and 

other instruments featuring leveractivated 

hardware that allows for 

instantaneous alternate tunings. 

He is also known for playing multiple 

basses at once. 

Sting 

With the Police, Sting brought 

reggae influences—featuring onedrops 

and unexpected rests—into 

rock, starting with 1978’s “Roxanne” 

and “Can’t Stand Losing 

You.” “Every Little Thing She Does 

Is Magic” (1982) is a pop-bass 

masterpiece of space and development. 

If you’re still skeptical 

of his bass brilliance, check out 

the weird “Masoko Tanga” (’78). 

Peter Hook 

Listen to classics like “Love Will 

Tear Us Apart” and “Ceremony” 

and marvel at how catchy and 

clear the bass lines are. It’s no 

surprise, then, that Hooky’s 

distinctive pick work with Joy 

Division and New Order, most 

famously on Yamaha BB1200S 

4-strings and Shergold Marathon 

6-strings, has had such a 

huge impact on post-punk and 

new-wave bass. 


78 

80 

82 

Mark King 

Try this: Make a list of badasses 

with crazy chops. Circle the ones 

who write hits that incorporate 

those chops. Now highlight the 

ones who sing completely independent 

vocal lines and front a 

band while flaunting said chops on 

the hits. If your short list doesn’t 

include Level 42’s Mark King and 

his JayDee, Alembic, and Status 

basses, you’re doing it wrong. 

79 

Tim Bogert 

His bands Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, 

and Beck, Bogert & Appice inspired 

Yes, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin. 

Using that as a springboard, 

Tim Bogert took a fearless 

approach to his high-powered 

support and solo styles. The raucous 

results influenced countless 

bassists, including Jeff Berlin and 

Billy Sheehan. 

81 

David Hood 

The man who put the muscle into 

the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section 

(nicknamed the Swampers), 

this Alabama native mastered 

the art of delivering more with 

fewer notes. In the ’60s and ’70s, 

Hood’s Southern-flavored R&B 

lines were sought out by legendary 

artists from Aretha Franklin 

to Paul Simon to the Rolling 

Stones, but his singular contribution 

to the Staple Singers’ “I’ll 

Take You There” may well be his 

most famous line. 

83 

Justin Chancellor 

After joining Tool in 1995, Justin 

Chancellor redefined heavy playing 

with his Wal Bass-driven tone, 

complex riffs, and ability to make 

difficult odd time signatures sound 

easy. A true juggernaut in both 

ability and creativity, Chancellor’s 

playing on Ænima, Lateralus, 

and 10,000 Days dominate 

in a powerful band where drums 

and vocals were previously king. 

Stuart Hamm 

Blending his classical music 

upbringing, Berklee training, 

and appreciation for Eddie Van 

Halen, Stu Hamm found an original 

style that’s largely responsible 

for bringing tapping into the 

bass lexicon. He also released a 

string of acclaimed solo albums, 

popularized short-scale basses, 

and compiled serious sideman 

credits with Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, 

and Frank Gambale. 

Jonas Hellborg 

A Swedish virtuoso with a rapacious 

and broad appetite for music, 

Hellborg first came to prominence 

with guitarist John McLaughlin’s 

trio. Iconic records with guitarist 

Shawn Lane, Bill Laswell, and 

numerous Indian master musicians 

make his recorded output 

rewarding and eclectic, each showcasing 

his exceptional facility, 

deep musicality, and principled 

sonic aesthetic. 

bassplayer.com / february2017 41 

WW_CS_3317_2,375x9,75_USA.indd 1 06.12.16 11:55

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84 

John Deacon 

As part of one of the most iconic stadium rock bands 

ever, John Deacon also wrote some of the most memorable 

bass lines of all time. The catchy grooves of 

Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” and “Under 

Pressure” are instantly recognizable. Deacon also 

was a master of ballads, such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” 

and “We Are the Champions.” 

85 

Bill Black 

A rock & roll cornerstone figure, Black innovated 

rockabilly slap bass just as he and guitarist Scotty 

Moore joined up with Elvis Presley in 1954, playing 

on hits like “Heartbreak Hotel” and “Hound 

Dog,” and becoming one of the first (following 

Monk Montgomery and preceding Dave Myers) to 

record with a Fender Precision, on Presley’s “Jailhouse 

Rock” in 1957. 

86 

Red Mitchell 

For Red Mitchell (1927–1992), jazz was a search 

for personal identity. In the ’50s, he worked with 

Hampton Hawes and Ornette Coleman. Mitchell’s 

contrapuntal bass lines and melodic solos set him 

apart from other beboppers. Mitchell was a mentor 

to Charlie Haden and Scott LaFaro. In 1966, he 

began tuning his bass in 5ths (CGDA), and found 

his personal sound. 

87 

Michael Rhodes 

Since Nashville went electric on the heels of Bob 

Moore, Junior Huskey, and Henry Strzelecki, no bass 

guitarist has been in more ears and had more of an 

impact. In addition to tracking for country’s A-list, 

Rhodes’ crafty, precise style has graced records by 

Brian Wilson, Buddy Guy, Sheryl Crow, and India.Arie. 


© 2016 PRS Guitars / photo by Marc Quigley 

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88 

FRANCISCO MOLINA REYES 

Bobby Rodriguez 

New York City gave Cachao-innovated Afro-Cuban 

music a new flavor, led by artists like Machito and 

Tito Puente, with Rodriguez as the mighty core. Classically 

trained and later moving to Baby Bass and 

bass guitar, Rodriguez invented key rhythms and 

grooves still played today, while establishing a lineage 

that moves through Sal Cuevas (who brought 

funk slapping to the idiom) and current masters 

Andy Gonzalez and Ruben Rodriguez. 

89 

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Mike Watt 

In the world of punk and alternative music, there are 

few greater stewards of the bass than Mike Watt. His 

time with the Minutemen, Firehose, Dos, and the 

Stooges led to an expansive solo career that inspired 

many popular grunge and rock bands of the ’90s. A 

true architect of gritty tone, Watt has inspired generations 

of punks to come. 

90 

Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner 

Who’s the wild-lookin’ singer with a sombrero playing 

impossible chords and Stanley Clarke-style runs 

on a 6-string Ibanez archtop bass, you ask? That’s 

Thundercat, who has parlayed sessions with everyone 

from Suicidal Tendencies and Bilal to Flying 

Lotus, Kendrick Lamar, and Erykah Badu into an 

enviable career that allows him to be whoever he 

wants to be—a true rarity. 

91 

LUKE SORENSON 

Learn more at willcoxguitars.com/bassplayer 

Hadrien Feraud 

Inspired by Jaco, Dominique Di Piazza, and Matt 

Garrison, the Paris-born 5-stringer has fronted a 

movement of explosive young fuzers like Janek 

Gwizdala, Felix Pastorius, MonoNeon, and Henrik 

Linder. Combining a new level of technical mastery 

with a ’70s-and-’80s-informed imagination, Hadrien 

has pushed the bass forward both as a sideman with 

John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, and the Zawinul 

Legacy Band, and as a solo artist. 


92 

KAY FIELD 

93 

JOHN BROWN 

94 

Bobby Vega 

His precise thumb, fingerstyle chops, fluid harmonics, 

soulful chords, and beat-up ’61 Jazz have 

gotten him onstage and in the studio with everyone 

from Sly Stone and Etta James to Tower Of 

Power and Mickey Hart, but it’s Bobby’s jawdropping 

plectrum prowess that has made it ever so 

uncool to not rock funky 16ths with a pick in 2017. 

Bill Laswell 

Laswell, a prolific producer with an unmatched, 

pan-global resumé stretching from Whitney Houston 

to Zakir Hussain, arrived at his signature, 

dub-influenced fretless P-Bass tone after thousands 

of sessions since the ’70s. The longtime 

New Yorker has built a career on feel, not theory. 

“I aspire to learn less and less about music as I go 

on,” he said in 2003. 

Willie Dixon 

The father of blues bass and one of its greatest 

composers, Dixon started at Chicago’s Chess 

Records in the ’40s as a bassist/producer/writer, 

helping to launch the careers of Muddy Waters, 

Howlin’ Wolf, and Buddy Guy, and playing on Chuck 

Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” A key architect of blues 

bass lines, he was also a devasting slapper (check 

out Memphis Slim’s “Joggie Boogie”). 


CS 


95 

97 

99 

Mick Karn 

A singular voice of unparalleled 

originality, the self-taught Karn 

brought an alien otherness to the 

art-rock band Japan and other 

projects, not only on fretless bass 

but also low-end woodwinds. Perhaps 

nothing captures his joyous 

strangeness better than the cultfavorite 

collaboration Dali’s Car 

(1984)—with songs like the title 

track, you might swear that Karn 

learned to play on another planet. 

96 

Ron Baker 

Baker and drummer Earl Young 

were the heartbeat of Philadelphia 

International Records at famed 

Sigma Sound Studios, working 

with such producers and artists 

as Gamble & Huff, Thom Bell, the 

O’Jays, the Spinners, and the Stylistics. 

Known for deadening the 

flatwounds on his Fender Precision 

with masking tape, Baker issued 

creative, melodic, deep-pocketed 

lines on hits like “Bad Luck” and 

“The Love I Lost.” 

98 

SANDARAC BASSES 

Walter Page 

As a member of the Count Basie 

Band, Walter Page (1900–1957) 

refined 4/4 walking bass. The “All- 

American Rhythm Section” with 

Basie on piano, Freddie Green 

on rhythm guitar, drummer Jo 

Jones, and Page was the first 

well-known rhythm section. We 

honor Page as a master of swing 

bass playing who continues to lay 

down quarter-notes in our collective 

memory. 

100 

STONEFIELDMUSIC 

Bob Moore 

The pioneering Nashville acoustic 

bassist played on 17,000-plus 

sessions beginning in the ’50s— 

including seminal sides like as 

Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” and Brook 

Benton’s “Rainey Night In Georgia.” 

Moore innovated subtle syncopations 

and melodic moves 

that forever changed the face of 

country bass, while his use of G 

and D gut strings with A and E 

steel strings for a more uniform 

sound more was widely copied. 

Leroy “Slam” Stewart 

Leroy “Slam” Stewart (1914–1987) 

boasted a career as a solid rhythm 

section bassist, a popular singing 

talent, a movie personality, 

and an innovator of jazz bowing 

on the double bass. When playing 

solos, Stewart sang an octave 

above his arco lines. With his 

ethereal solo sound and deeply 

swinging rhythm, Stewart played 

an important role in the stylistic 

transition from swing to bebop. 

Percy Jones 

Inspired by Charles Mingus—and 

separate from early '70s jazz-rock 

fusion contemporaries such as 

Jaco and Alphonso Johnson— 

Percy Jones discovered the 

freedom of a fretless fingerboard, 

developing a highly 

original voice on his fretless 

Fender Precision. Percy’s propulsive, 

percussive style reached 

global ears via Brand X, and he 

has continued to innovate on 

numerous collaborative and solo 

projects. BP 


ACTUAL SIZE: 12.5”L X 2.5”W X 1.25”H • WEIGHT: 20.7 OZ. 

DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED BY TECH 21 USA, INC. 

FOR DETAILS AND VIDEO, VISIT TECH21NYC.COM

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Soundroom 

Mitchell FB700 & TB500 

By TARIK RAGAB | 

“A rising tide lifts all boats.” The modern 

era has facilitated massive changes in the consumption of manufactured 

goods. Automation lowers production costs, hastening 

and increasing output. For niche markets, optimization gives 

consumers more access to formerly high-end products. In the 

case of electric basses, both the professional and budding student 

benefit: For the working pro, custom and boutique instruments 

are often cost-prohibitive, and for the student, access 

to better-sounding and playing basses can help inspire dedication 

to the craft. In the spirit of this democratization of quality, 

Mitchell Guitars has introduced two basses—the FB700 Fusion 

and TB500 Traditional —that sport premium features usually 

attached to much higher price tags. Both come in 4- and 5-string 

versions, with the FB700 adding a 6-string variant. Our FB700 

tester was a 4-string with 24 jumbo frets, while our test TB500 

was a 20-fret 5’er. 

FB700 

The FB700’s mahogany body is nicely carved; it’s somewhat reminiscent 

of a Fodera Monarch or Yin Yang. A thin, flat quiltedmaple 

veneer covers a large portion of the body, but does not 

follow its contours. Both the FB700 and the TB500 bolt-on necks 

are contoured at the joint for unimpeded high-fret access. The 

boutique-style FB700’s vertically laminated contrasting neck woods 

are a high-end touch that improves stability. The FB700’s six-bolt 

neck joint ensures a solid connection to the body for maximum 

resonance. With an even more extreme taper than a traditional 

Jazz-style neck, the FB700’s neck is thin at the nut. Our tester’s 

rosewood fingerboard had lustrous mother-of-pearl inlays and 

near-perfect fretwork. Mitchell angles back the 2+2 headstock 

to create downward pressure on the nut and improve tuning stability. 

The hardware is generic, but functional. 

The MM-style pickups on the FB700 are dual MB4 paraffin-dipped 


FB700 

S 

SPECIFICATIONS 

FB700 & TB500 

Street FB700, $500; TB500, $350 

Pros Excellent playability and ergonomics; 

even response; solid construction 

Cons Scratchy volume pot (FB700); 

angled input jack too close to strap button 

Bottom Line Well-made basses for the 

cash-strapped student or pro. 

TB500 

Alnico V humbuckers and, not surprisingly, have 

a StingRay-esque sonic palette. With the pickup 

blended and 3-band EQ flat, the bass’ natural sound 

is bright and punchy. The bridge pickup is particularly 

nasal and bright. Blending in the neck pickup 

added more bark—it sounded great with a pick. 

The neck pickup rounded things out considerably 

and brought out deeper warmth. I dug that cranking 

the lows still resulted in a useful tone, given 

that a lot of the beginners who pick up this bass 

may not understand EQ. The bright personality 

meant I had to roll back the highs and mids almost 

completely to bring out the rounder tone, though. 

Overall, the FB700 has a bright, contemporary 

sound, great for slapping or more aggressive 

hard-rock pickstyle playing. 

TB500 

Like the FB700, the TB500’s body is well carved, 

featuring an angled jack sunken fairly deep into the 

side. The input jack sat too close to the strap button, 

though, making it tough to run a cable through 

the strap to avoid disconnection, although Mitchell 

says the design helps prevent errant unplugging. 

The TB500’s neck is narrow at the nut, making 

the B- and E-string spacing tight in the 1st position. 

The offset MOP inlays were a nice touch, but 

there was some finish compound still visible on 

the fingerboard that needed to be buffed out. The 

TB500’s neck was too straight out of the box, but 

a slight trussrod adjustment quickly remedied it. 

The headstock-located trussrod is deeply sunk into 

its channel, making it difficult to engage an allen 

wrench without risk of stripping the nut. Nonetheless, 

the neck responded well to the adjustment 

and played great after that. 

The P/J configuration appeals to the player who 

wants the buttery roundness of a P-style bass and 

the punch of a J. The passive TB500 has a much 

lower output than the FB700, but it’s warmer, with 

a more prominent midrange. Turning up the tone 

knob brought out some P-style clack. The TB500’s 

warmer sound made it just right for the more traditional 

rock, pop, and blues player. 

While mass production has ushered in the era of 

disposable goods, it is nice to see in these basses a 

counterbalance to the trend. Leveraging technology 

to offer access to high-performance instruments 

can make modernity work for all. BP 

SPECS MITCHELL 

FB700 

Construction Bolt-on 

Body Mahogany 

Top Quilted-maple veneer 

Fingerboard Rosewood 

Frets 24 

Scale length 34" 

Neck width at nut 38mm 

String spacing 19mm 

Pickups Dual MB4 paraffin-dipped Alnico 

V humbuckers 

Preamp Active with 3-band EQ 

TB500 

Construction Bolt-on 

Body Alder 

Fingerboard Maple 

Frets 20 

Scale length 34" 

Neck width at zero-fret 45mm 

String spacing 17mm 

Pickups Neck, split-coil P-style Alnico V; 

bridge, single-coil J-style Alnico V 

Made in China 

Contact mitchellguitars.com 


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S 

Markbass 

Little Mark Tube 800 

By Jonathan Herrera | 

S 


The amp manufacturer Markbass 

seemed to come out of nowhere about a decade 

ago, ascending from an Italian upstart remarkable 

for its ubiquitous use of yellow to a multifaceted 

major player on big stages and in 

big-box music stores. Besides its aggressive 

R&D, torrent of new models, and relationships 

with top players, Markbass earned its success 

the right way, designing a broad range of heads 

and cabs that made good use of the latest in 

weight-saving technology, coupled with a commitment 

to utility in a wide range of musical 

settings. The Little Mark Tube 800 reviewed 

here is a fusion of several preamp design elements 

found across the Markbass line, all coupled 

to its most powerful Class D amp to date. 

The Little Mark Tube 800 will be familiar 

to those with Markbass experience. It combines 

a simple 4-band EQ with Markbass’ standard 

vle (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulation) 

and vpf (Variable Pre-shape Filter) controls. 

In rough terms, the vle control is comparable 

to a tone knob for the amp—rolling it off 

broadly attenuates high-frequency response— 

and the vpf is like the mid-scooping enhance 

knob on old SWR amps. Where the Tube 800 

MARKBASS 

SPECS 

Little Mark Tube 800 

Street $650 

Pros Good size and weight; thoughtful 

design; two inputs with variable gain 

enhances versatility 

Cons Mute switch poorly placed; tube 

preamp doesn’t seem to do much 

Bottom line A solid and powerful head 

with all the gig-ready features you’ll likely 

want at a value-packed price. 

Power rating 800 watts @ 4Ω; 500 watts 

@ 4Ω 

Preamp Solid-state and tube, switchable 

and blendable 

Power amp topology Class D 

Power supply Switchmode 

Input impedance 500kΩ 

Outputs One Speakon and one q" speaker, 

q" effect send & return, XLR balanced 

line out, q" tuner 

Inputs q" instrument, balanced XLR with 

switchable 48-volt phantom power 

Tone controls low ±16dB @ 40 Hz; low-mid 

±16dB @ 360Hz; high-mid ±16dB @ 800Hz; 

high +16dB @ 10kHz 

The diminutive Little Mark Tube 800 packs a lot of I/O onto its rear panel. 

Weight 6.6 lbs 

Made in Italy 

Contact markbass.it 


differs from other amps in the Markbass line is its 

twin-topology input stage. A mix knob governs a 

continuously variable blend between a tube and 

solid-state circuit, and while I’m pretty certain the 

single 6205 sharp-cutoff pentode in the Markbass 

is no replacement electronically or sonically for a 

proper all-tube preamp, it does offer a different 

sound from the solid-state setting, although the 

difference is so subtle that it’d likely be inaudible 

at stage volume. 

The Tube 800’s construction is solid and up 

to the same standard set by the company’s other 

heads. I have a good amount of experience with 

the brand, and a Markbass amp has never failed 

on me at a gig. Interior construction is orderly and 

dense, and the hardware on offer is not luxurious, 

but it’s rugged and skillfully assembled. One cool 

feature: The Markbass has two inputs, each with an 

associated gain control. While the amp does not 

have a two-channel preamp, it does allow a player 

to plug into each input and use them simultaneously. 

One of the inputs is a Neutrik Combo jack 

with switchable phantom power—perfect for a condenser 

mic or some upright pickups. One feature I 

did not dig: the pull to mute function, where the 

master volume knob doubles as the mute switch. 

Not a good idea, given the volume setting is something 

one wouldn’t want to inadvertently alter in 

an attempt to go silent. 

ReMarkable 

I’ve spent many hours with Markbass heads on gigs 

and in the office, so I’m conversant in their fundamental 

voicing: Generally they have a low-midrange 

focus, a burnished and subdued high-frequency 

response, and a buoyant, if slightly dry low end. 

Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that 

the Little Mark Tube 800 has a slightly different 

personality—a conclusion I confirmed when I A/B’d 

it with other Markbass heads. Rather than offering 

the syrupy mid-forward tone I expected, the Tube 

800 seemed much flatter and more focused, with 

perhaps a touch of a bump in the high-mids contributing 

to its somewhat more aggressive and strident 

sound. The tube/solid-state switching doesn’t 

do much for me, although I slightly preferred the 

head’s low-end response in the tube mode, especially 

at high volumes. Speaking of high volumes, 

the Tube 800 can deliver, especially when paired 

with a 4Ω cabinet. 

The simple Markbass EQ is well voiced, and 

I’m as big a fan of the vle as I am of tone knobs 

on basses. It’s a quick way to diminish distracting 

clack and bring low frequencies into focus. Given 

I’m not much for smiley-face EQ, I mostly stayed 

away from the vpf control, but it’s there should 

you need insta-slap or aggro metal tone. 

In fine Markbass tradition, the Little Mark 

Tube 800 proved itself a value-packed, versatile, 

and portable companion that did everything well. 

Check it out—less for the negligible tube preamp, 

and more because it’s voiced slightly outside the 

Markbass midrangey norm. Regardless, for the 

price, it’s deserving of a close look for a do-it-all, 

gig-bag-portable head. BP 


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SOUNDROOM 

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Ultimate Ears UE 11 PRO 

By Jonathan Herrera 

Bass players obsess over their 

amps, endlessly debating the merits of brands, 

configurations, size, and nearly every other conceivable 

detail. Yet, when it comes to the average 

gig of decent size, the audience hears a DI 

(or, less frequently, a mic), while the player is at 

least partly relying on a monitor—a full-range 

speaker that’s not purpose-built to accurately 

convey bass. In fact, the vagaries of monitor 

quality end up being a decisive factor in a performance, 

with a bad mix making it difficult to 

feel comfortable and creative. There are a couple 

ways to mitigate the chaos of live sound, though. 

First, any band with the resources should consider 

hiring its own sound engineer. Second, 

and equally effective, the band should consider 

switching to in-ear monitors. 

The UE 11 PRO in-ear monitors are among 

the best money can buy, especially for bass 

players. The advantages of an in-ear monitoring 

system are enormous. Rather than suffer 

the indignity of a lame stage mix, in-ears allow 

each band member to tailor their mix as they 

see fit and deliver it to their ears at a comfortable 

volume. The impact on clarity is phenomenal. 

And while there are many generic models to 

choose from that feature general-purpose earpieces, 

to get the most out of the in-ear monitoring 

experience, it’s wise to go with a set of 

custom-fit in-ears like the UE 11 PROs. 

I have been fit for custom in-ears and earplugs 

in the past, but that didn’t prepare me 

for the technology behind UE’s newest fitting 

system. While UE can make custom in-ears 

from old-fashioned silicone molds, the company 

recommends users avail themselves of the latest 

digital ear-scanning technology. The result is 

extremely accurate, and since it yields a digital 

file, is easier to transmit to the manufacturer. 

For the fitting, I went to UE’s Hollywood office 

and sat in a chair facing a computer monitor. 

The technician used a handheld device that 

looked somewhat like the scope doctors use, 

but bigger. After determining the depth of my 

ear canal, she manipulated the laser-based scanner 

around my ear, creating a detailed image 

in the process. The whole procedure only took 

five minutes, and within a few days I received 

my custom in-ears, complete with a personalized 

carrying case and cleaning tool. 

The fit was perfect. Once I mastered the 

insertion technique, the in-ears felt like they 

had disappeared into my ears; the fit was so 

spot-on that it was easy to tell when they were 

slightly out of place. The monitors looked and 

felt high-end, and since I opted for the transparent 

finish (there are dozens of color/design 

options on Ultimate Ear’s site), I could appreciate 

the fine detail of the UE 11 PRO’s interior 

construction. Designed for enhanced bass 

response, the UE 11s stuff four high-fidelity 

drivers into the small enclosure, one each for 

treble and bass, and two to handle subs. A 3-way 

crossover ensures that each driver is receiving 

its optimal region of the frequency spectrum. 

I tried the UE 11’s on all kinds of sources, 

both as live-sound monitors and as general 

purpose headphones. They sounded amazing. 

The speakers’ high fidelity, coupled with the 

–26dB of noise isolation, made music feel as if 

it were emanating from the center of my brain. 

I have never felt so connected and immersed in 

sound. The bass response was extraordinary— 

fast, accurate, and robust. 

The UE 11 PRO’s are absurdly expensive, 

yes. They company makes lower-cost models, 

too, and even a decent pair of consumer in-ears 

can make a worthy partner for stage monitoring—but 

if you’re deeply invested in switching 

to in-ear monitors and you care about strong 

and authoritative bass response, there is no 

better option out there. BP 

Ultimate Ears 

SPECS 

S 


UE 11 PRO 

Street $1,150 

Pros Superb fit; immersive high-fidelity 

sound; deep and satisfying bass response 

Cons Insanely expensive 

Bottom Line While it’s a lot to spend on 

headphones, the UE 11 PROs are the state 

of the art in bass-tailored in-ear 

monitoring. 

Input sensitivity 119dB @ 1kHz, 1mW 

Frequency response 5Hz–22kHz 

Noise isolation –26dB 

Impedance 18W @ 1kHz 

Speaker configuration Four proprietary 

balanced armatures with 3-way crossover 

Made in USA 

Contact ultimateears.com 


TRANSCRIPTION LINK FACE TECH PLAY LEARN 

? 

TRANSCRIPTION 

Led Zeppelin’s 

“Communication Breakdown” 

John Paul Jones’ Complete Bass Line 

By Stevie Glasgow | Photo By Greg PAPAzian 

Led Zeppelin was on a formidable 

roll when the band took the stage 

for a BBC In Concert recording session at London’s 

Paris Cinema in April 1971. Indeed, 

with three successful albums already in 

the bag and tracking recently completed 

for their game-changing fourth LP, Zeppelin 

could well have retired at that point and 

still gone down as one of the most innovative 

and influential rock acts of all time. 

Bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones and 

his Zep cohorts—guitarist Jimmy Page, 

vocalist Robert Plant, and drummer John 

Bonham—helped redefine rock music, and 

to date, have notched up worldwide sales of 

close to 300 million albums, making Led 

Zeppelin one of the biggest-selling acts ever. 

The band’s recently released three-disc 

compilation, The Complete BBC Sessions 

[Atlantic]—an updated and expanded version 

of the 1997 release BBC Sessions—features 

eight previously unreleased recordings, 

including the Paris Cinema version of “Communication 

Breakdown” transcribed here. 

Typifying the band’s live approach, this is 

no mere regurgitation of the original studio 

version. “We’d make a record and that 

would be the blueprint,” Jones told BP in 

February 2008. “Then we’d go off and play 

the record live, and it would move on from 

there.” For the recording, Jones likely used 

two fingers to pluck his trusty ’62 Fender 

Jazz Bass strung with Rotosound roundwounds—his 

standard setup during that 

era. “I stopped using flatwounds during my 

session days; they were a bit too thumpy,” 


he explained in July 2003. “The Rotosounds gave 

me better clarity.” 

The track opens with a repeating, two-bar-long 

guitar figure that underpins most of the song. Jones 

bolsters the simple chords from bars 5–7 with a 

series of root notes, before a short break heralds 

the first verse at letter A. Here, Jones falls in with 

Page’s rhythm, punching out a single measure of 

tight eighth-notes followed by a meaty syncopation 

that emphasizes that latter half of beat one in 

the second bar of each two-bar sub-phrase. Note 

how JPJ invariably introduces a subtle downward 

fall from the 5th-fret D into the open-string A on 

beat three. Dig also how he slides boldly up from a 

B on the final quarter-note at the end of each twobar 

phrase over Page’s D chord, rather than opting 

for a straight root-note D. 

Letter B—the first chorus—moves through the 

IV and V chords of E major (A and B, respectively). 

Jones flavors this new section with a series of nimble 

and funky Jamerson-like syncopations built around 

the A major pentatonic scale (in bars 25–28) and the 

B dominant scale or Mixolydian mode in bars 29–32. 

Also worth noting is his nuanced use of open strings 

in bars 30–31, which help bounce the line along. 

The guitar-and-bass unison line in bars 35–36 

concludes with a gritty quarter-tone bend that steers 

proceedings back to the second verse at C, where 

Jones reprises his lines from A. The second chorus 

at D (check out the snaking chromatic climb over 

the V chord in bars 57–61) is followed by the first 

guitar solo at letter E, with the bass echoing A and 

C. As Page’s pyrotechnics continue, Jonesy begins 

cutting increasingly loose (from letter F), introducing 

a variety of new patterns while still outlining the 

prevailing chord sequence. 

Letter G revisits the chorus, leading to H—a 

semi-improvised, half-time section that evinces 

Jones’ and Bonham’s funk influences. Here, JPJ 

enlivens the simple harmony via deft use of space 

and subtle ghost-notes. 

The dynamic level drops at letter I with the reintroduction 

of the vocals, before Bonham and Jones 

slowly begin to pick up the pace again, exemplified 

by the his increasing use of eighth-notes and ghostnotes 

from bar 159. By J, the half-time feel has all 

but evaporated as the players slowly build up a head 

of steam, prompting Jones to pick up Page’s E–D–B– 

E motif in bar 185, which he uses as a springboard 

for a couple of nifty E minor pentatonic fills in bars 

186, 190, and 194. This leads to K, where Page begins 

to wrest control of the harmony by grinding out C 

and D chords over Jones’ insistent E-grounded line. 

The bass eventually teams up with the guitar chords 

at bar 204, helping transition back to a recap of the 

main riff at L, which this time serves as an outro, 

eventually culminating in a dramatic beat-four conclusion 

on a cliff-hanging D chord. 

After a rock-transforming 12 years, Zeppelin 

ground to a halt in 1980 following Bonham’s death. 

Post-Zep, Jones has steadfastly refused to rest on 

his laurels, continually stretching himself as a multiinstrumentalist, 

composer, producer, arranger, solo 

artist, collaborator, and full-time member of supergroup 

Them Crooked Vultures. But he is still most 

celebrated for Zep’s recorded output and adventurous 

live performances. “Playing live was the most 

fun for me,” he said in February 2008. “I think that 

was the best of Led Zeppelin.” BP 

“Communication Breakdown” (Paris Cinema, London, April 1971) 

Transcription by Stevie Glasgow 

= 190 

Intro 

E D A D E 

H 

5 7 

5 0 5 7 

9 

A 

1.2.3. 4. 

E D A D E D A D D A D 

S 

S 

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 0 2 

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 0 2 

7 5 0 12 

25 

B 

A 

B 

S 

5 5 5 3 4 7 4 7 7 7 4 7 4 5 

4 

7 4 5 

7 4 4 7 4 5 7 5 7 7 7 7 7 

7 6 

9 7 0 9 

COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN 

Words and Music by JIMMY PAGE, JOHN PAUL JONES and JOHN BONHAM © 1969 (Renewed) FLAMES OF ALBION MUSIC, INC. All Rights (Excluding Print) 

Administered by WB MUSIC CORP. Exclusive Print Rights Administered by ALFRED MUSIC. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. 



31 

37 

53 

? 

C 

D 

7 0 6 

A 

(1st time only) 

5 5 5 

4 

9 0 7 6 

7 4 7 4 4 

7 4 

E 

N.C. 

7 7 9 7 0 4 5 6 

6 4 

7 4 

1.2.3. 4. 

B 

5 (5) (5) 

E D A D E D A D D A D 

S7 

( 0 7 0 

7 7) 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 0 2 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 0 2 

7 4 4 5 7 7 7 7 7 

6 7 8 9 6 

S 

3 

Bq 

7 5 0 14 

59 

E E (2nd & 6th times) D A D 

E 

7 8 9 8 9 10 H 

11 8 9 7 8 9 

7 


7 7 7 (7) 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 0 2 

( 0 0 0) 

S 

65 

1.–5. 6. 

E (2nd time) 

D A D D A D E D A D 

F 

(3rd time) 

S 

(5th time) 

S 

S 

7 7 7 (7) 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 0 2 ( 5 7) 

(7) 

7 5 0 2 

7 0 0 4 7 

7 5 0 0 4 

89 

E D A D E D A D E 

7 0 0 4 7 

7 5 0 0 0 7 

0 0 0 7 

7 7 5 0 0 0 4 5 7 0 0 0 4 7 

7 



? 

96 

102 

109 

S 

D A D E D A D E D A D E 

5 0 2 

E D A D E D A D E D A D 

S 

S S Bq 

S S 

7 5 7 5 7 5 0 0 2 7 9 9 

9 0 7 5 0 2 7 7 

0 7 7 0 2 4 4 

D A D E D A D E D A D 

S 

7 0 2 4 4 7 

4 7 7 0 0 5 4 

S 

5 0 2 7 0 2 4 7 

4 7 5 0 2 

0 0 7 0 7 0 0 

S 

5 0 2 

S 

S 

7 0 2 4 4 7 

4 7 5 0 2 

7 7 7 7 7 0 5 5 0 2 

S 

S 

115 

E 

A 

G 

S 

H 

6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 

5 5 5 5 5 4 0 4 0 0 

4 7 5 7 

6 7 (7) 

5 5 

7 5 7 

121 

B 

E 

S 

7 8 7 7 7 7 

7 6 

9 0 7 6 7 9 7 7 7 5 5 3 3 2 4 0 

127 

H 

N.C. E5 G5 A6 E5 G5 A6 

7 0 3 (5) 5 

5 7 (7) 7 

5 

(5) 5 

(3) 3 (3) 0 3 (5) 5 


136 

E5 G5 A6 E5 

S 

5 12 0 

19 17 17 0 19 19 0 3 (5) 5 

4 4 

7 7 5 0 5 5 5 5 0 3 

143 

G5 A6 E5 G5 A6 E5 

S S 

9 

0 0 3 (3) 5 (5) 4 (4) 4 7 7 

(7) 7 5 7 

7 

0 3 5 5 

4 7 

9 

5 7 

G5 A6 E5 D E5 G A 

150 lay back 

I 

3 

3 

H 

(7) 7 (5) 5 

7 0 (3) 3 (5) 5 

(4) 4 5 

0 

7 5 5 5 7 

0 3 5 

4 

7 



? 

157 

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D 

By Jim Roberts 

Roger Sadowsky 

Jim Roberts was 

the founding editor 

of Bass Player and 

also served as the 

magazine’s publisher 

and group publisher. 

He is the author of 

How the Fender Bass 

Changed the World 

and American Basses: 

An Illustrated History 

& Player’s Guide (both 

published by Backbeat 

Books/Hal Leonard). 

During the 45 years that 

he’s been making instruments, Roger 

Sadowsky has had to adapt to many 

changes—different materials, different 

playing styles, different economic 

and social conditions. One thing that 

has remained constant is his focus on 

his customers. “I want to have a relationship 

with the person who’s ordering 

an instrument,” he says. “I want to 

advise them on the options and make 

sure they’re making the right choices.” 

A New York City native, Roger began 

his career as a luthier in 1972, when he 

left a PhD program at Rutgers University 

to apprentice with Augie LoPrinzi, 

building acoustic guitars at a shop in New 

Jersey. Two years later, he moved on to 

Medley Music in Philadelphia, where 

he quickly gained a reputation for his 

skillful work repairing basses and guitars. 

In 1979, he returned to New York 

and opened Sadowsky Guitars. At first, 

Roger focused on repairing and modifying 

instruments for up-and-coming players 

like Marcus Miller, advising them to 

bring him vintage Fenders for improvements. 

His preamp, either installed in 

the bass or an outboard unit, became the 

basis of the famed “Sadowsky sound.” 

As prices for vintage basses climbed, 

Roger began to build his own instruments, 

based on the Fender designs. 

“Leo got so much right the first time 

around,” he says. “I’ve never strayed too 

far from the Fender paradigm.” The first 

Sadowsky bass was a PJ 4-string built in 

1982 for Will Lee—who remains a key 

customer and the inspiration for a signature 

model introduced in 2009. 

While remaining faithful to his original 

design concepts, Roger has made 

many improvements over the years: 

reshaping bodies and necks for improved 

comfort and playability; offering models 

with 20, 21, 22, or 24 frets; improving 

pickups, electronics, and hardware; 

and adding 5-string versions. “One of 

the main things for me has been building 

lightweight instruments. I started 

focusing on the acoustic qualities of 

solidbody instruments in the early ’80s, 

and I developed the point of view that 

the better they sound acoustically, the 

better they sound amplified—and the 

ones that sounded better acoustically 

were the lighter instruments. Then, 

about 15 years ago, when I found that 

the ash and alder were coming in heavier 

than I wanted, I turned to chambering. 

That not only decreased the weight of 

the instruments but made them more 

acoustically resonant.” 

Sadowsky NYC basses are built by 

an experienced eight-person team in a 

shop located in Long Island City, Queens. 

Each instrument is designed on paper 

before production begins. “Aside from 

the rough cut of the body and neck on 

a CNC [machine], everything is done by 

hand. Once the body and neck are sprayed, 

one person builds the entire instrument 

from that point on.” The final inspection 

and setup are still done by Roger, and 

every instrument must have his approval 

before it leaves the shop. 

While the prices for many NYC 

basses now exceed $5,000, Roger also 

offers lower-priced Metro basses, built 

in Japan by a team led by Yoshi Kikuchi, 

who trained in the Sadowsky shop. 

Another budget-friendly option is the 

new Satin Series. “This is a no-frills bass, 

with either a rosewood board and alder 

body or a maple board and ash body, 

with a satin finish,” Roger says. “They’re 

made on the same benches as our NYC 

basses, and we’ve been able to bring the 

cost down to $2,900 for a 4-string and 

$2,975 for a 5.” 

One recent model that deviates from 

the “Fender paradigm” is a single-cut 

5-string, developed with input from 

bassist Chip Shearin. It’s available in two 

versions, the original with dual soapbar 

pickups and a “vintage” model with 

a neck-position J pickup and a unique 

dual-coil bridge pickup. “In that pickup,” 

Roger explains, “the distance between 

the two coils mimics ’60s and ’70s locations. 

With the flick of a switch, you can 

go from the ’60s coil to the ’70s coil, or 

both together.” 

Whether a Sadowsky customer is 

ordering a one-of-a-kind NYC model or 

a Satin Series 4-string, Roger wants to 

be sure it’s the right bass for that player. 

That’s why he has stuck to the direct-sales 

model for all of his domestic instruments. 

“I want to get that e-mail a couple weeks 

after they get the bass, telling me how 

much they love it,” he says. “For me, it’s 

not about units sold—it’s about people.” 

For more about Sadowsky basses, go 

to sadowsky.com. BP 


Raise Your Voice 

A New Series I Elevated Features I Limitless Possibilities 

©2017 Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. FENDER.COM

BassPlayer 2017-02

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