Neil Murray – Bass I love these Gary Moore penned ballads they did with Colosseum II and on his ‘Back On The Streets’ album. Such beautiful melodies. I always wondered why he didn’t follow this route and stayed in the Rock and Blues idioms. I guess he has to make a living and these ballads,…

Janek Gwizdala – Bass Janek Gwizdala is an internationally acclaimed electric bassist, composer, and educator, widely recognized for his innovative voice on the instrument and his work at the forefront of modern jazz and fusion. Over the past two decades, Janek has performed and recorded with an astonishing roster of world-class artists, including Mike Stern,…

John Giblin – Bass Another fundamentally simple line but there is a lovely little solo that Giblin double tracked over the top of his own bass part. I transcribed the solo rather than the ‘bass’ part because the bass part is the same as the previous two choruses so it felt like the more productive…

Tony Levin – Bass One of the coolest players in contemporary music, Tony Levin is the first call guy for King Crimson, Peter Gabriel and a host of others too long to mention. Top drawer professionalism. I did this transcription not because I love the tune but because I love the VIDEO! And, most of…

John Giblin – Bass I remember agonising over this tune in the 1980s as I couldn’t get the octaves in the main riff to settle properly. It’s all about the right hand fingering, innit? This is the complete bass part for the opening tune on the 1980 Jon Anderson album, ‘Song Of Seven’, entitled ‘For…

John Giblin – Bass This guy should have had more credit than he received. He did a lot of great work with artists like Jon Anderson, Kate Bush, Chris De Burgh, John Martyn and many others but, for some reason, he seldom gets referenced. A very distinctive fretless voice from the 1980s, her played a…

Jeff Berlin – Bass The Marmite Maestro! Everybody has something to say about Jeff Berlin, especially Jeff Berlin! Whatever your thoughts on the man and his philosophies, you can’t deny his capabilities. There are some absolutely incredible moments in his catalogue but it is apparent that he has suffered from not having the backing of…

Charles Mingus – Bass I wanted to put this one up here because it is relatively easy to play but is a beautiful piece. It doesn’t have to be difficult to be musical, interesting and emotionally satisfying. Mingus doesn’t really get spoken about as a bass player in the way that some of his contemporaries…

Anthony Jackson – Contrabass Guitar You can’t have too much AJ. This one contains a very rare but welcome Anthony Jackson solo! Jackson is renowned for never soloing but there are a few incredible moments out there in which he constructs astonishingly fresh and original statements that are in no way beholden to any of…

Laurence Cottle – Bass Something of a local hero for me, I believe Laurence Cottle comes from the Swansea area which was relatively near where I grew up. I used to see him occasionally at the Fours Bars Inn where he played a couple of times although, at this point, he was already one of…