John Patitucci – Double Bass I remember vividly when I first heard John Patitucci. I used to listen to a UK BBC Radio Jazz programme called Jazz Today which was hosted by the late Charles Fox. He used to play some really eclectic stuff and I used to record the programmes onto C90 cassettes (this…

Mo Foster – Bass One of the true legends and pioneers of bass in Britain, Mo Foster passed away from Cancer aged 78 in July, 2023. Michael Ralph “Mo” Foster (22 December 1944 – 3 July 2023) was an English multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, solo artist, author, and public speaker. Through a career spanning over half a century,…

Dave Brown – Bass Dave Brown was the bass player for Carlos Santana between 1867-71 and 1974-76 and was the man who played the bass with Santana at Woodstock. Not a flashy player, Brown was the perfect foil for the guitar player. I chose this tune to transcribe because I wanted something that was almost…

Nick Beggs – Bass I had to do this one so I could say that the whole album is on here. This is another Prog masterpiece from the 2013 Steven Wilson recording ‘The Raven That Refused To Sing’. Some really interesting ideas all over this record. The bass playing isn’t massively challenging but there are…

Nick Beggs – Bass Just working my way through the Steven Wilson masterpiece, ‘The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories). This is a shorter (5 minute) track ‘The Pin Drop’/ The chart is not microscopically accurate as there are subtle differences in the phrasing of many of the triplets that he utilises throughout…

Nick Beggs/Steven Wilson – Bass The discographies are ambiguous. A lot of it sounds like Nick Beggs and it it clearly him on the Chapman Stick sections. There are, nevertheless, sections where there is a bass AND a Stick playing so I guess that is why they both get a credit but I think it…

Gary Willis – Bass I had the Gary Willis bass video and it was a real eyeopener in terms of understanding how he got such control over his phrasing and ghost notes. His right hand technique is incredibly idiosyncratic and he uses the fingers of his right hand to mute the strings he plays rather…

Geddy Lee – Bass Another chunk of Weinrib, this is the bass part for the tune ‘Red Lenses’ from the 194 Rush album ‘Grace Under Pressure’. These were the 1980s albums that a lot of us struggled with – synths, reggae, 4 minute tunes – we couldn’t cope. There is much to like about the…

Composer – J. S. Bach These Cello Suites are great for working on your reading chops as you end up with a musical experience that is fairly satisfying (isn’t practising Bass a bit boring sometimes?). I have tweaked this to allow for four string players to be able to do (the notes in brackets can…

Frank Zappa – Bass According to the interweb, Zappa plays the bass guitar on this choon. Who am I to argue with the interweb? I am not a masshoosive fan of Frank Zappa although I very much respect his artistry. He took the whole thing into areas where no-one else dared to go and his…