Ralph Towner – Gutiar Ralph Towner (born March 1, 1940)[1] is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion, trumpet and French horn.[2] Biography [edit] Towner was born into a musical family in Chehalis, Washington, United States. His mother was a piano teacher and his father a trumpet player. Towner learned to improvise on the piano at…

Al Di Meola – Guitar I feel able to include this chap as he is a bit of a failed bass player (like most guitarists). He has tried to record bass on a few tracks but, generally, his playing is a little stilted and he has to call upon other professional bass players to help…

Richard Bona – Bass I remember reading about Richard Bona when he first appeared and was captured by the headline ‘the African Jaco’. ‘Got to be worth a look’, I thought. I got hold of his ‘Celebration’ CD which is great and has some great playing on it but, apart from some great grooves, was…

Stefano Cerri – Bass I know nothing about this guy beyond his contribution to the 1982 Jon Anderson album ‘Animation’. He is an Italian bass player and highly though of but most of the biographical information on line is in Italian so I am afraid that I will have to leave it there. To be…

Andy West – Bass Another crippling part from the great Andy West, this is tough to read and tough to play (and, dare I say it, tough to transcribe). I tried transcribing the 7:4 sections as 7:4 but it was unreadable so I plumped for the alternating 4:4/3:4 which does make it a little easier…

Mo Foster – Bass I vividly remember when this album came out. I wasn’t a massive Scorpions fan and hadn’t really heard of Michael Schenker at the time but I had head of Simon Phillips who played drums on this album. It was only today that I found out that it was Mo Foster who…

Jack Bruce – Bass ? Well, I am not entirely sure. There are three bass players listed on the ‘Animation’ album cover and on Wikipedia, Stefano Cerri, John Giblin and Jack Bruce. The tune ‘Spider’ did not make it onto the album but was released as the B-side (remember them – ask your Dad (or…

Mike Rutherford – Bass Mike Rutherford is a very underrated musician and his bass playing is like the second dog star, you cannot see it because the other star shining in front of it masks the light coming from behind it. As the engine room of Genesis, Rutherford has been the bass behind some legendary…

Dave Holland – Bass No Holland pyrotechnics this time, just a light Latin tinged blues from Holland’s Octet album ‘Pathways’. The album was recorded live at New York City’s Birdland jazz club. and released on March 23, 2010 via Dare2 label. An easy read with only one phrase that might catch you out. If in doubt,…

Robin Phillips – Bass I love Solstice and I love Robin’s playing. This is an incomplete transcription of the opening track of the recent Solstice album, ‘Light Up’. Some really strong playing but the problem (this isn’t a problem) is that Robin’s bass sound so HUGE it is difficult to determine the exact notes that…