NT10: Top 10 Bass Player Interviews

When Snarky Puppy snagged the Grammy for Best R&B Performance, it was a victory for independent artists everywhere. Many called the group an underdog but their track “Something,” featuring Lalah Hathaway, is an undeniably phenomenal song. The song’s music video went viral on YouTube with over two million views and has catapulted the band into the limelight. And while a...

Think of your favorite reggae song and chances are what comes to you is actually the bass line. That’s because the bass line is often the actual musical hook of the song, which leaves people humming for days. No reggae music has reached as many people as the songs of Bob Marley, and no reggae bass lines have been as...

Last month we shared a bass cam video of Periphery bassist Adam “Nolly” Getgood performing “Make Total Destroy” live at Manchester Academy. The clip was a hit with our readers, who especially took note of Getgood’s ridiculously awesome tone. Getgood got his musical start on piano before turning his attention to guitar, where years of practice paid off in immense...

If you’re a bassist who spends any time on Youtube, there’s no doubt you’ve run into at least one video by MarloweDK. After watching all his great playalongs and lessons for over a year, we decided it was time to find out more about the man himself, Thomas Risell. Here’s our interview… We know you attended the Copenhagen Music Conservatory....

Sometimes great things come in small packages. That’s true in the case of Royal Blood, a British rock duo that gets a gargantuan sound that rivals four or five-piece bands. One of the key ingredients to that sound is the massive bass tone delivered by Mike Kerr. Kerr started Royal Blood with drummer Ben Thatcher in early 2012 after discovering...

Bassist, singer and songwriter Rhonda Smith‘s musical resume is as impressive as they come. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia to a musical family, Rhonda started on baritone horn, keyboard and guitar. Picking up the bass, she said, was all thanks to her brother. “He brought a bass home one day and told me not to touch it.” Most recently, Rhonda...

How do you make pop music cool again? One way is to have Dirty Loops cover it. Since posting their cover of Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” on YouTube, the Swedish trio has caught the attention of fans across the world. Their latest cover of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” has gotten over 1.3 million views in about a month’s time. A key...

The evolution of heavy metal has presented a plethora of extreme subgenres: thrash metal, death metal, tech metal… the list goes on and on. But while the term extreme metal covers lots of territory, you can’t talk about extreme metal bass playing without talking about Alex Webster. As a founding member of the iconic band Cannibal Corpse, Webster has spent...

Late last month we broke the news that Felix Pastorius would be joining the Yellowjackets, to fill the shoes of cofounder Jimmy Haslip while he takes a hiatus. This came as a shock to many fans as the switch would end the veteran bassist’s 30-year tenure with the group. The last name is no coincidence: Felix is the son of...

Following our review of John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension’s To The One, we had the chance to ask bassist Etienne Mbappé a few questions about the album, working with Joe Zawinul, and about all the great bass that comes out of his native Cameroon. How did the “To The One” project come together? I met John McLaughlin in 2002...