Editor's Letter

Bass Family,

Well, here we are, the debut issue of Bass Magazine. How did we get here? It’s a long story with lots of plot twists, but we’ll grab a beer sometime and I’ll fill you in then. In short, when the world’s #1 magazine for bass players was sold to a European publisher last year, it turned into a completely different beast — and the folks behind its 30 years of success wondered how to keep the spirit of “digging deeper” alive. Here is the result, and we couldn’t be more excited to bring you this issue, and more so, this magazine.

Not one bit of this would’ve been possible without the amazing group of writers and editors that we have on our roster. Seeing the names Chris Jisi, Elton Bradman, Jim Roberts, Ed Friedland, Karl Coryat, Jonathan Herrera, Paul Haggard, John Goldsby, Rod Taylor, Freddy Villano, Patrick Pfeiffer, Bill Leigh, or our GM Tim Hill on our masthead, I can’t believe that we’re all back at it together again so quickly. In the beginning when our core group of Chris, Elton, Tim, and myself first embarked on this, we knew we had some mountains to climb, and gathering our team was step one.

Of course there are so many other people involved. The entire bass community rallied around us upon our launch, and all of the artists, publicists, gear companies, luthiers, and bass experts have been instrumental in making this happen. There is no big corporation or publishing company behind this one bit; everything comes directly from us. Every single ad you see in these digital pages was placed with a blind leap of faith. We went to gear companies with only a tablet filled with bullet points, a few numbers scribbled on notepads, and the ambition that we would make this thing work. Contracts were sealed with handshakes, hugs, and the promise that we wouldn’t let each other down. And we won’t. If that doesn’t sum up the amazing bass world around us, then I’m not sure what does. It’s all about love, respect, and supporting one another, and always has been.

And finally, the content. We’re beside ourselves looking at the editorial calendars and layouts for our first series of issues. We have some amazing things in store that we can’t wait to reveal to you in the coming months, but as for this issue, we’re beyond stoked. I’ve been a massive Radiohead fan for decades and as soon as I became a bass journalist I set some goals, and atop those goals was interviewing Colin Greenwood. I had never known of him doing interviews and always wanted to know which bassists influenced his playing, how he writes his lines, and how such a patient player can create such seismic moments when he wants to. Now those questions are finally answered (big thanks to RS!). Additionally, we have phenomenal features on Tal Wilkenfeld and her new album; we get the latest from Victor Wooten, tons of interviews with our favorite artists, and lots of in-depth reviews. And we’re thrilled to bring you columns from the bass experts who have been writing them for three decades. This issue, and each that will follow, is bursting at the seams with content.

So dig in and enjoy. Don’t hesitate to hit me up and let me know your thoughts on our new zine at: jon@bassmagazine.com, and follow us on our socials and our website to stay in the loop. Cheers to the next chapter, and cheers to the future of bass!

Jon D’Auria Editor-In-Chief