What's a good bass magazine?

[clokwise]

I'd like to get a subscription to a good bass magazine. I remember years ago having a subscription to guitar world and every month they would do like 5 tabs or so at the end. I'd also like to have something like that just as an encouragement to learn or look at something new I wouldn't have on my own. Plus also have good reading material.

Any suggestions?

[spcjdoty]

I like Bass player. It has good articles, tips and a transcribed tab in each issue

[cire113]

notreble.com its good online magazine sort of and free

[fearceol]

I don't like bass magazines at all, as about 75% of them are advertisements. As for learning/lessons, much better to get a good tutorial where the lessons are sequenced, i.e. one lesson builds on the information from the previous one. Usually with the magazines, there is a guest contributor giving a lesson for that issue, so the lesson in the next issue will probably be completely different. So you end up getting a snippet of this and a snippet of that.

Bottom line for me.....Bass magazines are a waste of time and money. YMMV.

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by cire113

notreble.com its good online magazine sort of and free

www.notreble.com

Have to agree, a great magazine and resource.... to go with TB of course. Great video lessons and feature that are very relevant to today's players.

[MoeGJBeener]

I had a year subscription to bass player magazine. Every issue is littered with tons of advertisements and they're the same every month. Less than half of the magazine seems to be something useful.

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by MoeGJBeener

I had a year subscription to bass player magazine. Every issue is littered with tons of advertisements and they're the same every month. Less than half of the magazine seems to be something useful.

You need the advertisers to pay for the magazines overheads, no advertisers no magazine.
It's a healthy sign that it has advertisers wanting to use their circulation numbers to sell their products through.
The adverts are 'usefull'.....it is those adverts that bring the magazine to you.
When circulation falls below a floor level, advertisers will not see the worth of advertising, as they one by one pull out, the magazine cannot afford to be produced and folds.
Sad thing is that an Internet resource will help fuel this demise, then those adverts will appear on everything you look at or download.
Whether you look at them or not such adverts will slow down everything you do.
An on-line presence is as good as a circulation, it is access to us that makes the difference, not the content of what they carry.

As is true in all walks of life, the reality of the situation is not all it seems.

[Sav'nBass]

Originally Posted by cire113

notreble.com its good online magazine sort of and free

I was going to say that.

[Kmonk]

Originally Posted by fearceol

I don't like bass magazines at all, as about 75% of them are advertisements.

Bottom line for me.....Bass magazines are a waste of time and money. YMMV.

This is why I cancelled my subscription to Bass Player years ago.
I never trusted the reviews either. It's impossible to be objective when reviewing gear if those same manufacturers are also your biggest advertisers.

They do have some good artist interviews though.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by Fergie Fulton

You need the advertisers to pay for the magazines overheads, no advertisers no magazine.
It's a healthy sign that it has advertisers wanting to use their circulation numbers to sell their products through.
The adverts are 'usefull'.....it is those adverts that bring the magazine to you.

That's all true Fergie and I agree to a certain extent. My problem is with the amount of "magazine" you actually get, compared to the amount of advertising. The articules and contributions are useful also, so IMO there should at least be an even proportion of both.

[fearceol]

Originally Posted by Kmonk

They do have some good artist interviews though.

Agreed. However, they are usually take up a page at most and can be read in two minutes.

[MrLenny1]

IMO Bass Player has lessons that build up per issue.
Ed Friedland & John Goldsby lessons build up.
New chart, notation & tab every month also.

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by fearceol

That's all true Fergie and I agree to a certain extent. My problem is with the amount of "magazine" you actually get, compared to the amount of advertising. The articules and contributions are useful also, so IMO there should at least be an even proportion of both.

I agree with you totally, but as i said the reality of the situation will eventually see the end of such magazines....I get mine on IPad these day, as i do with most of my teaching books/material these days.
It is so convenient and easy, but I am also contributing to the demise of the printed word..but such life.
I didn't create that problem, but when a magazine uses pictures to illustrate or demo a point, the on-line one uses video to show it in motion.
When a magazine uses words and pictures in a review, the on-line one let's me see and hear it.
When the magazine does an interview, it is words...and maybe words edited or presented in a context, when the on-line one does it, I see and hear the info from the players mouth.

The presentation of words to explain music and musical ideas needs a certain understanding to be in place and a context to fully understand what is being written about....a video can show and let you hear in seconds what takes pages to write, and what for some readers, a lifetime to understand.