Bass Player vs. Bass Guitar

[TheSpook]

I'm playing with the notion of possibly wanting to subscribe to a bass magazine or two...the two sticking out being Bass Player and an UK based mag called Bass Guitar. BP I'm very familiar with through not only the very frequent mentions of it here and in other bass circles, but also the fact that their Complete Bass Player book was among my absolute first purchases (the other being Guy Pratt's My Bass and Other Animals) on the road of pursuing learning to play bass. As for BG, I've just seen it a few times on and off, and it looks to be an interesting magazine.

But, that said, have any of you ever read BG? Is it worth the conversion rate if I were to subscribe to it? And last, but certainly not least, are there other publications besides BP and BG?

[troy2003]

I know bass magazines are few and far between,I loved Bass Guitar magazine-awesome.I subscribed to Bass Player for 2 years-very very mediocre,at best.They have a huge variety,I will give them that,but mostly featured a lot of artists I cared nothing about.A few issues ere decent,but once my subscription expired,I didn't even think about renewing it.

[Visirale]

Originally Posted by troy2003

I know bass magazines are few and far between,I loved Bass Guitar magazine-awesome.I subscribed to Bass Player for 2 years-very very mediocre,at best.They have a huge variety,I will give them that,but mostly featured a lot of artists I cared nothing about.A few issues ere decent,but once my subscription expired,I didn't even think about renewing it.

What kind of music are you into?

I like Bass Player because my taste in music is pretty eclectic so I like to hear from a lot of different players from a lot of different genres (although I could care less about the metal bassists or pop-punk ones...).

[Pete C]

Bass player all the way. Though there is a free internet magazine advertised somewhere on this site that everyone should check out that's as good or better.

[steve21]

Bass Player bores me montly a lot of the time. Some of the stuff in their pages is amazing, and the writing/interviewing is all good... just their choice of articles is boring for me. I don't care about some 20-something Berkeley school of music teaching double bass player chick who sings in 9 languages.

Or Randy Jackson.

Or Anthony Jackson, for that matter.



Or the dude that plays bass for Jimmy Kimmel live.

[Visirale]

Originally Posted by steve21

Bass Player bores me montly a lot of the time. Some of the stuff in their pages is amazing, and the writing/interviewing is all good... just their choice of articles is boring for me. I don't care about some 20-something Berkeley school of music teaching double bass player chick who sings in 9 languages.

Or Randy Jackson.

Or Anthony Jackson, for that matter.



Or the dude that plays bass for Jimmy Kimmel live.

This shows how different tastes can be... Because those are all people I am very interested in, haha. Who would you prefer to be covered?

[Pete C]

I don't care about some 20-something Berkeley school of music teaching double bass player chick who sings in 9 languages.

Really? That article was really interesting for me.

[Quadzilla]

I thought I heard that Bass Guitar meg (here in the states) went out of business??

[PhatBasstard]

Originally Posted by Quadzilla

I thought I heard that Bass Guitar meg (here in the states) went out of business??

He's talking about the (far superior) UK mag of that name. The (dumbly named) US version was put out by Guitar World and went belly up (they should of called it Bass World).

[TheSpook]

Originally Posted by PhatBasstard

She's talking about the (far superior) UK mag of that name. The (dumbly named) US version was put out by Guitar World and went belly up (they should of called it Bass World).

Corrected that for ya.

Even before I started this thread, I was already thinking about leaning towards Bass Guitar...'cause besides what's already been said about Bass Player, BP seems like it's becoming the "WE LOVE RANDY JACKSON!!" magazine. And there would be nothing wrong with that if it weren't for the fact that it is because of all the freakin' American Idol hype. While I certainly recognize Jackson for being the great bass player he is, I cannot help but be annoyed by the fact that it has taken a 'reality'/Star Search-alike show to make him 'more familiar'...

...And let's not even go into all of that 'dawg' talk he feels he needs to do to be 'cool' on AI...

Anyway, as I somewhat stated before, the only thing making me not completely pull the trigger on a BG subscription is that darned conversion rate. But, I'll probably end up eventually pulling it 'cause from everything I'm reading, BG seems to be the better of the two mags. And it's been my general experience for the last few years that just like television shows, UK mags are better done than American ones...further proof that I sometimes cannot help but think I'm a Brit trapped in a Yank's body...

[Visirale]

Originally Posted by TheSpook

Corrected that for ya.

Even before I started this thread, I was already thinking about leaning towards Bass Guitar...'cause besides what's already been said about Bass Player, BP seems like it's becoming the "WE LOVE RANDY JACKSON!!" magazine. And there would be nothing wrong with that if it weren't for the fact that it is because of all the freakin' American Idol hype. While I certainly recognize Jackson for being the great bass player he is, I cannot help but be annoyed by the fact that it has taken a 'reality'/Star Search-alike show to make him 'more familiar'...

...And let's not even go into all of that 'dawg' talk he feels he needs to do to be 'cool' on AI...

Anyway, as I somewhat stated before, the only thing making me not completely pull the trigger on a BG subscription is that darned conversion rate. But, I'll probably end up eventually pulling it 'cause from everything I'm reading, BG seems to be the better of the two mags. And it's been my general experience for the last few years that just like television shows, UK mags are better done than American ones...further proof that I sometimes cannot help but think I'm a Brit trapped in a Yank's body...

I really liked the Randy Jackson article. Sure he's gotten a lot more famous because of AI but I love him for the work he has done as a producer. He's a prime example of how to make a living with doing what you love. He plays bass but he can go beyond that role and step into the producer's shoes. He's one of my role models for my career path... minus the AI stuff.

[Barkless Dog]

The UK guitar & bass rags kick all other US guitar & bass rags hands down.


I don't mind spending the extra money because they are crammed so full of content. They last for months, you can still go back and read the tiny articles crammed everywhere.


Bass player is like a comic book now. A quick read and thats it. Also I still hold it against bass-layer for their one sided reviews.

[PhatBasstard]

Originally Posted by TheSpook

Corrected that for ya.

Oops.