Roger2611

I used to be an avid buyer of the old bassist magazine and still have quite a few copies which I dig out and re-read from time to time, for the last few years I have been playing guitar in a band and was buying both Guitar and Bass and the now defunct Guitar Buyer magazines, I have to admit that towards the end I got increasingly fed up with the "metal" direction Guitar buyer seemed to be going and I stopped buying it. I decided to give BGM a try and have brought 3 or 4 issues but I have really struggled to engage with them. I think the bass world is really lacking some of the big personalities of old and I also think that mainstream music is missing those equally big basslines of old (the likes of Stevie Wonder, Pino with both Paul Young and Gary Numan, the whole new romantic scene with the likes of Heaven 17 and Duran Duran etc) I maybe wrong but the bass doesn't seem to be as cool as it once was. I had commented to my wife whilst looking at a recent issue that nearly every bass reviewed was a 5 or 6 string monster offering it's future well heeled owner little change from 3 grand, something that after 20 plus years of playing to a good standard I still cannot ever envisage paying for a guitar, especially a brand new instrument! I am not afraid of spending decent money on a bass but find the high end exotica often reviewed of little or no interest and judging by the bands I am seeing they are not finding their way on to many stages. Ok so to me you have limited perzazz to work with at the moment and sometimes it feels like there is a wealth of really low budget starter (and give up quickly) basses and lots of ultra high end (if only I could get a mortgage) basses and not a lot of exciting ones in between, so what would I like to see...you cant beat a good old shootout....how does a standard stingray compare against a similar priced Ibanez or Fender, what else fits the bill, what barges it's way into the shootout and says "I might not have the badge image but I can beat you all for quality and sound" I would like to see back to back comparisons between digital amps, transistor amps and good old heavy valve amps...I would like to see recommendations about used bases and guides as to their values and finally I would like to see recommendations as to where to find those great basslines that people must still be writing. Whilst writing this I was racking my brain to think about what I really liked about the BGM's that I brought and one series of articles stood head and shoulders above everything else for me and that was what other musicians look for in a bass player, having just gone back from guitar to full time bass I found those articles really informative. I would like to fall in love with your magazine and I will keeppicking up issues and see where it goes