Author: iBass

Larry Graham, once of Sly and the Family Stone and now of Graham Central Station, tells us about the riff that launched a million players. Larry Graham’s iconic basslines became the driving force behind many of Sly and the Family Stone’s groundbreaking hits and paved the way for slap-bass playing the world over. With his own group, Graham Central Station, tracks like ‘Hair’, ‘Pow’ and ‘It’s the Engine in Me’ epitomised Graham’s percussive bass grooves, which incorporate a combination of trademark ‘thumps and plucks’. ‘My sound actually has a lot to do with the way I play and how...

The prodigiously talented doubler tells us about his latest solo outing, Paradigm Shift. Thirty-something bassist Michael Janisch emerged as a force to be reckoned with with his 2010 solo debut album, Purpose Built, yet almost slipped away under the radar while setting up his own record label, only to build up a headwind of critical approval last year with his latest release, Paradigm Shift. A fine upright and electric bass player, Michael’s approach is to build everything around his effortless sense of melody, rhythmic ideas and a killer band of hugely imaginative players. “You get some bass records and...