The decline of Bass player magazine

[Pete Academy]

I Su subscribe to BGM and look forward to every issue, despite its faults. The obvious problem with Bass Player mag is, for me, not knowing who players and bands are across the pond.

A difficult job all round. It must be hell for the editors and publishers.

[sime17]

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1346244304' post='1786909']
The latest copy of Bass Guitar mag arrived on my mat this morning. A lovely surprise as my subscription ran out about 5 issues ago. Just wish I hadn't gone out and bought it yesterday!
[/quote]

The same thing happened to me, a copy just arrived out of the blue , only thankfully I hadn't bought one in the shop.

I stopped my post subscription a few months back cos there was never enough in it of interest to me to be worth buying. I meant to ring them and send this random copy back but I've been too busy in work to ring (in office hours). However, temptation got the better of me tonight and I opened it for a bit of light wc reading (dads have gotta have a bit of 'me' time) and all too predictably for me: three gear reviews of only mild interest and nowt else. The muso features were a bit like reading a Warwick endorsers list: few I'd heard of and none of interest to me (and sorry, but that's how I feel about a multi-page Jaco feature too, if only because even if I [i]was[/i] interested it's all been written before, or available on the net). Much of the gear reviewed was 'coffee table' and/or ridiculously expensive and therefore didn't speak to me

Fair dos, I know it can't be easy to find content that appeals to all, we're a small but diverse bunch us bass players and so much really is niche appeal. If they just covered more popular people/gear that I'd like to see then that would be equally uninteresting to many of you guys. Like Owen I remember before the interweb when the monthly bass mag was a genuine excitement but I defo wouldn't subscribe again, there are barely one or two copies a year that I'd be interested in enough to buy.

Edited August 29, 2012 by sime17

[yorks5stringer]

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1346268049' post='1787307']
I Su subscribe to BGM and look forward to every issue, despite its faults. The obvious problem with Bass Player mag is, for me,[b] not knowing who players and bands are across the pond.[/b]

A difficult job all round. It must be hell for the editors and publishers.
[/quote]

Worry not, I don't know who half the players from the UK are in BGM....!

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1346268049' post='1787307']
The obvious problem with Bass Player mag is, for me, not knowing who players and bands are across the pond.
[/quote]

I don't think it matters. If they have something interesting to say, then I'll check out their music. It rather be finding out about new players. I already know plenty about the few that admire.

[xilddx]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1346273051' post='1787438']
I don't think it matters. If they have something interesting to say, then I'll check out their music. It rather be finding out about new players. I already know plenty about the few that admire.
[/quote]
Absolutely.

Loved a Hischke interview I read recently somewhere.

[gafbass02]

I've said it before but back in the days of bassist I used to love the 'My bass is' feature. Always wanted to see my blue jazz in there. I've still got all my old bassist mags, and as someone else has said, I still read them! Much more than my BGM's of which I have every issue.
(if anyone would part with the copy of bassist with flea on the front I'd soil myself in joy, I think it's the only one I missed due to extreme poverty!)

I find I'm less and less bothered by BGM's appalling repetition these days. Endless interviews from a template: 'No I don't play five strings, I don't slap because I can't, my first bass was a Squier precision, I've still got it, I play a p bass cause it cuts through' repeat ad nauseum etc etc
Then three reviews of basses over a grand at best, and a ton of blobs and sticks at the back.

Look at bassist and as well as the excellent 'my bass is' there's 'classic basses', excellent and varied reviews of things like transmitters, wah pedals, multi fx, odd little bits and bobs, budget and mid and top end basses etc.
I'll give the latest editor a go for a few issues, there are signs it's improving.
It's somehow missed the mark for a long time now, but after bassist went under im still grateful just to have a bassists magazine in this Internet age. I buy it more out of habit and 'wanting it to be there' than for the info these days.
Just wish there was more pages of varied and real world gear than endless players 'interviews by rote' and contributors being all 'zen'.
Tell me about basses, Amps and bassy/gigging gadgets and stuff I might not know I need!
Live sound tips, gigging tips, funny gig stories page maybe.
Long post, sorry.

Edited August 30, 2012 by gafbass02

[miles'tone]

God used to love Bassist. I wrote in once as a kid trying to find out what model Rickenbacker Mani's Jackson pollock-esque one was. They actually printed my letter and I got my answer 4 months later! Wow, remind me never to take t'net for granted. I love the 'any answer in a heart beat' age we now live in, and thank god for Basschat!

btw - Mani played a Ric 4005 back in the day popfans -but you already knew that of course

[Mr Fretbuzz]

I like a hard copy of magazines. My dad was a lithographic printer of cartons, cigarette packets etc and he used to take me around the factory when I was a kid. I just love the smell of fresh print :-) ....

So if you see someone sniffing the bass magazines in WHS, it's me :-D

[Oopsdabassist]

[quote name='sime17' timestamp='1346270323' post='1787355']
The same thing happened to me, a copy just arrived out of the blue , only thankfully I hadn't bought one in the shop.

I stopped my post subscription a few months back cos there was never enough in it of interest to me to be worth buying. I meant to ring them and send this random copy back but I've been too busy in work to ring (in office hours).[/quote]

Read the Blurb on the back of the address sheet, I got one too and it seems they miss me, and sent out a complimentary copy to tempt me back, not reached the jaco bit yet, just had a quick browse over breakfast. So far its seems the same as it ever was...so won't be renewing my subs.

[seashell]

[quote name='Mr Fretbuzz' timestamp='1346325419' post='1787838']
I like a hard copy of magazines. My dad was a lithographic printer of cartons, cigarette packets etc and he used to take me around the factory when I was a kid. I just love the smell of fresh print :-) ....

So if you see someone sniffing the bass magazines in WHS, it's me :-D
[/quote]

Me too, I love a good sniff of a new mag.

Also, you can have fun defacing a hard copy. My Ex (who is still an occasioanl visitor to my flat) seeks out my old copies of BGM and looks for pictures of bass players who he deems to be pretentious looking or annoying in some other way. Such as wearing an unacceptable facial expresion or hat. Or indeed just being a bass player.
Then he writes 'knob' or 'pnut' on their foreheads and does speech bubbles saying 'I am a w***er'.
He derives great pleasure from this and I hate to spoil his fun.
After all, he is only 46

Edited August 30, 2012 by seashell

[zero9]

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1346229487' post='1786640']
No.
There are [i]magazine[b]s[/b][/i] for bass players...
And a couple of good intyweb forums, too.
[/quote]

Great thanks for that .

At least being on here means I won't miss out too much. My interest in Bassist / Bass Player declined when I joined this forum. I guess it's tough making a magazine work (financially) in the digital age.

[Mr Fretbuzz]

Oh dear seashell... I was planning on wearing my cowboy hat with a real western diamondback rattlesnake hatband and rattle..but not so sure now..wouldn't want him writing on my photo :-D

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='mike257' timestamp='1346234028' post='1786717']
I think there's far more value in the real human opinions and input you get from discussing the topics on a place like this,[/quote]

I mused about this while trawling WHS for some card this aft. I can't remember the last time I bought any musical instrument magazine; possibly around Xmas/NY time. Of those who bought one recently who has found enough in it that couldn't be found in this forum, Youtube or a simple i'net search that justified the cover price?
Hasten to add, it's not the cost of magazines that put me off (though I do object to the price going up to justify the [i]free [/i]CD/mug coaster on some guitar mags); it's just that I've seldom found anything worth buying of late.

[daz]

t seems strange that I only see 2 bass magazines on the shelves, yet I see [b]five[/b] drum magazines ?

I know we often have two or even more guitards in a band and all sorts of people are amateur guitar players, who might pick up one of the [b]dozen [/b]guitar mags.

But surely every band has only one drummer and bass player, often shared between bands. So how come so few bass mags and so many drum ones ?

Edited September 19, 2012 by daz

[wingnutkj]

[quote name='daz' timestamp='1348076682' post='1808990']
But surely every band has only one drummer and bass player, often shared between bands. So how come so few bass mags and so many drum ones ?
[/quote]

It's a status thing - being able to read doesn't carry the same prestige for bassists as it does for drummers!

[4to5to6]

Yeah, me too... I didn't renew my Bass Player Magazine subscription when it ran out about six months ago even though I've collected every single issue since day one. It was a really, really tough decision to make but everything from the layout to the articles to the thin paper and cover ink coming off in my hands forced me to stop. The shipping label was always put in the worst possible spot and was unremovable.

I do think Bass Guitar Magazine in the UK is a decent read though. I'm in Canada and love reading the articles and gear reviews on what's happening and available on the UK side of the pond. Maybe that's a small part of the appeal to me but the quality is there in every way similar to the early days of Bass Player. I'm an international subscriber so they are shipped in an envelope wirh no ugly stickers which really appeals to me also. I always look forward to latest edition of Bass Guitar Magazine arriving so whatever it is that grabs me, it has it.

PS. Related to this topic... I'm still searching for issues 2, 23, 25 of BGM to complete my collection and will pay insanely high to get the last few! PM me please.

[mike257]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1348076154' post='1808978']
I mused about this while trawling WHS for some card this aft. I can't remember the last time I bought any musical instrument magazine; possibly around Xmas/NY time. Of those who bought one recently who has found enough in it that couldn't be found in this forum, Youtube or a simple i'net search that justified the cover price?
Hasten to add, it's not the cost of magazines that put me off (though I do object to the price going up to justify the [i]free [/i]CD/mug coaster on some guitar mags); it's just that I've seldom found anything worth buying of late.
[/quote]

I've had a cursory flick through some of the guitar magazines while loitering in front of the shelf but they really do seem to just recycle the same old. The only muso magazine I used to always make time for was Sound On Sound, had a subscription for years, but even that seems to have succumbed to the curse of more adverts than decent content when I've picked up the odd one lately.

[Pete Academy]

My local Smiths don't stock it anymore. The latest issue has a Marcus interview, but I'm not too bothered. Far too many adverts has messed it up.

[Doddy]

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1348604784' post='1815967']
My local Smiths don't stock it anymore. The latest issue has a Marcus interview, but I'm not too bothered. Far too many adverts has messed it up.
[/quote]
There's no Marcus interview in the latest issue of Bass Player . He's not been featured for a while.

In fairness,the October issue is the best for a ages (I think)...except for the glaring spelling error on the cover .
Bryan Beller,Juan Alderete,Rob Wasserman,Keith Roscoe-good stuff.

[Machines]

I get BGM every month even though my sub ran out. Might renew at Christmas.

Bass Player I bought maybe twice in 2006 then realised quickly it was content light and mostly adverts for US products.

[Stance]

First of all, nice Topic.

I´ve been buying BP since the early 90´s (and trying to collect the numbers I´ve missed-it wasn´t easy trying to get the mag here in Portugal), but as I grew I found less and less time to read, what I had already read a dozen times (how to set up bass, strings test, best cab etc, etc). I know things have changed ( a lot), and there´s always tons of new gear coming and new players seeking info, but from what I´ve seen in the last issue (probably a year ago), the format, pics and content has grown a little detached from what BP used to be (back in the 90´s).

As someone said previously, there´s only so much you can say about bass, that either you get more pages of better content or you loose terrain to the web (forums, etc) and other publications. Unfortunatelly for BP (and for me, who still likes reading it on paper the latter is winning.

Maybe they get a hold of these comments and start changing things.

[hollywoodrox]

I sometimes get it if it has something of interest in it like interview with a player Im interested in or a review of some piece of kit, I do prefer to read hard copy magazines, also like somebody said on here I enjoy reading my old magazines, I am a great fan of Guitar world in the mid to late 80s as it focused on a lot of bands i was interested in and had great features nd the letters page was awesome with people arguing over why player was superior to player B which made for fun readiing like forums on the net, it,s not very interesting now and I rarely buy it. I would buy the drum magazines if they had good interviews in them, I have really enjoyed the special put out by rhythm magazine called 100 drum heroes, I have seen some of these book/azines done for guitar, does anyone know if they have done a bass one? 100 bass heroes would be a superb read, I find I read stuff like this over and over again. I enjoy reading the old Bassist magazines I am going to have to try to score some old ones on ebay, I notice though that the prices some people charge are a bit OTT now, I hate having to pay through the nose for mags i have mistakenly thrown out in the past, some fetch £11 or £12 now on ebay. Old magazines are invaluable for preserving that time machine feel that you are still in the mid 80s hehe.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1348692947' post='1817112']
In fairness,the October issue is the best for a ages (I think)...except for the glaring spelling error on the cover .
[/quote]

Ok, I give up - where is the spelling error?

[miles'tone]

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1348692947' post='1817112']

There's no Marcus interview in the latest issue of Bass Player . He's not been featured for a while.


[/quote]

Marcus is indeed on the latest cover, just saw it in Smiths.

Had a flick, put it back. Advert, advert,advert......

[arthurhenry]

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1350995066' post='1845949']
Ok, I give up - where is the spelling error?
[/quote]
Aristcrats Aristocrats