Latest
Respecting the Music With Phil Baker: I’ve Got the Blues
by Phil Baker –
Things happen when cultures collide–some good, some bad, but always interesting. The Crusades, when medieval Europe clashed with the Muslim world, led to the Renaissance. US soldiers, exposed to early twentieth-century European culture during World War I, produced the roaring twenties. African religion, brought to the new world by African slaves, mixed with Catholicism to form voodoo in Haiti, santeria in Cuba, and candomble in Brazil. The music of Africa and Europe also mixed in the new world to create salsa in Cuba, samba in Brazil, and the Blues in America.
I consider the creation of the Blues one of the most important and influential musical developments of the last few centuries. The influence of the Blues can be found in almost every genre of music. Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff,” the Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” and the theme to the television show “Batman” are just a few examples. One could draw a family tree and show how the blues spawned jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, and, more recently, funk and rock and roll. The iconoclast Jimi Hendrix combined the Delta Blues with a Fender Stratocaster and a Marshall amp to forever change the guitar and rock. All the great rock guitarists studied the Blues. Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, Keith Richards, and Joe Walsh are just a few. What do you think separates Eric Clapton from the legions of fleet-fingered guitar slingers? It is the depth of expression he gained from studying the Blues. I think the golden age of rock, 1967-1972, was epitomized by
the prime of the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, ZZ Top, and Jimi Hendrix. All were heavily influenced by the Blues. The corporate hair bands that followed were pitiful and soulless. This vacuum of emotion and expression led to the revolt of the grunge bands, full of rebellion and angst but lacking innovation and depth. Woodstock, almost forty years ago, is still the high water mark of rock and pop music and culture. Can you imagine the music and fashion of 1928 at Woodstock?!?
Some of the most easily recognizable trademarks of the Blues are the “Blue notes.” These notes are found between the minor and major thirds and the fourth and sharp fourth. On instruments that can’t play these notes (piano, organ, etc.) there developed licks that trilled between these notes. Guitarists started bending strings to get at these notes! The Blues is the first genre, to my knowledge, that combines minor and major tonality.
Playing over the changes of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” or learning the slap bass part to Larry Graham’s “Pow” can be challenging but you have not had your butt kicked until you’ve tried to solo over a slow blues.
What do you think of when somebody says “The Blues?” John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in black suits? Dark smoky nightclubs? It may be cliché to think that the Blues represents sorrow and hardship but there is usually some truth found in a cliché. I value the time I’ve spent in Blues bands and studying the Blues and would recommend both to any aspiring musician to broaden and temper the depth of their musicality.
The Blues, like pornography, might be hard to define but easy to recognize. Anybody who has played a distorted electric guitar or listened to Elvis’ “You Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hounddog” has been touched by the Blues.
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @kilianduartebass @meridian_guitars @adamovicbasses @marleaux_bassguitars @jcrluthier @sandbergguitars @ibanezuk_official @dingwallguitars @torzalguitars @ariaguitars
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @bacchusguitars @franz.bassguitars @mendesluthieria @ramabass.ok @meridian_guitars @adamovicbasses @shukerbassguitars @fantabass.it @andys_vintage_guitars @valdesbasses
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @murraykuun_guitars @ja.guitars @combe_luthier @overloadguitars @kevinhidebass @franz.bassguitars @indra_guitars @petercrowdesign @baboomin_bass @jcrluthier
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @sandbergguitars @benevolent_basses @rayriendeau @olintobass @wonkorbasses @bite.guitars @adamovicbasses @maruszczyk_instruments @skervesenguitars @ramabass.ok
Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
Visit online:
Official Website
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Spotify
Gear News: Fender Unveils Highly Anticipated Vintera III Series
New Music: Oteil Burbridge & Lamar Williams Jr. New Single, Hush
Interview With Bassist Virginia Franks
Nathan East, Echoes of a Lineage – April/May 2026 Issue
Gear Review: Italia Leather Straps
Mar 2 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Mar 9 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Mar 16 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Mar 23 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram