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Slap Basics With Doug Johns : NAMM Chops
Meet Doug Johns
I think this article is timely in that it coincides with the season for the winter NAMM show. I think everyone should go to at least one NAMM show – it truly is a spectacle to behold. In a nutshell, the show is comprised of just about all the companies in the world that make anything related to the “music industry.” And it’s all there for the public to see.
A useful byproduct of the show is that it has become a prime networking tool for many of the world’s artists. It gives all of us a chance to reconnect, face to face, with the many companies that support our musical endeavors.
One of the useless byproducts of the NAMM show is the NAMM chop.
The what?
Yes, the NAMM chop – or plural, NAMM chops – are something my drummer, Chris Ceja, and I have often joked about. If not kept under control, the NAMM chops can quickly turn you into a NAMM Chump. Now, we’re probably not the first to coin the phrase; and, if I’m to be perfectly honest, I’ve been guilty of it myself a time or two.
So, who is the NAMM Chump?
Imagine yourself walking through the endless halls of the Anaheim Convention Center. Listen closely, and you’ll hear a lot of NAMM chops – not all played by NAMM Chumps, but a fair share of them: “musicians” trying out instruments and proceeding to play every lick they know, usually as loud and as fast as they can, until the well runs dry.
Now, I hate to dog anybody – I truly believe we’re all in this together. And everybody usually learns first by emulating their favorite musicians. But the thing is, nine times out of ten, the NAMM Chump has all the “drop your jaw to the floor” licks, but has nothing to say when playing in an ensemble. The NAMM Chump (especially amongst bassists) doesn’t know his role.
When I say you should know your role, I mean just that. Unless your set is specifically geared toward playing as many notes as fast as you can (which I doubt), we as bass players need to be “laying it down” for the group. Learning to play up, in, and around the pocket is something that takes a lifetime to master. But, knowing your role will be a guaranteed key to becoming a great artist with lots of gigs.
I think a perfect example of a bass player knowing his role is Tower of Power’s Rocco Prestia. Rocco is definitely a master of “laying it down” within a group of stellar musicians. He always gives the song only exactly what it needs, in the deepest, funkiest way, and all without the flash of a million notes.
The most effective way to learn your role as a bass player is just jamming with somebody, sitting in on the bandstand. When playing with an unfamiliar group of musicians, you definitely don’t want to get the look – you know the look – from the guys in the front of the group. It’s the look that says, “Man, you better quit with all that latest video licks crap.” The bass player’s role is to lay down the groove.
Don’t be a NAMM Chump. Techniques are just tools to help you get the car to the racetrack. Once you get there, you need to know your role as a bass player, and serve the song. Groove deep in the pocket and bear your soul.
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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.
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