Where would popular music be without bass? It would certainly be a great deal less primal and groovy, that's for sure. Although often overshadowed by preening show ponies on lead vocals and guitar, the humble bassist is an essential ingredient in the rhythm section.

Lest we forget, it's rhythm that makes people want to get up and shake their asses in the first place. You sure as hell can't dance to an unaccompanied guitar solo. Not without an inadvisable level of chemical assistance, anyway.

In celebration of all things bass, from the spectral thump of Bill Black's upright in Heartbreak Hotel to the avant-garde jazz fusion of Jaco Pastorius and beyond, during Bass Week on MusicRadar we'll bring you a selection of features, interviews and tutorials with a heavy emphasis on life at the bottom end of the frequency spectrum.

Bookmark this page as we'll be adding great new content throughout the week. We've also collected some fantastic bass content from our archive that you might have missed the first time around. Click onwards to see the story so far...