From the age of eight, Ellen Alaverdyan has built a huge online following as @ellenplaysbass, which has earned her both famous fans and constant support from the bass world—all of whom have witnessed her rapid progress on the instrument. Born to a guitar player father (Hovak), and a makeup artist/costume designer mother (Marine), Ellen’s love of music and art came early and was nurtured from the start. From the age of two, Ellen grew up around family friend Victor Wooten, who has served as a bass mentor for her, as well as one of her biggest supporters. 

Thanks to years of videos in which she dives into new playing techniques and styles, and takes on increasingly difficult compositions, Ellen’s reputation has evolved from her being viewed as an adorable student to a serious player. Those prolific clips have documented her growth, from working through Beatles and Motown tunes to mastering Jaco, Rush, and Tool tracks. She even found herself onstage performing alongside guitar guru Steve Vai at tour stop where he requested her playing personally.

Having just turned 14, Ellen has delved into the world of songwriting with the June 1st release of her debut album, Take Off, featuring her band Jaminai. The locked-down group features her father Hovak, keyboardist Murzo, and drum great Gregg Bissonette behind the kit. Comprised of ten tunes that mix everything from rock to funk to soul, the album showcases Ellen’s already impressive soloing, along with her voice as a songwriter, and literal voice as a singer. The album-opening title track kicks off with Ellen blazing through tasteful licks, while “13 Town” gives a tip of the hat to Jaco, and the sentimental “Always With You” finds Ellen trading solos with her dad. A well-rounded album from start to finish, this record is a superb debut from everyone’s favorite rising bass star, who is showing us just how bright her future really is. 

How did Jaminai form?

We started a band with me, my dad, and our keyboard player Murzo, and we were looking for a drummer for a while. We couldn’t find one that we wanted to work with, but we also intended to ask Gregg Bissonette to record one of our songs. After we worked with him he mentioned at one point that he was in Jaminai, so then we made things official. 

So you went from needing a drummer to landing one of the best drummers. What is it like playing in a rhythm section with Gregg? 

It’s so much fun working with him as a person and he’s a true professional as a musician. He’s also a very funny guy to be around and we all have such a good time in the room together.

How cool is it to create music and be in a band with your dad? 

It’s great to be able to take part in writing the music with him and actually creating our own sound instead of playing a different band’s music. That’s the part that I love. It feels terrific to be in charge of the writing and not just be the bass player. Doing it all with my dad is special. He’s obviously been a part of my playing since I started so it feels natural to write together and play together.

What was the songwriting process like for this album?

It’s very collaborative. Me, Murzo, and my dad composed all of it. I wrote the bass parts and the solos and contributed writing the melodies, and my dad and Murzo had a lot of the parts and ideas. These songs came together when we all sat down to write. I’m working a lot on forming melodies, phrases, and solos, and this process helped all of that. I try recording while singing the bass part and then I experiment from there. And when it comes to me, it comes to me.

Does singing and playing at the same time come naturally to you?

I’ve gotten more and more comfortable doing it the more I’ve started working to improve my vocals. I’ve been doing it for a while, and I watch old videos of me trying to sing and play bass at the same time and it’s funny to me. Recently it’s been getting easier and easier. 

How did you track the album?

I’ll let my dad explain this one. [Laughs]

Hovak: For recording the bass, 100% of the time I use my Avedis Audio MD7 preamp, which has a DI input and is the cleanest DI I’ve ever used. I have that going into my Teletronix LA-2A compressor with about 2-3 db of compression, to record the clean bass. If I need the amp sound mixed with the DI, I use the MD7’s SEND option to send the signal to one of the Markbass amps. Ellen uses two, the Little Mark D2 and the Little Mark 58R. I record the Markbass 4×10 cabinet with a Neumann U47 FET microphone and bring it back to the second MD7 preamp. Sometimes if I need to, I add a distortion pedal in front of the amp, most of the time it’s the Tech21 Geddy Lee pedal. For the chorus effect I use my vintage Roland CE-1 pedal in post. The rest is basic mixing techniques, such as EQ, Compression, multi-band.

Which basses did you use on this album?

I used my red Mayones Commodious Short Scale Custom, my Mayones ORI 5 string multi-scale, and my fretless 5-string bass. 

Tell us about the fretless 5-string.

It’s a custom-made instrument made by an Armenian luthier and it’s a one-of-a-kind instrument. I got it for my 10th birthday. I’ve tried other basses, but that’s my most comfortable fretless and it sounds so good. It feels really easy for me to play. And the fingerboard goes up three octaves.

“Take Off” is a great way to start the album and you come out blazing. How did you write that? 

Back when my dad was working on his project, before I had even started playing bass, he was writing that to play it with Dave Weckl and Victor Wooten and he was doing more jazz fusion. He had written the intro to “Take Off” and it kind of just sat there for a while. When we started working on this album we decided that we should use it for this. He started writing the verse to it and then he called me to the studio because he couldn’t get the chorus to work. I went in and helped write the chorus and we ended up using it. After that I wrote the bass solo and then the rest all came together.

“13 Town” pays homage to the classic Jaco song. How did that come about?

I play fretless on it as a tribute to Jaco Pastorius. I give a little nod to him in the bass part. A lot of people thought we were copying, but it was honoring him. That one was fun to write and to put all the parts together.

“Always With You” is a cool track where you trade riffs with your dad. 

That one was composed as a duet. I wrote the bass part first and then my dad wrote his guitar parts and they played off of each other it. It was a truly collaborative song between us.

What inspired the slapped version of “Birdland?” 

The original was obviously a very different style and we decided to do it as more of a shuffle way and make it groovier. I definitely like our version a lot because it’s super fun to play. I think that might be the most fun one for me to play actually.

How much time do you dedicate to working on your slapping?

It’s something I really enjoy doing, so I do it a lot. I made a lot of short clips of me slapping when I was nine or ten, and it was from day one to day two and so on. You could actually see the progress I was making. I’ve been going since then and it’s been getting better and better with the practice and I feel very comfortable with it.

You’ve had a huge jump in your playing in the last year or so. How much of that is putting in the time?

It has definitely come with practice and putting the time in. It isn’t like I just woke up one day and had gotten a lot better. I practice every day and dedicate time to it constantly. It’s definitely feels like it’s been over the whole time I’ve been playing that I’ve been making progress.

What have you been working on in your bass practice lately?

Since we’ve finished the album and tracked all of the songs, I’ve been working on some covers that we want to do. I’ve been practicing for our first concert too, which will probably be in October. Right now it’s a very calm practice situation and I’m just working on improving my playing. It’s not very specific at the moment. Some days I pick up guitar and play that too. As long as I’m playing music, I’m happy.

What has it been like for you having been in the spotlight starting from such a young age?

Everything has been fun and amazing and I’m grateful for how social media is helping with my actual career and the album. Social media is great and all, but I’m more excited for touring and actual concerts, and playing with bands instead of making videos. I’m practicing and working for that.

Victor Wooten has been part of your bass journey throughout your life. How has he inspired you? 

He has inspired me so much from the age of two or three. I grew up around him and he was always so great to be around. There have been instances where my dad and I are discussing something bass-related, or a bass question will come up, and we’ll FaceTime Victor and ask him, and he always helps me.

What is it like getting praise and recognition from amazing bass players and musicians?

That’s the good side of social media because it can get your playing and yourself out there. It’s been amazing seeing these people who I would never imagine talking to shout me out or recognize me. It’s mind blowing to me some of the people who have said they’re fans or who follow me.

How do you handle negativity on social media?

The more people that join the fanbase, the more we get that kind of thing. It doesn’t affect me. It’s just funny to me. Especially when we reply with something sarcastic and funny and then everyone else kind of jumps the person in the comments. They’ll delete their comment and run away, usually. We still get a lot of weird comments, but we just delete them and move on.

You painted the cover for this album. How do music and painting inspire you similarly?

Both of them spark creativity for me, and they’re both outlets that I’m passionate about. My mom being a makeup artist and costume designer has had an effect on me creatively because I have artists in both of my parents and on both sides of my family. I’m going to school now as an art major with music theory electives. Art and music have such an impact on each other creatively for me, especially when it comes to songwriting. Really it’s all art.

What have you been listening to lately that’s been inspiring you? 

I’ve been digging into bossa nova, jazz, and modern Jazz. I’ve always listened to the Beatles, but recently Norah Jones and Amy Winehouse, as well.

Who are your main bass influences?

One of my main influences when working on improvising is Tal Wilkenfeld. I was shown a video of her soloing with Jeff Beck and Herbie Hancock. I watched that over and over to try to improvise with it. Also, being a female bassist, she has had a big influence on me. I met her at NAMM a couple of years ago and it was awesome. And of course, Victor, Paul McCartney, and Jaco. I’ve learned a lot of his songs like “Teen Town,” “Come On, Come Over,” and “The Chicken.” The most recent one I’ve learned is “Donna Lee,” which got my fretless playing and soloing better.

Why bass? 

I chose bass because it feels like it stands out and it’s the backbone. A lot of my friends play guitar, and I’m not saying that guitar is basic, but I don’t see a lot of girls my age who are into bass. It’s the foundation, but you can do so much with it. And bass solos just hit. There’s a whole other side of bass.

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