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Archive for July 2009 - Page 2

Ask Damian Erskine, Columns

Ask Damian Erskine: Traveling with your bass

Q: I have a gig coming up that requires me to fly with my bass. I’ve never done it and don’t know if I should check it underneath or try and bring it on board! Any help? A: I’ve done it every way you can think of and each has it’s upside and downside. Here’s my breakdown of your options...

News

Alex James: No plans for new Blur recordings

BBC News recently reported that the latest summer performances by Blur may mark the end of the band. Blur bassist Alex James comments: “That was what we said we’d do and we did it and it was great. It hasn’t been mentioned, the idea of doing anything else but hey, it was great.” James has also commented on how overwhelming...

Bass Videos

Steven Guerrero solo bass: Concluding Remarks

Bassist Steven Guerrero sent us this video of his live solo bass performance at The Ground Level Coffee House in Toledo, Ohio. Steven’s extended range bass and looping techniques make him a terrific one-man band. Steven’s solo CD, Deployment of Ten Wails is available at CDBaby. Check out more about Steven on Twitter and Reverb Nation.

Bass Gear

Gear Watch: Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp

Studio Devil has released a Virtual Bass Amp, available for purchase and download. Studio Devil is “a virtual tube amplifier processor based on dynamic models of vacuum tube preamps and power stages. While primarily intended for guitar amp modeling and direct recording of both electric guitar and bass, Studio Devil excels wherever natural tube overdrive and distortion is needed.” The...

Bass Lessons

Untold Secret to Melodic Bass lesson: Using Dynamics in Bass Lines

This lesson is derived from Jon Burr’s The Untold Secret to Melodic Bass. Be sure to check out the complete method book in downloadable PDF, Kindle Book and the all-new paperback formats. Internal Dynamics is an area that seems to be largely ignored in the teaching of Jazz, while at the same time is one of the most essential components...

Adrian Belew Power Trio New Release, with Julie Slick
New Albums

Adrian Belew Power Trio New Release, with Julie Slick

The Adrian Belew Power Trio has released their first studio album, e, featuring Belew on guitars and vocals, Julie Slick on bass and Eric Slick on drums. Belew calls it “exquisitely engineered electric eclectic energetic esthetic excellence!” From what we’ve heard, we have to agree. The album is available at StoreBelew in both signed and unsigned editions. Here are 3...

Bass Gear

Gear Watch: Carvin BX1200

Carvin has delivered yet again with the BX1200 bass amplifier. The BX1200 pumps out 1200 watts at 4 ohms and remains free of distortion with it’s class A preamps. The BX1200 also has extensive equalization features, giving you total control over the shape and feel of your tone. The BX1200 also includes a bi-amp crossover system for feeding the dual...

Bass Videos

Victor Wooten bass solo, live with Gov’t Mule

Gov’t Mule, Victor Wooten, bass solo. Do we need to say any more?

Player News

Blink 182 Mark Hoppus Q&A

Blink 182 bassist Mark Hoppus has been interviewed by the Los Vegas Sun, to talk about the the 52-date tour scheduled to kick off this week, and their new album project. You may remember that we covered Blink 182’s announcement to reunite in March. The venues for Blink 182 tour have been selling out quickly. Hopper’s view on the huge...

Bass Videos

Catalin Rotaru, double bass – Paganini Caprice 24

This incredible video showcases upright bassist Catalin Rotaru playing Paganini Caprice 24 solo on the upright bass. Rotaru is a professor at Arizona State University. He has performed both solo classical and jazz bass throughout Europe, the United States, South America and Japan. He served as associate principal bass in the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, principal bass in the Sibiu...

News

Bass 101: Pieces and Parts

Ever wonder what makes up a bass? The Examiner has posted an introductory article on the essential components to a bass guitar and upright bass. From the article’s introduction: The bass guitar is one of the most underrated positions in a band. Famous musicians and local heroes both agree that bass is the “glue that holds a song together”, yet...

New Albums

Chris Chaney in “The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again”

Former Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney is playing in a cover group The Verve Forecast project, formed by John Fogerty. The group have put together a project known as The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, to be released on September 1st. The album features a new collection of some of the veteran rocker’s favorite classic songs including covers of songs...