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Archive for July 2009 - Page 5

Bass Gear

Rotosound’s Nexus coated bass strings now available

Nexus, the new coated bass strings from Rotosound, are now available worldwide. The bass strings have a black polymer coat set over a Type 52 pure nickel alloy wrap and are available in two gauges: 40, 60, 80 and 100, and 45, 65, 85 and 105. A single Low B (130) is available for 5-string basses. For acoustic players, the...

Player News

Interview with Offspring bassist Greg Kriesel

Offspring bassist Greg Kriesel a.k.a. Greg K discussed the band’s new album, to be released next year, in a recent interview with the Daily Gazette. The new album is still in the initial stages. “We want to get this album out a lot earlier,” K. said. “We’ve always kind of said that, that we want to get it out earlier,...

Player News

Chris Wyse on Owl and music education

Upright bassist and singer Chris Wyse (The Cult), is taking off with his new project, Owl. The band is currently on tour. Wyse is still touring with The Cult on their Love Live Tour. Despite the chaotic schedule of being in two touring bands Wyse is excited about his work: “Sometimes I’m pulling my hair out, but I try not...

Bass Gear

Gear Watch: AmpliTube Fender

IK Multimedia and Fender Musical Instruments Corporation have announced the release of AmpliTube Fender version 1.1, a free downloadable update for all registered users of AmpliTube Fender and available for purchase by new users. AmpliTube Fender is a guitar/bass effects suite that allows you to get real Fender sounds into your computer for recording. So what’s new in version 1.1?...

Player News

Melissa Auf der Maur recovering from swine flu

Former Hole and Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur says she is on recovering from an infection with H1N1 influenza strain, better known as swine flu. “It turns out that, somewhere between a video shoot in Vermont, a heavy metal concert in London, and my own musical showcase in Toronto, I had indeed fallen victim to a world pandemic…...

Concerts & Tours

Michael Manring tour update (July – October, 2009)

Michael Manring has a number of local (San Francisco Bay area) shows scheduled through July, including three performances with acoustic guitarists Alex DeGrassi and Jeff Titus. On July 29th, Manring will be playing a special benefit concert in San Rafael for the victims of the war in Darfur. Complete tour dates and information: Thursday, July 16 at 7:30pm Solo, also...

Bass Lessons

Lesson: Master the Fretboard – Part 3

If you’ve been keeping up with this lesson series and having focused practice you should be getting pretty comfortable with the fretboard layout. Remember that the drills in Part 1 and Part 2 should be practiced regularly to get the full benefit. In this lesson we’ll work on something really fun: the blues! As a note to those who are...

Bass Gear

Gear Watch: Enigma Q-Balls

Electro-Harmonix has announced the release of their first analog filter designed specifically for bass: the Enigma Q-balls. The Enigma has a frequency range of 40 Hz to 3 kHz able to define tight sweeps through the entire harmonic range. The Engima includes analog distrotion with controls to give let you shape the growl any way you want. The feature list...

Bass Videos

Fender Bass Bash Jam

We admit it… if you post a video of multi-bass bands, we’re likely to feature it here. This video was filmed at Fender Mexico’s theater in 2008, featuring Motown bass legend Bob Babbitt, Bobby Vega, Christopher Maloney and Ivan Barrera on bass, Jeff Kollman on guitar and Nick DVirgilio on drums. This one starts slow, but starts cooking once the...

Player News

George Porter Jr. on New Orleans Funk

Bassist George Porter Jr. from the Funky Meters has taken the time to share some of his insight on the origins of funk and what it was like at the beginning. Porter first played with Art Neville as a guitarist, “I was a rhythm player and Art was expecting a lead player. I took some solos and he looked at...

Ask Damian Erskine, Columns

Ask Damian Erskine: Harmony and Composing

Q: How do you approach writing a harmony once a melody has been composed? And how do you make sure the harmonic progression works in the way you like it? I assume it’s not just trial and error! A: Admittedly, I’m a newbie when it comes to real composition and yes, it had largely been trial and error. Half of...

Player News

Aerosmith bassist forced to sit out

Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton has been forced to sit out for part of the bands current tour due to recovery from non-invasive surgery. Hamilton, 57 years old and a cancer survivor, has been a part of Aerosmith since their beginning in 1970. The tour “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Presents Aerosmith” kicked off June 10th and has been plagued with postponed dates...