Archive for September 2009 - Page 5

Victor Wooten is teaming back up with his long time friend JD Blair to go on a brief tour. The tour is the “2 Minds 1 Groove” and will be throughout the USA until the end of September. “I toured for quite a while with that exact same band that played a lot of that music on the record, but...

The minor keys offer a diverse sonic palette for you to use in improvisation. The darker quality of the tonal sequence gives you a cool sound and the minor keys are very versatile over different chord changes. This lesson will focus on some basic applications of minor keys in different scenarios so you can start to use these keys effectively....

Holy smokes, this hardly seems fair. Check out Fabio Valdemarin playing ALL the parts to Chick Corea’s “Got a Match?”

Last week marked the final show by Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor and band mates, including bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, rocked out in Los Angeles at Wiltern Theater for a full house of more than 2,200 fans. It’s been 20 years since Reznor released his first album. Reznor took Meldal-Johnson, guitarist Robin Finck and drummer Ilan Rubin through a 3 hour...

Jazz bassist Brani Disterheft just released her second album Second Side. Brandi took a singer/songwriter approach to her second album, where “one can hear (though not overtly) the influence of early period Joni Mitchell… and of Brazilian pop sensation Milton Nascimento.” “She has the same lope or rhythmic pulse as my bass player, Ray Brown,” Oscar Peterson said of Disterheft....

Q: Can you suggest any exercises to help me to internalize the notion of targets when playing over chord changes and work them into my playing ? A: Definitely. Although I’ve never tried to develop an exercise to practice this concept, It’s something I’ve just always done when trying to solo… especially when I feel like I’m floundering a little...

Here’s a rare video gem of Marcus Miller in what is obviously a performance that took place early in his career. From what we could piece together, this live performance was part of a Dave Grusin concert in the 1980s.

Bassist Mike Inez, from Alice in Chains, was interviewed recently by WMMR’s Matt Cord. The video is now available on YouTube: Alice in Chains is currently preparing for the upcoming release of their newest album, Black Gives Way to Blue. The music video for “Check My Brain”, the first official single released from Black Gives Way to Blue aired on...

Fuzzhugger(fx) has released the second version of their Great Wall fuzz pedal. The Great Wall V2 delivers a huge wall of fuzz-pumping bass sound features a smaller enclosure with multiple hand-painted varieties. The Great Wall features three controls giving you the flexibility to dial in any combination of fuzz with a consistently strong bass response and matching balance qualities. The...

Meet bassist Steve Uccello, our player in the spotlight for September 15th, 2009. Bio: Steve Uccello is an Upright and Electric Bassist, multi-instrumentalist and composer. He’s a versatile musician who authentically approaches each style he plays. Steve has self-produced two solo albums, the recently released SYMMETRIA, an instrumental bass-centric journey comprised of 14 songs, and the 2006 release, Polar Vision,...

Alessio Tori, aka ato71, has quite a few bass playalong videos on his channel, and they’re all killer. Here’s Alessio taking on one of the biggies… Jaco’s killer line from Joni Mitchell’s live Shadows & Light performance of “In France They Kiss on Main Street”. Alessio shares, “Maybe I dared too much but this is such a fantastic line… I...

Bassist Mimi Jones‘s debut album, A New Day, releases today. The album is a great mix of genres and features Jones on bass and vocals, Miki Hayama on piano, wurlitzer and keys, Marvin Sewell on guitar, Marcus Gilmore on drums, and special guests Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet and Lucianna Padmore on drums. Be sure to check out our early review...