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Archive for November 2009 - Page 8

Player News

Player Watch: Ben Williams

Bassist Ben Williams was this year’s winner of the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Competition and has been making a splash in the music scene since. Williams took first prize in the competition with Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” performed with vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. Judges included notable bassists Charlie Haden, Ron Carter and Dave Holland. Williams recently performed with his quartet, including...

News

Kompoz launches online music collaboration

Kompoz is a music collaboration network innovating the way we work on music. They’ve recently launched a new online publishing feature allowing musicians to self-publish completed collaboration projects and retain all rights to the original work. In other words, you can launch a collaboration project on Kompoz, work with other musicians to develop the song (think of all those twitter...

Columns, Ray's Raving About...

Ray’s raving about… Gary Willis

I would be remiss to get to do a column where the great people at No Treble let me “rave” about anything I want to not write about one of my all time favorite bass players, Gary Willis. Since first hearing Gary with Tribal Tech years ago I was an instant fan. He is a master of groove, melody, soloing...

Jeff Schmidt: “Little Sunflower” Solo Bass
Bass Videos

Jeff Schmidt: “Little Sunflower” Solo Bass

Check out Jeff Schmidt performing Freddie Hubbard’s “Little Sunflower”: For more, check out Jeff’s CD, Outre.

Player News

RIP Mark Smith

British bassist and record producer Mark Smith, who has performed and recorded with The Waterboys, Roxy Music, Robbie Williams, George Michael, and many others was found dead at his home in the Battersea district of London on November 2, 2009. A band mate found his body, after Smith did not show up to a gig. Smith regularly played with the...

New Albums

Fretless Bass with Bunny Brunel

If you’re looking to improve your fretless skills, bassist Bunny Brunel has a new instructional DVD coming out on November 17th. The DVD, Fretless Bass with Bunny Brunel, covers the proper right- and left-hand techniques, pitch, vibrato, and sliding on a fretless bass. The DVD includes 30 minutes of exercises and is a NTSC format, region free DVD release. Running...

Building Dexterity on the Bass
Bass Lessons

Building Dexterity on the Bass

While it is always important to have a strong theoretical backing and intellectual depth to your music there are times where you just need to focus on your chops. You can have the coolest idea ever, but if you don’t have the dexterity and agility to move freely and quickly around the fingerboard you won’t get anywhere. These drills are...

Bass Videos

Gustaf Fjelstrom: Live looping bass cello performance

We can’t get enough of the looper videos around here. This one is particularly interesting, featuring Gustaf Fjelstrom and his bass cello. This performance took place on April 10, 2009 a house concert in Capitola, CA.

Player News

Ron McGovney Auctioning Bass

Ron McGovney, the former bassist for Metallica, is auctioning his bass on eBay. Bids will be open until November, 6th at 7:03pm Pacific Standard Time. The bass is a Fender Precision, purchased in 1985 and used in his post-Metallica band Phantasm. McGovney wrote, “This is an awesome bass and it does have a lot of history to it. I know...

Bass Gear

Gear Watch: Ansir Basses

Everyone has their own personal method to holding the bass guitar. Some people prefer a more extreme angle, others only use a slight tilt and still others flip it completely around. Ansir Music, a small start up company, is now creating fully customized basses to fit that perfect playing angle. They have a patented measuring system to produce your personal...

Ask Damian Erskine, Columns

Ask Damian Erskine: Learning and transcribing

Q: I was listening to one of your YouTube videos and thought I heard similar lines that I’ve heard Jaco play (like a run in “Havona”). Regardless, I would like to tackle some of these parts. Do you just have a great ear or did you start out with charts to learn such fast lines? A: Thanks man! It’s interesting...

Player News

Analysis Plus Cables signs Joseph Patrick Moore as endorsee

Our good friend Joseph Patrick Moore has just signed an endorsement deal with Analysis-Plus Cables, and shares this demo video with us. (check out the cool t-shirt!)