Archive for April 2010 - Page 7

Level 42 bassist Mark King announced a summer 2010 tour for the band, which stretches the globe. Most exciting is the return to the U.S., which will be the group’s first visit in a little over two decades. King notes that the dates are confirmed early, so “there’s no excuses for you not to be there…” The band is celebrating...

Doug Rauch (14 September 1950 – 23 April 1979) I’m a huge fan of Doug Rauch, a unique bassist who sadly was taken from us at a young age. He had a funky, bubbling, percolating style based on 16th notes which never failed to ignite the music. I wrote a blogpost about him and am always pleased (and a little...

Here’s Marcus Miller with his band in Leverkusen in 2007, doing his version of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground”.

Rush has just announced their 2010 North American tour, dubbed “The Time Machine Tour”. Rush is coming off a year off, and this tour spans 40 cities, from June through October. Time Machine refers to the band’s tour theme: classic Rush. For the first time in their history, the band will be playing the 1981 release, Moving Pictures in its...

The last formal studio recording made by Joe Zawinul has been released. Absolute Zawinul, a project initiated by Kristjan Järvi, who collaborated with Zawinul on the project, was recorded in New York during the winter of 2006-2007, and released in Europe last November. The CD is now available in the U.S. The recording includes several members of the Zawinul Syndicate,...

In this lesson we’ll explore the basic forms of Bebop scales so you can start getting the patterns down and experiment with them in your music. There are times when you solo that you may want to do a scale run over a chord. Have you ever noticed that a straight descending scale run as eighth notes over a chord...

Robin Koerts is perhaps most famous for his amusing parody videos of Mark King and Michael Manring, but as the following video shows he definitely knows how to play the bass himself.

Ever had trouble seeing your position markers on a dark stage? A Japanese company has created a solution called the Luminlay. Available in green or blue, the Luminlay is a highly luminous material that you inlay into the side of your neck where you want your markers. The material is then charged in seconds by an LED flashlight (also available...

The Wailers, who played with Bob Marley during his lifetime, are on the road in a trek that takes them across the U.S. The legendary reggae band is on tour in celebration of bassist Aston “Family Man” Barrett, who co-founded the band and has stayed with the group for 40 years. It was Barrett’s musical leadership that helped Marley and...

Q: I’d like to learn to create walking bass lines. I don’t read music so tabs would be preferred. A: Learning to walk is immensely helpful in so many ways. It helps you see the inter-connectivity between chords, helps develop a good time-feel and helps you explore how the arc of a line can affect the feel of the music....

Here’s Italian bassist Paola Venturini doing her version of Ave Maria by Bach/Gounod: For more of Paola Venturini check out her web site.

In early January, we reported that Slayer frontman Tom Araya was scheduled to have back surgery, and that the band’s American and Canadian Carnage Tour had to be rescheduled. Araya had his procedure on May 20th, and the masters of metal have announced their make-up dates, which will occur after a European trek. In his first interview since going under...