Skip to main content

Archive for September 2011 - Page 3

The Jamiroquai Bass Book Released Worldwide
Sheet Music & Instruction

The Jamiroquai Bass Book Released Worldwide

Bassline Publishing has announced the worldwide release of The Jamiroquai Bass Book, featuring transcriptions of 16 tracks from the group’s first two albums, Emergency on Planet Earth and Return of the Space Cowboy. Previously unavailable in the U.S., the 134-page book provides musical notation, TAB and chord symbols for all the lines played by founding bassist Stuart Zender. Each track...

Stuart Clayton: “Shape of My Heart” for Solo Bass
Bass Videos

Stuart Clayton: “Shape of My Heart” for Solo Bass

Time for some new awesomeness by bassist Stuart Clayton. This is Stuart’s arrangement of Sting’s tune “Shape of My Heart”, for solo bass. The arrangement comes from Stuart’s book, Solo Arrangements for Electric Bass.

Thunderfunk Introduces TFB800-B2 Bass Amp
Bass Gear

Thunderfunk Introduces TFB800-B2 Bass Amp

Thunderfunk has unveiled the TFB800-B2 bass amp, rated up to 800-watts RMS at 2 ohms. The new model is an update of the TFB750, combining all the mods that had been added to its predecessor. The TFB800-B2 is housed in an aluminum chassis, weighing in at 21 pounds, and has a plethora of tone-shaping capabilities with a 4-band parametric EQ,...

Queen Launches Official Tribute Band with Open Auditions
News

Queen Launches Official Tribute Band with Open Auditions

Queen drummer Roger Taylor has announced a North American talent search to put together an official Queen tribute band for a tour next year, called the Queen Extravaganza. Auditions are open to bassists, vocalists, guitarists, drummers and keyboardists. “The Queen Extravaganza will not be a traditional tribute show,” Taylor explains. “It’s a brand-new show specially designed to enable fans to...

King Crimson: “Sleepless” Live in Japan with Tony Levin
Bass Videos

King Crimson: “Sleepless” Live in Japan with Tony Levin

This song opens up just right: with some awesome percussive slap bass by Tony Levin. And he doesn’t stop there. The tune, “Sleepless” is from King Crimson’s 1984 release, , with Levin on bass and Stick, Adrian Belew on vocals/guitar, Robert Fripp on guitar and Bill Bruford on drums. Levin’s bass is painted to resemble the album’s cover.

Michael Manring Announces Fall/Winter Tour Update and Clinics
Concerts & Tours

Michael Manring Announces Fall/Winter Tour Update and Clinics

Michael Manring is kicking off another busy fall and winter season, with several performances and clinics planned in the U.S., Finland and France through January 2012. “Manring Bass Workout” will be held in New Hampshire over the weekend of October 21st and 22nd, with hands-on instruction, performances and demonstrations. A solo masterclass is planned for France in November. Michael Manring...

Bass Of the Week: Xylem 5-String Black Limba Bass
Bass of the Week

Bass Of the Week: Xylem 5-String Black Limba Bass

This week we’re featuring a beautiful custom Xylem 5-string bass. This particular bass is a neck-through design featuring a black limba body with a bookmatched macassar ebony top, accented with bocote and maple. The quartersawn neck is bird’s eye maple and has an ebony fretboard and custom inlays of a tomoe and falling leaves. All the electronics are Bartolinis, including...

The Rise of Blast Cult
Custom Shop

The Rise of Blast Cult

After settling up with customers left from the demise of King Doublebass brand, luthier Jason Burns went to work to create a new upright venture catering to the alternative bassist. Blast Cult officially launched this month with their One4Five model bass, a design cultivated from Burns’ 20 years of building. Among the first instruments built under the moniker is a...

Victor Wooten Releases The Music Lesson Soundtrack
New Albums

Victor Wooten Releases The Music Lesson Soundtrack

Victor Wooten has released The Music Lesson Soundtrack. The album, which is the first all-original release for his new VIX Records label, is culled from the audio version of his book of the same title and is only available digitally. Wooten describes the album as the “largest musical project [he has] ever completed to date.” The bassist recruited his brothers...

Reed James Custom Pickups Introduces RJE NEO Neodymium Bass Pickups
Bass Gear

Reed James Custom Pickups Introduces RJE NEO Neodymium Bass Pickups

Reed James Custom Pickups has announced the RJE Neos, new soap-bar style neodymium pickups. Made in the USA, the pickups have a modern sound, described by the manufacturer as “warm, punchy and very clear.” The RJE Neo pickups are available for 4- through 6-string basses and feature CNC machined black ABS plastic covers with a matte finish, though custom exotic...

A Guide for the Self-Taught Bassist
Ask Damian Erskine

A Guide for the Self-Taught Bassist

Q: I’m in the middle of high-school, and I’m really thinking of pursuing bass as a career. However, with a lack of decent teachers around, I’ve turned to teaching myself. But there’s so much to cover… where do I start? A: I would first suggest that you continue to keep your eyes and ears open for a good teacher. It’s...

R.E.M. Announce Split
News

R.E.M. Announce Split

Thirty-one years and fifteen albums after forming in Athens, Georgia, the rock icons of R.E.M. are calling it quits. The trio, whose latest album Collapse Into Now came out earlier this year, broke the news in a statement on their website explaining that they “walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all [they]...