Weekly Top 10: The Top Bass How To’s, Popular Bass Videos, New Gear and the Larry Graham Interview
In case you missed them, here are the most read stories, how to’s and features on No Treble for the week of September 23-29, 2012.
Thanks for reading, sharing and commenting!
1. Arpeggio Work for Bass Players: A Daily Practice Routine
I have mentioned previously that our daily scale practice should include arpeggio work. There are numerous ways to approach this, and most scale books devote some time to various approaches to arpeggios. I find the patterns below to be good solid foundational patterns for any bassist’s daily routine…
2. Gibson Unveils Midtown Standard Bass
Taking elements of their semi-acoustic EB basses and their Midtown guitar line, Gibson has unveiled the Midtown Standard Bass, a new semi-hollow design with a full 34? scale. The chambered body sports a pair of f-holes for a classic look, but the body is actually made of routed solid woods rather than a laminated top…
Ethan “EBassMan” Farmer has just released the music video for the song “Watch” from his solo album Wine & Strings. This song is funky beyond belief…
Photo by Heiti Kruusmaa Meet Mai Jõgi, a bassist leaving in Sweden by way of Estonia who has an impressive resume and counts her experience on bass in days, not years (2,920 days at the time she shared her story with us)…
5. Adam Stevens: All Bass Cover of John Mayer’s “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room”
We first featured bassist Adam Stevens last month, with his incredible solo bass arrangement of the Chili Peppers tune, “Under the Bridge“. Adam has just shared his latest bass arrangement, this time tackling John Mayer’s “Slow Dancing In A Burning Room”. Adam covers it all, including the vocal line, and ends with a tasty solo…
6. Digitech Unveils JamMan Solo XT Looping Pedal
Digitech has announced the latest in their JamMan series of looping pedals with the JamMan Solo XT. Building on the JamMan Solo, the XT is a true stereo looping pedal with several new features including JamSync, which allows for multiple units to be linked together and record different length phrases while staying in sync…
7. Bass of the Week: Aural II by Meridian Guitars
Based in Avezzano, Italy, the luthiers at Meridian Guitars know a thing or two about style. That’s evidenced in their Aural II bass, and though each one is built to order, this particular Aural II really struck me. The pickups include a pair of Meridian’s magnetic pickups as well as a Roland GK-3 MIDI controller….
8. Höfner Unveils Limited Edition Black Violin Bass
As part of their 125th anniversary celebrations, Höfner has unveiled a limited edition Black Violin Bass. The new bass shares many of the specs of the company’s â??61 Cavern bass but utilizes closely spaced single coil “Toaster” pickups that were only used in 1960. Finished in a sleek thin coat gloss black, its dark motif…
9. Raise Up: An Interview with Larry Graham
It’s not often a musician can lay claim to changing the way their instrument is played, but Larry Graham is definitely one of those musicians. His story is the stuff of legends – Graham played guitar in his mother’s band. He also sang and played the bass pedals of an organ to fill the bottom end…
10. Bass Players: Get Out of the Shed and Into the World
Damian tackles this reader question in this weeks column: “I practice a lot, but I don’t get to play music with other people all that often. How important do you think it is that I play with other actual humans?”
