Archive for October 2012 - Page 2

G&L has unveiled a new line of instruments labeled the “Black Ice Collection”. The new basses and guitars feature a “Black Ice” finish, which incorporates the company’s Nearly Naked (NENA) finish with a sleek matte black base and silver highlights in the body’s wood grain. Introduced last year, NENA is a super thin finish the company says promotes body resonance....

Vulfpeck’s Jack Stratton has a cool project called Sound of Two, where he takes two completely separate musical events and puts them together for a unique jam. Our favorite is a clip of slap master Louis Johnson, from his instructional DVD, mashed up with a clip of the Grambling State Drumline at the 2008 Bayou Classic.

After months of speculation, guitarist Keith Richards has confirmed that bassist Bill Wyman will be making a cameo during the Rolling Stones’ 50th Anniversary concerts. Wyman, who played with the iconic rock band from 1962 to 1993, will be at both the London and New Jersey concerts, though he previously stated he doesn’t fly anymore. While the 76-year old bassist...

Reed James Custom Pickups has added a new pickup to their RJ NEO line. The Vintage Modern ALNEO Soap Bar bass pickup combines neodymium and Alnico components into a single pickup with one of the coils mimicking a vintage Jazz bass pickup while the other is a neodymium powered coil. Four conductor lead wires allow for switching from full humbucker...

A couple of days ago, we shared a Tribal Tech video from our archives, with the band playing “The Big Wave” live in Israel. No Treble reader Sule Sulejman Tahirovic shared this one, also featuring bassist Gary Willis with Triphasic joining forces with Pat Metheny. This was recorded during the Vitoria Gasteiz Jazz Festival in 2009.

Bassist Janek Gwizdala has released You’re a Musician. Now What?, a new instructional ebook aimed at teaching musicians modern day skill sets to make it in the music business. The book focuses on building and nurturing an online presence with tips on how to build a website, creating a mailing list, blogging, and much more. It also details time management,...

Sandberg has unveiled the latest in their Electra series of basses, the TT4. The new bass takes cues from classic designs with a pair of single coil pickups and a tobacco sunburst matte finish. Similar to the Electra VS4, the TT4 is built with a basswood body, a Canadian hard rock maple neck, and a rosewood fingerboard. The bass has...

Welcome to the final part of the “Play Other Instruments” series. In the last few columns, we took a look at playing piano, guitar, and drums, and I got to describe some of the benefits of noodling around on each of those. Then, I took a step back and decided it was a bit unfair to only address the instruments...

Evan Marien shares his latest video with us, with him performing the tune “Inner Urge” – a solo bass / loop bass performance. Evan also shared some news: “My new LP is coming along nicely, I’m expecting to finish it up early next year! The album will feature Dana Hawkins on drums for a couple songs.” Evan alone is awesome....

The trio of guitarist Scott Henderson, bassist Jeff Berlin and drummer Dennis Chambers have been playing together for years, have released their debut album, HBC. The album consists of covers of the members’ collective influences, including tunes by Weather Report, Herbie Hancock and Billy Cobham, along with some original tunes by Henderson and Berlin. “The trio is all about interplay,”...

Peter Malinoski is a luthier with an artistic vision for his instruments and passion for uniqueness. With several college degrees in the arts, it’s no wonder his designs stand out. “[My instruments] are a step back and beyond the roots of electric guitars that represent what electric guitars could have been and still can be when mass production and mass...

Or, The Grateful Dead and the Top 40. I wonder if Jerry ever got jealous of acts that were able to put songs on the radio. (The Dead had exactly one hit record…) I hope not. Jerry was in a different business. Sure, he played music. Elton John also plays music. But they were in different businesses, performing for different...