Happy Holidays from No Treble

This is the time of year we love to look back at the great memories and favorite stories we were able to share throughout 2012 here on No Treble.

Of course, at the top of our list this and every year is the connections we keep making with bass players around the world. We’re just about to hit 75,000 friends on our Facebook page alone.

We’re blown away that what started out as a hobby a handful of years ago was visited nearly 2.2 million times, by over 900,000 people in 2012 – so far. We love to see what you all love and try to continue to bring that to you every day we publish (which happens every day of the year).

A big thanks as always to all of you who stop by to read, watch and learn, and a big thanks to those of you who also share and comment. We read them all.

One of our favorite things to do is feature No Treble readers. There are so many great bassists out there deserving of attention, and until the web, it was difficult to be found or featured. We’ve changed that big time, and this is a huge part of our DNA – from our weekly Reader Spotlight, to the videos and the Old School features, we love to tell the world your story. If you haven’t sent us your story, I hope you will soon.

Of course, we feature the big names too, and this year we were able to interview plenty of them – Mark Evans, Henrik Linder, Felix Pastorius, Jack Casady (part 1 and part 2), Juan Alderete, David Ellefson, Andrew Gouche, Missy Raines, Marcus Miller, Evan Brewer, Larry Graham, Victor Wooten (part 1, part 2 and part 3), Colin Hodgkinson, John Clayton and Adam “Nolly” Getgood.

We introduced a couple of new ongoing series in 2012 too. Stories Behind the Songs takes a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most iconic bassists in history, telling their stories about the songs they hold near and dear to their hearts. Our new transcriptions section offers up some wide-ranging and unique bass transcriptions by Stuart Clayton (and others coming too). Our two-part What Makes A Great Bassist? series brought together readers and well-known bassists to answer that very question.

Of course, our long-running columnists continued to bring the goods this year with some of the best how-to’s, advice and lessons we’ve run so far based on readership and comments this year. Damian Erskine’s Ask Damian column is our longest running and still going strong, and Donovan Stokes’ The Lowdown with Dr. D is tops with readers too. Ryan Madora’s I Wish I Knew That series covers a broad spectrum for the working and practicing bassist, and she even managed to fit in a four-parter column, Getting to Know Your Bass this year. We’re thrilled to have Thomas “MarloweDK” Risell continue to offer his expanded bass lessons with us too.

And a big thanks to our sponsors in 2012, who helped make No Treble go: Concord Music Group (Marcus Miller, Mike Stern and Esperanza Spalding), TC Electronic, Dunlop, Play Bass Now and Bassline Publishing. We love these guys, not just for their support, but the way they look at the world and they way they support us bass players.

We’re gearing up for an even bigger and better 2013 with lots in store. The No Treble crew will be at winter NAMM next month, so be on the lookout for the best bass-focused NAMM coverage right here in just about four weeks from now. And if you’re attending the show, please let us know so we can say “hi”.

Happy holidays to you, the greatest people in the world who play the greatest instrument in the world.

– Corey, Kevin, Kayla, Sara and the rest of the No Treble crew

P.S. We’re putting together a lot of “Best of 2012” features for the coming week. Be sure to check back and see what was most popular here on No Treble in 2012.