Archive for June 2013 - Page 5

Tedeschi Trucks Band has announced their third album – and first studio release since their 2011 debut, Revelator – is coming in August. Made Up Mind offers up 11 new tracks by the group, and one significant change. For the first time in the band’s history, bassist Oteil Burbridge is not part of the music. As we reported back in...

It has been a while since we’ve featured a video by Richard Bona. Time to fix that. Here’s Bona and his group performing at the San Sebastián International Jazz Festival in 2006. I think my favorite part comes just past the 10 minute mark. This one is fun. Enjoy.

There’s something beautiful about the bass playing community that you just don’t find in the rest of the music world. The sense of camaraderie and willingness to help others out is a hallmark of true bassists, and Janek Gwizdala has once again proven this point by launching We Need Strings, a site dedicated to getting bass strings into the hands...

German luthier Frank Deimel has mixed elements of several bass styles into his latest creation, the Deimel Guitarworks Firestar Bass. The long-scale bass features a figured hard rock maple neck that is fashioned after a P-Bass’s dimensions and topped with a Pau Ferro fretboard. The body is a single piece of yellow poplar. The bass is rigged with three Lollar...

Ibanez’s foray into the boutique bass domain is off to strong start. The only thing missing is the extra $1,000.00 you didn’t have to spend to enjoy all of the features this six string bass delivers. Most online retailers are offering this bass for sale in the $1,500.00 price range, which is not the price point for basses with this...

Today is Marcus Miller’s birthday, and so we’re celebrating with some solo bass music by the man himself. Here’s Marcus performing “Detroit” and the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” on the Tavis Smiley show on PBS.

In 2009, Music Man introduced a bass version of their Albert Lee Signature guitar called the Big Al. Its angular body and unique pickups caught the community’s attention, and the next year the company announced a 5-string version. The Big Al and Big Al 5 are built with African mahogany bodies, maple necks, and maple or rosewood fingerboards with a...

Dan Scowcroft, AKA Bassment Dan, sent us this video of his slap bass arrangement of Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance.” Step 1: we had to get over our music snobbery. Step 2: we dug what he was doing. Lesson learned: don’t judge a video by its title.

The wait is finally over. Black Sabbath have released 13, their first studio album featuring original members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler since 1978’s Never Say Die. The band, which officially reunited in late 2011, is rounded out by Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk, who fills in for Bill Ward. Ward left the reunion in February...

Q: I’ve been playing bass for about four years, and I’ve had difficulty with understanding chord construction on the bass. I know my scales and their modes inside and out, and I know a lot about the fretboard. My technique is good too, but I figured when I was starting out that I really didn’t need to know chords “because...

Bassist Jake Wolf sent us this great performance of his band The BIlly Sea performing their tune “The Mare’s Day” at the Altamont Theatre in Asheville, North Carolina. The trio creates a sense of nostalgia in the song, which changes time feels throughout to add poignancy to slide guitarist Billy Cardine’s thoughtful phrasing. Wolf builds upon the serene nature of...

Mumford and Sons have postponed three headlining shows this week after bassist Ted Dwane was hospitalized while on their current tour. “Our friend and bandmate Ted has been feeling unwell for a few days, and yesterday he was taken to a hospital to receive emergency treatment,” the band stated on their Facebook page. “The scans revealed a blood clot on...