Archive for May 2014 - Page 2

Meet Sam Lord a musician from the UK who has had a bass in his hands pretty much since the day he was born. So it is no surprise he’s been one of the youngest bassists around his local scene. Sam is No Treble’s reader in the spotlight for the week of May 26th, 2014. Bio: I grew up in...

Here’s a new slap bass lesson for you to try out to incorporate cross-string hammer-ons into your playing. We’ll practice this with a line I put together in the key of E. In the video below, I play the line at full tempo, followed by half speed and finally super slow speed. Follow along with the video and this transcription...

I love discovering new artists, and it’s even better when a No Treble reader shares something with us. Justin Barker dropped me a line about bassist Dave McMillan of Big Wreck. “Just heard the single ‘Ghosts’ from a band called Big Wreck,” he wrote. “It’s pretty rare to me that a bass player from what I’d consider a ‘mainstream’ act...

The Roots’ latest, is one of the group’s shortest efforts while still being a conceptual piece focusing on self-destructive cycles. With the low end provided by bassist Mark Kelley, the record is a deep, different offering from the group, which is now on its 14th album. The group’s drummer and bandleader Questlove even goes so far as to call it...

Electro-Harmonix has expanded their bass offerings with the announcement of the Nano Bass Big Muff Pi, a distortion/sustainer pedal that blends features of its predecessors into a smaller package. The new pedal is voiced like the EHX Russian Big Muff but has a classic Big Muff Pi control layout with Sustain, Tone, and Volume knobs. Electro-Harmonix says the pedal dishes...

Less than a year after scoring their first number one album in the United States with 13, the metal pioneers in Black Sabbath may be getting ready for a followup, says bassist Geezer Butler. “We’ve still got four tracks left over from the album,” he told Time Out Dubai, “so maybe we’ll fill in the other four or five tracks...

During the 2014 Musikmesse show in Frankfurt, two remarkable bassists – who have wowed us all with their solo performances – got together to perform one iconic song. Those bassists are Victor Wooten and Federico Malaman. The tune is Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely.”

Bassist Martin Wind and his quartet are back with an album that pays tribute to the great jazz composer/pianist Bill Evans. The quartet includes Scott Robinson on tenor sax, Bill Cunliffe on piano and Joe LaBarbera on drums. LaBarbera also played in a trio with Evans. The album, , sees the quartet working with the Italian Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana and...

This past week wasn’t all great in the world of bass. First, we reported the passing of Randy Coven, who left us far too soon at the age of 54. We also learned that Paul McCartney had to postpone his tour due to health issues. On a happier note, we enjoyed some terrific videos by Ian Trusheim, Joe Dart with...

Victor Wooten is coming off a tour of Europe, but that’s not stopping him. The bassist isn’t known for taking it slow. Vic has just announced a tour which will cover 14 states in the U.S. this summer, including some free clinics along the way. And if that wasn’t enough, VixCamps has announced their summer and fall programs at Wooten...

Juan Alderete has such a singular voice on the bass, and yet he can be so versatile. He got his first break in the metal scene, spent plenty of years with innovative rockers Mars Volta, and has his own experimental duo Big Sir with vocalist Lisa Papineau. Through it all, he’s always been about hip hop. “When [I joined Racer...

John Myung’s playing in Dream Theater is hard to duplicate, but the from Hal Leonard aims to help you do just that, with transcriptions of 14 of the progressive metal band’s most popular songs as played by the iconic bassist. You can try your hand at replicating his technique, particularly his tapping style on “Metropolis-Part 1”, with the help of...