Archive for November 2015 - Page 2

JACO: The Film, has finally arrived. The Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo-produced film about groundbreaking electric bassist Jaco Pastorius is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. The film can be downloaded on iTunes on Dec. 1. The soundtrack is available, too. Jaco’s influence on bass playing cannot be overstated. His work with Weather Report, solo, and as a sideman — most...

Happy birthday to Fleetwood Mac’s John McVie! We’re celebrating in style with “Say You Love Me” from the band’s 1998 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction. McVie lays down a buttery bass line with plenty of tasty fills to drive the song. Happy birthday, John McVie!

Q: I loved the column on giving guidance to students. Do you have suggestions for guiding teachers in bass teaching? I struggle keeping my beginning students interested when I have them “eat vegetables” – like scales and note reading and rhythm practice. How do you find the balance between serving vegetables and meat with potatoes and even dessert as a...

This year has been a year of firsts for bassist Zander Zon, including his first ever collaboration video (with KJC), adding a new bass to the mix (a Chris Larking custom made acoustic bass guitar), and his first collaboration with a bassist (Miki Santamaria). Now he’s teamed up with another bassist we’ve featured here before, Josh Cohen. And I do...

Technical death metal band Revocation has re-released its debut album, Empire of the Obscene. Only 1,000 copies of the record were pressed back in 2008, and the re-released version is also newly mixed and remastered. In addition, it features revamped cover art and a 2006 demo for the song “Summon the Spawn.” Anthony Buda, who was with the band from...

Meet Carter Lee, a bassist who has covered a lot of ground – spanning Canada, Boston, NYC, Nashville and LA – and all focused around music. Carter is No Treble’s reader in the spotlight for the week of November 23rd, 2015. Here’s his story… Bio: I am a musician, husband, hockey fan and LA resident. I am originally from Canada...

When learning to play your bass, an overkill of theory can often paralyze your results while performing. Many musicians have learned the theory of Tritone Substitution, but when trying to apply this information, they often end up short-changed. In this bass lesson, we’ll cover a simple but direct concept for the immediate application for Tritone Substitution based on the presence...

We’re celebrating Edgar Meyer’s birthday today with an awesome throwback bass duet with Victor Wooten. The pair has fun with Meyer’s original tune “Webbed Feet” in this 1991 clip from Kentucky Educational Television’s “The Lonesome Pine Specials”. Both bassists push their instruments to the limit while making musical jests over the light-hearted groove. “Webbed Feet” first appeared on Meyer’s 1987...

Jaco Pastorius and Weather Report fans have an early present this holiday season — Weather Report –The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978-1981. The previously unreleased tapes, sourced from the jazz-rock-fusion band’s soundboard recordings and from bootleg recordings, are arranged so that they reflect key performances, rather than the band’s typical set lists of the era, which featured the late Pastorius’ revelatory...

In what promises to be one of the most anticipated tours of 2016, Tool and Primus are teaming up for a set of tour dates in January. The 8-date trek is a rare outing for Tool, who have seldom played more than 20 shows in a single year since 2007. Kicking off on January 9th in San Diego, the tour...

As they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That’s why luthier Scott Sterling of Lea Bass Guitars decided to create the Dumpster bass. Although the bass has a fine fit and finish, the components didn’t start out that way. “This bass started out as an ‘upcycled’ experiment in tonality – all the wood is from dumpsters in my...

Back in 2011, we shared a Vulfpeck video for the first time. We became instant fans, as did many of No Treble’s readers. Over the years, we’ve watched the band do more and more – releasing EP’s each year, followed by the genius move of Sleepify, and finally to the release of their . But nothing was more thrilling than...