Archive for April 2016 - Page 4

Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley has released Origins Vol. 1, an album almost completely comprised of rock covers. His onetime Kiss bandmate Paul Stanley guests on the album, as does Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, as well as vocalist/guitarist Lita Ford and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. Chris Wyse (The Cult, Owl, Ozzy Osbourne, Mick Jagger) handles bass, as he...

Form Factor Audio has announced the launch of the Bi 1000 and Bi 400 bass amps. Rated at 1000 and 400 watts respectively, the California-made Class D amps are packed with tons of connectivity and a 3-band EQ. The company describes their new preamp as “designed from the ground up to deliver the type of clarity, response time and tone...

As readers send in questions, one of three things happens: a) I turn it into an “Ask Damian” column, or b) I respond directly, because the question doesn’t quite warrant an entire column (I do try to respond to everybody) or c) it gets put into the folder of questions that I’d like to answer but don’t know exactly how...

Bassist Jason Everett, aka Mister E, has unleashed part one of an epic 22-minute bass driven sonic story called “Moksha: The Elimination of All Duality”. This clip captures three movements of the world-jazz-fusion saga, which includes Everett’s slick 7-string fretless work and a diverse cast of musicians. ”’Moksha: The Elimination of All Duality’ is the sonic story of a soul…...

Country artist Sturgill Simpson has released his followup to 2014’s Grammy-nominated Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. Called A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, the Nashville-recorded album features soul-inflected vocals from Simpson and bass work handled by prolific bassist Dave Roe (Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, Dan Auerbach). Esquire magazine has already said of the album, “It’s hard to...

Meet Mischa Marcks, a bassist with a real focus on music and making music his work. Mischa has studied the world in his travels, and keeps busy playing in bands, teaching, producing, composing and more. Mischa is this week’s No Treble reader in the spotlight. Here’s his story… Bio: Heartbeat. Pulse. Groove. Five strings, one vibe. An ongoing, perpetually varying...

Ernie Ball Music Man has unveiled their first fully passive basses with the Caprice and Cutlass models. The basses, which were debuted at the NAMM Show this year, feature brand new body styles that are influenced by old school design with modern playability. Even with new body styles, players will be familiar with the necks as the Cutlass borrows the...

Shareef Addo sent in this video for his cool bass-centric tune “Secrets”, and it’s been stuck in my head since. The bass drives the song, but vocalist Adam Benjamin helps to fill out the melodic content. This is a great example of making the bass interesting while focusing on the songwriting aspect. Well done, Shareef!

Top bassist and bass teacher Joe Hubbard (also a No Treble contributor) has released the book, Functional Harmonic Concepts. Hubbard is known for his recording work with artists such as Mose Allison, George Benson and Dave Garabaldi and his instruction (The Who’s current bassist, the prolific Pino Palladino, was one of his students). According to Hubbard, the 120-page book will...

Alembic’s basses have been a big influence on custom builders, and it’s easy to see why. They started in 1969 as a live sound consulting operation. Founders Ron and Susan Wickersham then moved into instrument electronics, creating low impedance pickups and what would become first set of active electronics for a guitar. Their first bass was built in 1972 for...

Playing chords on the upright doesn’t only add to our tonal palette, it also strengthens our knowledge of a tune and our instrument. Some voicings, however, are more pleasant than others. Three and four note chords can easily become “muddy” and unclear, especially in the mid to lower register. As a result, many bass players choose to play Shell Voicings,...

This video has been making the rounds recently on Facebook, and I was mesmerized by it. I was surprised to learn it actually came out in 2011. Organized by Playing For Change, this performance of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” features musicians from nine locations around the world in one of the most interesting collaborations I think I’ve ever seen. Reggie...