Archive for March 2017 - Page 6

Our friend Erik Arkö knows his metal, and that means he knows his metal bass players. He decided to have a little fun by making a parody video of the “12 types of metal bass players”, plus a follow-up to finish the ones he missed. “Being one myself, I hope that this is considered somewhat funny,” he writes. “Hope that...

DOD has announced the Rubberneck Analog Delay, a stompbox that features four bucket brigade chips that allow it to provide over one second of delay. It has a tap tempo footswitch and knobs for modulation, gain, and tone, but the pedal gets its name from its unique Rubberneck feature that lets users pitch shift from one time setting to another...

Meet Grant Sharkey, a bassist from Southampton who is on a life-long mission to bring music to the masses – via a combination of a smart car and an aggressive album release schedule. Grant is this week’s No Treble reader in the spotlight. Here’s his story… Bio: I play a Bassix fiberglass EUB, tour solo in a smart car, release...

One of the biggest hits of NAMM 2015 was the B-Social desktop bass amp. This year Ashdown expanded the range with the B-Social Lite, which they describe as the best aspects of the original in a smaller package. “It makes the amp more affordable,” says Ashdown’s Lee Alexander. “It doesn’t have wireless feature for the instrument, but you still have...

I watched this awesome Stevie Wonder performance a couple of times trying to figure out which song to feature. Finally, I realized you should watch the whole thing. Taken from a 1974 show for Musikladen (formerly The Beat Club), the clip has the great Reggie McBride laying it down on some of Wonder’s greatest hits with some especially stretched out...

Lyle Ritz, who worked as a session bassist during L.A.’s golden era of recording, passed away on March 3rd. He was 77 years old. Ritz began his musical career working at the Southern California Music Company, where he worked in the small goods department. It was here that he picked up the ukulele, which he also became famous for. He...

Warwick unveiled their annual limited edition bass this year and this year is a landmark. The Thumb NT 2017, which comes in four and five-string versions, also marks the company’s 35th anniversary. The master-built instruments are built in Germany and limited to fifty units of each the four and five-string versions. Taking its cues from the standard Thumb NT model,...

Keyboardist Anthony Brancati put together a funky band for this recording of the aptly named “Neo-Funk.” Wesley Allen handles the groovy bass on this, which also features drummer Larnell Lewis. Dig it.

Asia has released a 2-CD/DVD live set called Symfonia – Live In Bulgaria 2013. The release captures the band in a concert at a second-century Roman theater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria with the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra. It also features the lineup of original Asia members John Wetton, Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes with guitarist Sam Coulson. After Wetton passed away two...

This week we’re checking out the Ernie Ball Music Man Bongo 4 HH, a bass they describe as “well balanced, comfortable, resonant and expressive with effortless playability.” The Bongo was introduced in 2003 with a modern double cutaway body design that complements the flagship StingRay model. It’s built with a basswood body in six color options: Black, Tangerine Pearl, Sky...

Double stops can present a major challenge for double bassists just being introduced to them, specifically in the arena of intonation. Finger spacing, shifting, and dropping and lifting of multiple fingers are all areas that can trip someone up. Below, using a famous passage from Edouard Nanny’s Concerto attributed to Dragonetti, are a few ways to approach double stops which...

Wes Stephenson is a favorite around here, thanks in part to his work with the Funky Knuckles. Here’s Wes laying down the low end with Mark Lettieri’s band, on the tune “Slant.” The track is from the band’s album, .