Bassists - Page 93

Zander Zon, who takes his name from the famed line of boutique bass guitars, follows the vein of solo bass. Employing piccolo strings and alternate tunings, the bassist builds thoughtful and challenging compositions as well as cool arrangements of popular tunes that have captured the imagination of YouTubers. What makes you new school? My focus as a musician is to...

Bluegrass legend Jody Rainwater has passed away at the age of 92. Born Charles Edward Johnson, the bassist was an early and influential member of the Foggy Mountain Boys, headed by Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt. Scruggs and Flatt formed the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1949 and originally turned to Rainwater to be their booking agent. When founding bassist Cedric...

Meet Mark McHone, a bassist from Jacksonville, Florida who has traveled the country to play music and teaches kids who are the victims of budget cuts in music programs in school. Mark is our player in the spotlight for December 27, 2011. Bio: I started playing bass at 13 years of age. I am now 27. I have toured all...

Guns N’ Roses bassist Tommy Stinson says the follow-up to Chinese Democracy should come “much quicker” than its predecessor, which was a project 15 years in the making before it was released in 2008. “You know, I just see us making a record much quicker, because, in hindsight, a lot of what happened with Chinese Democracy, we could get around...

Meet Michael Olson, a self-described “perfeshinul bassist” from Fort Collins, Colorado who makes his day all about music. Michael is our player in the spotlight for December 20, 2011. You have to check out the “Band & Gigs” section below – that story is awesome. Bio: I have been a professional bassist since the day I got out of music...

In 1975, bassist Mark Evans joined AC/DC, Australia’s hardest working rock band, when he was just 19 years old. Over the next few years, the band recorded four best-selling albums and the band shot up the ranks to headlining, world-tour super-stardom. Evans, who held down the low end for the band between March 1975 and June 1977, has authored a...

UK-based Simon Fitzpatrick caught the attention of bass lovers around the world last year with his jaw-dropping solo bass arrangement of Bohemian Rhapsody. Since then, the Carl Palmer Band bassist has been continuing to push himself to adapt new songs to the instrument with techniques and technology. What makes you new school? I first started taking solo bass seriously about...

It appears Marcus Miller is in the studio working on his new album, according to his Facebook page. Though details are still slim, the iconic bassist announced a few artists that he’s working with. “Working on my new album,” he posted. “In the studio with Sean Jones, Federico Gonzalez Pena, Adam Rogers, Alex Han and Louis Cato. Time to make...

Meet Joaquina “Roqui” Lluma, a multi-instrumentalist who currently resides in Denver, Colorado and calls music her day job, night job, weekend job and holiday job. One of our favorite lines in this interview feature: Joaquina says she uses “a TC Helicon distortion/distresser for my backing vocals sometimes when I’m feeling frisky.” Bio: I was born and raised in Buenos Aires,...

During the first night of their 30th Anniversary concerts last week, Metallica brought Jason Newsted back for a special guest appearance. Newsted, who left the band in 2001, was introduced by singer James Hetfield as “someone who lived with us, and toured with us and did stuff with us for 14 years.” The band then kicked into “Harvester of Sorrow,”...

We’re sad to report the passing of Dan “Bee” Spears, the longtime bassist for Willie Nelson’s Family Band. Spears performed with Nelson on albums including Stardust, The Troublemaker, Shotgun Willie, Red Headed Stranger and others. The Austin American-Statesman reported that Spears fell as he exited his motor home, and died due to exposure. He was 62. “We are deeply saddened...

As the jazz standard goes: “Things ain’t what they used to be.” The music industry as a whole is changing, but even so, truly remarkable artists will always shine through. Christian McBride is one of those artists. Raised in Philadelphia, McBride moved to New York City at the age of 17 to step up his music career. Through hard work,...