Archive for June 2009

Someone said “Michael Hedges’ devil’s advocate plays electric bass, and his name is Jeff Schmidt.” We can’t think of a better way to describe it, so here goes… Jeff Schmidt, performing “From Under the Weight of Knowing” live at Solo Bass Night in Berkeley, California in 2006.

Jazz band CAB, featuring bassist Bunny Brunel, is re-releasing Live at the Baked Potato next month. This 2-disc set features the band’s live performance at the Baked Potato, originally released in 2006, with Brunel on bass, Tony MacAlpine on guitar, David Hirshfelder on keyboards and Virgil Donati on drums. Track List: 1. Bass Ackward 2. Tony Mac 3. Cab 4....

Released in March 2009, jazz bassist Iris Ornig’s New Ground is worth checking out. The album showcases Ornig’s melodic compositions with Yoshiro Okazaki (trumpet), Daisuke Abe (guitar), Danny Grissett (piano) and Tony Jefferson (drums). Preview the album: Amazon.com Widgets Be sure to visit Ornig’s home page.

Slipknot bassist Paul Gray was recently interviewed when the band played at Hovefestivalen outside the city of Arendal, Norway. A two week summer tour is in the works for Slipknot starting August 22 in Seattle, Washington. Tickets are on sale now! Check out the Slipknot HQ for more details.

This lesson is derived from Jon Burr’s The Untold Secret to Melodic Bass. Be sure to check out the complete method book in downloadable PDF, Kindle Book and the all-new paperback formats. Last week we talked about “Anchors”. We introduced the idea of “Pivots” as “the primary oppositional tone to the root (or anchor). Here is some more discussion of...

Bassist Victor Little will be releasing his debut solo album Inner Portrait tonight at Yoshi’s San Francisco. The release-party will kick off at 8pm PST. Inner Portrait features Little with drummer Dennis Chambers (P-Funk) and keyboardist Rusian Sirota (Stanley Clarke Band) going through 10 original jazz-funk-fusion tunes. Tickets are available from Little’s web site. Check out our previous coverage of...

SMV, the bass supergroup formed by Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten recorded a video before their tour, including live performances and interviews. In this segment, the bassists give their insight into bass playing, SMV and the direction of bass exposure. It also includes a special live studio performance on the opening track “Los Maestros de Las Frecuencias Bajas”...

Bassist David Ellefson continues his Rock Shop Webisodes with Part 6 of “Making a Recording,” a video continuing in his recording focus. His comment on the webisode project: “I’m always asked questions from fans and other musicians about playing the bass, the business side of our industry, and music in general. So, I decided to create these regular video webisodes...

Markbass, an Italian bass amp manufacturer, has announced the launch of seven brand new effects pedals. These pedals have been designed solely with bass in mind and includes the Compressore (valve compressor), Distosore (distortion pedal), Super Booster (EQ), Octaver (doubles playing one to two octaves), Riverbero (reverb), Chous Flanger, Super Pro (DI box), and Super Synth (sound manipulation) pedals. For...

The Michael Jackson inspired playalongs have been pouring into Youtube over the past two days. This one caught our eye and ears: a tribute to MJ from the GospelChops bassists Janek Gwizdala, Hadrien Feraud and Robert “Bubby” Lewis, playing Jackson’s hit, Beat It. Thoughts and prayers to the Jackson family.

Bass legend Victor Wooten has released the schedule for his summer Bass/Nature Camps. Each camp is tailored to a specific theme, to appeal to different students. Camp schedule: September 3 – 6, 2009: “Spirit of Music” October 6 – 11, 2009: “Music / Nature Camp” – for ANY instrument July 19 – August 9, 2010: “Bass / Nature Camp 3...

Bassist and singer Sky Saxon passed away on Thursday in Austin, Texas. He was 63 and had been in the ICU with an undisclosed illness since Monday. Saxon had a long music history: he founded Seeds in 1965 releasing four albums with hit singles “Can’t Seem to Make Mine” and “Pushing Too Hard.” Saxon also played with the Ya Ho...