Archive for 2009 - Page 56

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...

Right up until the end of his life, Joe Zawinul could still bring it (and pick bass players). Check out the Zawinul Syndicate’s version of Weather Report’s “Fast City”, a tune originally recorded for the Jaco Pastorius-era Night Passage album. Bassist Linley Marthe is a monster on this one. This clip comes from the Syndicate’s “75th” DVD. I was lucky...

Bassist Nate Mendel has returned to play with Sunny Day Real Estate, after playing with the Foo Fighters. The reunion will be followed by a tour scheduled for this fall. Sunny Day Real Estate has split and re-formed two times already (once in 1998, reuniting without Mendel, and then again in 2001). Mendel’s comments on the reunion: “I wasn’t around...

Bassist Ian Hill, from Judas Priest, was a featured guests on this past weekend’s “The Classic Metal Show”. The buzz is that Judas Priest is working on a new album, A Touch of Evil: Live, to be released July 14 during the band’s summer tour. The album will feature 10 songs never released live. Rob Halford told Billboard.com, “I love...

Freelance bassist Jason Sypher, aka dervishmusic, is the double bassist for Holland-based, “yiddish, gypsy, jazz hybrid” band Nikitov. But in today’s featured video, he goes solo, performing Joe Thrift’s old-time fiddle tune, “Whiteface” on a double bass. In case you’re wondering, he’s not left handed, the video is reversed. Check out more videos from Jason on his Youtube page.

The Deftones have re-entered the studio to re-record Eros, a project started last year that was interrupted with bassist Chi Cheng’s tragic car accident in November. Former Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega has been playing with the band since then. From their myspace blog, Deftone’s state in revisitng their work it “doesn’t best encompass and represent who we are currently as...

One of the essential skills for any bassist is mastery of the fingerboard. At any point in time you should know exactly where you are and where you can go. Most of us have the first part of that down, it’s rare that you’ll be playing and not know where you are, but how many people have an understanding of...

The Orange Crush PiX line of amplifiers are getting an upgrade and will debut at the upcoming Nashville NAMM show next month. Eight models will be available, with the traditional Orange grill cloth, miniature Orange crest finish, signature Orange picture frame edging, exterior beading and the hieroglyph symbols. The CR10 and CR12L get two extra watts of power, in the...

Bassist Zander Zon has done it again, this time performing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Memory”, from the musical Cats. Enjoy! Check out all of ZanderZon’s videos on his Youtube page.

Q: What would be a good way to start practicing soloing over changes? A: I’ll tell you what I worked on the most with the soloing thing. Take a jazz standard (so there’s a lot of chord changes) and practice arpeggiating the chords through the tune. First, like a walking bass line (quarter notes…1, 3, 5, 7 of each chord)...