Archive for September 2010 - Page 7

A little less than a month after Andy Rourke’s departure, the bass supergroup Freebass has called it quits for good. The group was based around Rourke, of the Smiths, New Order’s Peter Hook, and Primal Fear’s Gary “Mani” Mounfield. Though Freebass has been in the works for about five years, the band’s dissolution comes just shy of two weeks before...

Bassist Fred Turner and guitarist Randy Bachman, of the infamous Bachman-Turner Overdrive, have just released their first new material together in nearly twenty years. The aptly named album, Bachman & Turner, has been in the works since their reunion in December of 2009. Turner is excited about the new album, and the freshness of its songs. After their reunion, he...

Another great bass/drum duo performance… this time by Victor Wooten and Steve Smith. The performance took place at the Drummers Collective in November, 2002. Smith admits the two only had five minutes to prepare for the performance. Doesn’t seem fair. Part 1: Part 2:

The Horrorpops, fronted by Femme Fatale bassist Patricia Day, have announced their “10 Days of the Dead” Tour, which will span the west coast. The 10-day trek runs from October 21st and ends on Halloween in Pomona, California. Day’s husband, Kim Nekroman, plays guitar for the band but is also the bassist for psychobilly legends Nekromantix. 10 Days of the...

Continuing our series on slap bass, today we’ll combine several of the elements from the first five lessons in this series, and add “octaves” to the mix. FYI, in this lesson, I’m paying a Shergold Modulator bass. If anyone know where to get modules for it, please let me know in the comments below. Check out the entire Slap Bass...

Words aren’t enough. Here’s upright master Edgar Meyer playing “Froglike”, from his album Work in Progress (sadly, the album is out of print).

Rotosound and Guitar Center are co-sponsoring a bass clinic with Billy Sheehan, to be held at the Hollywood Guitar Center on the October 21st, 2010. Sheehan will demonstrate his trademark techniques, covering the use of chording, two-handed tapping, right hand “three finger picking” technique and controlled feedback. He’ll also give his insights on the music industry and his career. The...

After releasing a self-titled debut in April, blues/rock/fusion supergroup Renegade Creation will be hitting the road in November and December to support it. The band will be starting on the east coast and eventually make it to California for a three night stay at Yoshi’s in Oakland. The group features bassist Jimmy Haslip of the Yellowjackets, guitarists Robben Ford and...

This is cool… John Entwistle‘s isolated bass track of “Summertime Blues” (with just a touch of vocals spilling over into the bass channel). This is from by The Who.

Hal Leonard and Musicians Institute Press have released a new bass method book focusing on the art of soloing. Soloing for Bass (A Contemporary Approach to Improvising in Any Style) by Dominik Hauser, is a book/CD combo that features solo exercises, theory discussion and play-along tracks. The method covers major scale modes, melodic minor scale modes, harmonic minor scale modes,...

Meet Eibhlin Palfrey, a bassist from Cork, Ireland and our player in the spotlight for September 7, 2010. Bio: Born in Cork Ireland, music has always played a big part in my life. I’ve been playing bass for about 11 years, I’m 27 now. I’ve played with many fantastic local bands and a bit of session work whenever the opportunity...

Only five months after joining, Duff McKagan will be leaving the ranks of Jane’s Addiction due to musical differences. “Hey we wanted to thank Duff for helping us write songs for our new record,” the band said in a recent email newsletter. “We love the songs we worked on with him – and the gigs were a blast – but...