Archive for February 2011 - Page 6

Motörhead has released The Wörld is Yours, the trio’s 28th album. Led by icon Lemmy Kilmister, the group is releasing the CD in celebration of their 35th anniversary, with the bassist/singer being the sole constant member. The new album is the follow-up to 2008’s Motorizer, and is also the first record to be released on their new Motörhead Music label....

In addition to the new Yin Yang Standard Bass, Fodera was showing off their new Mike Pope Signature Viceroy at their NAMM booth. The 6-string bass has some very innovative features, including a removable fingerboard extension that’s held in by strong magnets. The extension allows for the bass to transition between 20 and 24-frets, which Pope explains makes a big...

This week, we continuing the series on the making of Orchid, a custom bass by Rick Toone. If you missed it, check out Part 1 and Part 2. Trapezoid Neck Profile Ebony facing is glued to the headstock. Next, the fretboard, headstock and contours are precisely shaped, including the patented Trapezoid Neck Profile used on these two basses. We’ve all...

Here’s a pretty cool solo bass piece by upright bassist Hartmut Kracht, who adds a little to the performance by playing his upright like a bass guitar. I used to get in trouble for this in orchestra class back in the day!

Evan Marien has just released his newest EP, Here We Are, a 5-track album of original material written and mostly performed by the bassist himself. Marien laid down bass, keys, vocals, and computer programming, while getting help from drummer Louis Cato and guitarist Iakov Kremenskly for the tune “Hill,” and drummer Dana Hawkins on “Bloke” and “OC.” The music is...

Les Claypool has finally revealed some clues about the new mystery bass he was sporting during Primus’ New Year’s Eve shows. “What I played at those shows was a semi-finished prototype bass that I designed and had built by my old pal Dan Maloney,” he wrote in a Primus update. Maloney is also responsible for building Claypool’s banjo bass, called...

Q: When I’m in jam situations and someone asks me to “kick it off” or start something, I just freeze and draw a blank. How do you know what to play? A: This is something we’ve all dealt with at some point. The problem is all in our minds. Our analytical and critical minds see the myriad of possibilities and...

Here’s bassist Nathan Navarro showing some impressive skills while performing one of his own original funk compositions.

Hal Leonard released a series of “Legendary Songs” books, including one for the bass. Legendary Bass Guitar Songs documents 39 different tunes by legendary bassists, including James Jamerson, Carol Kaye, Jack Bruce, John Paul Jones, Paul McCartney, John Entwistle, Steve Harris, Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke. Songs by James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone, AC/DC, the Clash, the...

Meet Evan Mitchell, a bassist from Indianapolis, Indiana and our bassist in the spolight for February 8, 2011. Bio: When I was 12 years old my older brother bought a guitar and started learning songs to form a band. I started learning bass lines on his guitar and decided I needed to buy a real bass so that he and...

This week, we’re taking a look back at the top 10 most popular bass videos from January, 2011, based on the number of views by No Treble readers. 1. Bach for One Bassist and Two Basses This is pretty wild… bassist Grzegorz Kosi?ski performs “Minuet in D minor BWV 990, Anh. 132″ by Johann Sebastian Bach on two basses simultaneously....

Lately, No Treble has been experiencing a significant increase in feedback coming in by way of email, letters, tweets and Facebook posts and messages. We love hearing from you! The positive feedback (along with the occasional advice on how to do even better) are evidence that No Treble is attracting an energetic, worldwide community of bassists. From No Treble’s perspective,...