Archive for September 2011

Gibson is helping to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind album with the introduction of the Krist Novoselic Signature RD Bass. The grunge bassist used an RD Artist series bass during his years with the trio and as such, the new bass is a recreation of its predecessor, with Novoselic’s own customizations. The RD body shape is an offset...

Aside from knowing the 12 bar blues progression, familiarization with different bass patterns and feels becomes crucial. Since many songs have the same progression, the pattern and/or feel is the main characteristic that differentiates one blues from another. This column will focus specifically on the feel, how to differentiate one kind of shuffle from another by changing your articulation or...

Esperanza Spalding leads this beautiful performance of “Wild Is The Wind”, filmed live in San Sebastian in 2009. The tune is from Esperanza’s Chamber Music Society. This one has it all.

Fresh on the heels of the announcement Sting’s “Back to Bass” tour comes the definitive Sting box set collection, released this week. Sting: 25 Years is a 4-disc set, featuring 45 remastered tracks spanning Sting’s solo career on 3 discs, plus a DVD containing previously unreleased live concert footage. The audio portion begins with Sting’s 1985 solo debut Dream of...

Our featured bass this week is a BL Design Barbary 5-string. This custom fretless bass is a single cutaway design built with a redwood theme, the body is birdseye redwood with a maple veneer, while the stunning top is exhibition grade redwood burl. From there, the body is accented by a 9-piece padauk neck that has wenge and maple pinstripes...

Bassist Philip Smith says, “a little funk jam for you.” Philip played all the instruments on this track, but it is the bass we liked the most, of course.

Cannibal Corpse’s Alex Webster has authored a new bass instructional book, released this week. is a book and CD combo guide offering insights into the techniques, concepts and applications of metal bass. The 64-page book is accompanied by an enhanced CD, offering demos of the materials presented in the book, play-along tracks for all the examples, and play-along MIDI drum...

Rush is prepping for the release of Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland, their first effort through the power trio’s new label, Roadrunner Records. The release is scheduled for November 8, 2011. The 2-disc album features the of the trio of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neal Peart performing the April 2011 concert at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland,...

Q: Hi Damian, a few weeks back I started doubting the “purpose” of practice, due to the fact that if you practice a specific tune, or any give exercise, its only for a short period of time (couple of months or so) and then it goes to the back of your head. How can I make my practice more “permanent”...

Last week we featured a video about a bass being built into a snowboard. This time, it’s a little different. According to the guys who made this, “the Rockin Chair was invented on a coffee break at a newspaper in Värmland, Sweden, back in 1984 by the journalist Kjell Palmers and noted by his college Stefan Markebo. Many years later...

Jazz bassist Christian McBride has hit another milestone in his career with the release of The Good Feeling, his first full big band recording as a leader. The 11-track album features large ensemble arrangements of his own songs as well as jazz standards like “Broadway,” “The More I See You” and “A Taste of Honey.” McBride first got a taste...

Meet Blackie Dawson, a 18-year veteran of the low end, and our bassist in the spotlight for September 27, 2011. Bio: I have been playing bass since I was 19 years old. I spent many years just playing along to Iron Maiden, early Metallica, Black Sabbath and Dead Kennedys tapes and CDs. In 2007, I started playing bass in my...