Top 10: The Most Viewed Bass Gear, News, How To’s, Lessons and Videos for the First Week of 2012
The first week of 2012 saw record traffic to No Treble, starting with the Top 10 Readers’ Favorite list of bassists on new year’s day.
This is also the time of year where lots of gear announcements start coming, leading up to the Winter NAMM show taking place in a little over a week (we’ll be there, covering all the bass gear we can find). Fender lead the charge, with the announcement of their new Select Series of basses. Also in gear, our Bass of the Week, the Wood & Tronics Chronos, made the list.
We know you all love the how to’s and lessons, and this week saw three of them make the top 10, including MarloweDK’s Practical Theory: Improvising over a Minor Key Progression, Dr. D’s Left Hand Thumb: Position, and Damian’s take on improvising, in Modal vs. Chordal Approaches. The Ultimate Bass Songbook: The Complete Resource for Every Bass Player, with its 70 transcriptions also caught No Treble readers’ attention.
Rounding out our top 10 is our little experiment to instigate and make some noise for Rush, who somehow keep getting snubbed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We think enough is enough. Be sure to check that out if you agree.
Here is the top 10 most read articles, features and most watched videos for the week of January 1-7, 2012.
1. 2011 Readers’ Favorite Bassists
Our Top 10 Readers’ Favorite Bassists list for 2011 was the undisputed #1 for the first week of January 2012, with tons of views, and tons of comments. If you missed it, check it out.
2. Fender Announces “Select” Series, Including New Precision and Jazz Bass Models
Fender is kicking off 2012 with the introduction of the Fender Select Series, which they describe as it’s “new top-of-the-production-line best” instruments. The series, which includes new Precision and Jazz Bass models, presents the company’s classic designs with marked upgrades like choice tone woods, quartersawn maple necks with compound-radius fretboards, and specially voiced Select pickups….
3. Ed Friedland: Looping Bass Version of Steely Dan’s “Do It Again”
Here’s a cool video of Ed Friedland, aka the Bass Whisperer, building up a full on version of Steely Dan’s classic “Do It Again” during a 2010 clinic at the Bass Emporium in Austin, Texas. After “giving the drummer some,” Friedland fills out the tune’s bass line, chords and melody…
4. The Ultimate Bass Songbook: The Complete Resource for Every Bass Player
Hal Leonard has published a whopper of a bass transcription book. The Ultimate Bass Songbook: The Complete Resource for Every Bass Player includes note-for-note transcriptions for 70 songs, spanning bass lines, bass melodies and solo bass arrangements. The book is designed to allow you to pick the arrangement you prefer to many top hits…
5. Bass of the Week: Wood & Tronics Chronos
Hand made in Italy, the Wood & Tronics Chronos is the company’s take on the single cut design, and a great one at that. Wood and Tronics was founded by Enrico Pasini and luthier Erik Furlan after Pasini, who was a frequent visitor and admirer of the Fodera Guitars shop, decided to follow his dream…
6. Practical Theory: Improvising over a Minor Key Progression
In my last lesson, we covered the topic of improvising over a minor 7 chord. This time around, we’re going to focus on improvising over a minor key progression…
For all instrumentalists, excess tension should be a source of concern. We should work to eliminate it as much as possible. For string players, and especially bassists, excess tension can not only lead to technical and musical inaccuracies, but also to physical discomfort and injury…
8. Cephalic Carnage’s Nick Schendzielos: “Ohrwurm” Bass Playalong Video and Lesson
Here’s one for the metalheads! Nick Schendzielos of Cephalic Carnage made this incredible playalong of the group’s bass-heavy song “Ohrwurm,” from their album Misled by Certainty. “I had a lot of “fun” making this video,” Schendzielos wrote. “I wanted to increase the watchability for musicians and non-musicians alike, so I tried out some new things…
9. On Improvising: Modal vs. Chordal Approaches
Damian Erskine answers a reader’s question on whether to focus on modal or chord approaches to music theory…
10. Before 2112: Make Some Noise for Rush
During our down time (is there such a thing?) during the holiday week, the No Treble crew decided to put up a petition site for Rush, calling out the epic failure on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s part to keep them out…
