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Archive for May 2012

Bass of the Week: Hot Wire Bass Inlaw 521 BO
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Hot Wire Bass Inlaw 521 BO

German bass company Hot Wire produced a super cool version of their Inlaw 521 BO model with a stunning quilted maple top and matching pickup covers. The “zebra” effect is attained by using a lighter quilted maple and a dark quilted maple to create a sharp contrast. The Inlaw comes in several versions, but the 521 BO is a 5-string,...

Stories Behind the Songs: Bob Daisley
Stories Behind the Songs

Stories Behind the Songs: Bob Daisley

Without a doubt, Bob Daisley is one of the most influential bassists of all time. For over four decades, Daisley has laid down the low end for everyone from Mungo Jerry to Rainbow to Ozzy Osbourne to Gary Moore. In fact, nearly every one of you reading this right now has probably played his bass lines, whether you know it...

Jean-Luc Ponty with Guy Christian Nsangué Akwa: Celtic Steps
Bass Videos

Jean-Luc Ponty with Guy Christian Nsangué Akwa: Celtic Steps

Here’s a cool video of Guy Christian Nsangué Akwa taking a solo with Jean-Luc Ponty’s band on the tune “Celtic Steps.” The bassist starts things off pretty cool before working the whole group into a frenzy. (I love the bass freakout at 2:50). As if that wasn’t enough, he plays the blazing melody in unison with the rest of the...

12-Bar Blues: The Complete Guide for Bass
Sheet Music & Instruction

12-Bar Blues: The Complete Guide for Bass

Hal Leonard’s Inside the Blues series released earlier this year has an edition focused solely on bass, penned by Dave Rubin. 12-Bar Blues: The Complete Guide for Bass is a book/CD combo offering up a well-rounded approach to learning – or improving – playing various forms of the blues. Rubin starts off with the basics, including tuning and breaking down...

Hot Tuna Releases “Jorma’s 70th Birthday Celebration” DVD
New Albums

Hot Tuna Releases “Jorma’s 70th Birthday Celebration” DVD

In early December, 2010, Hot Tuna took the stage at New York City’s Beacon Theater to celebrate the 70th birthday of guitarist and Hot Tuna co-founder Jorma Kaukonen. The two night event featured an all-star cast, anchored of course by the other co-founder of the group, bassist Jack Casady. The band was in their “electric” format, with mandolinist Barry Mitterhoff...

Choosing the Right Tone for the Song: On Stage and In Studio
Ask Damian Erskine

Choosing the Right Tone for the Song: On Stage and In Studio

Q: How do you decide what tone to use for different songs? A: This is a great question. And it is one that is very subjective. This will be different for everyone, but I’m happy to share my personal take on it. This is also something that may be very different live than it is in the studio. Quite often,...

Marcus Miller: Run for Cover, Live (2007)
Bass Videos

Marcus Miller: Run for Cover, Live (2007)

Recorded live at the Java Jazz Festival in 2007, here’s Marcus Miller and his band performing a groovy take on “Run for Cover”. Love the bass tone on this one. Love the solo. Love the bass face. This is not the first time we’ve shared a video of Marcus playing this tune… the other time featured a performance with the...

Michael Manring and Kevin Kastning Release “In Winter”
New Albums

Michael Manring and Kevin Kastning Release “In Winter”

Take two musicians who love to push the boundaries of their respective instruments, put them together, and they still probably won’t sound like the pairing of bassist Michael Manring and guitarist Kevin Kastning. The duo have just released In Winter, a twenty track album offering what Manring describes as “avant garde, improvised music with a mysterious, atmospheric quality.” The album...

Reader Spotlight: Cristian Tisselli
Reader Spotlight

Reader Spotlight: Cristian Tisselli

Meet bassist Cristian Tisselli, a musician from Argentina with a cool story about following dreams and a great line: “I could play a big stadium or in a small bar, I don’t really care.” Cristian is a man ahead of his times: he took the approach of turning a guitar into a bass when he first started out, way before...

Roger Waters Announces Final and Largest Production of “The Wall”
Player News

Roger Waters Announces Final and Largest Production of “The Wall”

Roger Water’s tour of The Wall will be coming to a gigantic finale on July 21st in Quebec City, Quebec. Held at the Fields of Abraham, the recently added concert will be the last tour stop of the current North American trek, but will differ from the rest in that the production will feature a set twice as large as...

Ran Kaufman: Solo Bass, Funky BaBa
Bass Videos

Ran Kaufman: Solo Bass, Funky BaBa

Bassist Ran Kaufman sent us some of his videos, and we were immediately impressed. Ran employs loops in his work, and does so in a way that lays down a nice groove to let him showcase his soloing abilities. Here’s Ran performing his tune “Funky BaBa”. Funky indeed.

Dan Briggs and Trioscapes Release “Separate Realities”
New Albums

Dan Briggs and Trioscapes Release “Separate Realities”

Dan Briggs and his new group Trioscapes have released their debut album, Separate Realities on Metal Blade Records. Originally started to do a one-off show of the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Celestial Terrestrial Commuters, the sax/bass/drums trio brings together elements of prog rock, metal and jazz. Briggs, who lays down the low end for the prog metal outfit Between the Buried and...