Archive for 2012 - Page 46

Q: Experience and all instrument makers tell us that the choice of wood affects the sound of a bass. Of course we know and feel the difference of alder vs. ash bodies, ebony vs. rosewood vs. maple fingerboards, and so many other differences. But, do we know why exactly this affects the amplified sound? What we deal with are metal...

This wouldn’t be much of an “isolated bass week” without including the legend, James Jamerson. So here’s a (mostly) isolated bass track from the 1967 Four Tops hit, “Bernadette”. There’s some disagreement about whether this is the bass on the actually released single, or if it is an out-take from the Motown vault. Doesn’t matter to us… it is still...

At the end of every month, we take a look at the most read articles on No Treble. So it only makes sense that we make a top 10 list from there. We lost one of the great bass legends of our time last month, with the passing of Bob Babbitt, who takes the #1 slot for most read in...

Meet Rafael Minerbo, a bassist from Brazil who made us laugh pretty hard when reading his bio (you’ll see why). Rafael has been playing for about three years and says he wishes he was David Caraccio or Flea. To that, we say: “keep doing your thing, and then someone will one day say, ‘I wish I was Rafael Minerbo.'” Rafael...

Sad news to report… Hot Tuna has canceled the last three scheduled dates for their Steady As She Goes tour. A representative for the band sent us this note today: “Jack Casady‘s wife, longtime love Diana, is in the late stages of a rare form of cancer. She has fought an amazing fight for over ten years. It is with...

Primus is kicking off a “first-ever traveling 3D enhanced live musical” tour in October, featuring two sets per evening the band promises will be “a one-of-a-kind psychedelic experience”. Every show will feature Quad Surround Sound too. The 22-date tour kicks off October 12 in Poughkeepsie, NY and ends on November 10 in Miami, Florida. Primus debuted the video for “Lee...

The 1973 studio version of “Free Bird” appeared on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s debut album, from Pronounced ‘Leh-‘Nérd ‘Skin-‘Nérd and featured Ed King on bass and Bob Burns on drums. Here’s the duo in isolation on the track, showing just how a drummer/bassist pairing should be. King is reportedly playing his 1964 Fender Jazz on the tune. Sweet.

Well, it was nice while it lasted. Hot on the heels of the news that Bill Wyman was rehearsing with the Rolling Stones as part of the band’s 50th anniversary comes the news that Wyman won’t be touring with the group as hoped. Following the rehearsals, guitarist Keith Richards said, “We’re playing around with the idea [of a tour] and...

J. Backlund Design has stepped into the low end with the introduction of their first bass, the JBD-800B. Modeled after the company’s versatile JBD-800 guitar, the new 4-string bass sports three Seymour Duncan Bass Lines pickups with a 5-way pickups selector for extended tonal range. The JBD-800B features bolt-on construction with a 6-bolt maple neck and either rosewood or maple...

After mastering the exercises on one and two strings, you will be ready to challenge yourself with some three-string exercise, like the ones below. Some Notes: These exercises can be done pizzicato or arco. If done pizzicato, I suggest beginning each pattern using the second finger of your right hand, followed by the first (i.e. 2-1) and alternating without exception....

Based on the huge popularity of the isolated bass tracks, we’ve decided to do our second “isolated bass week”. (Check out our previous isolated bass week, after this video.) Here’s Jeff Ament‘s classic bass line on the Pearl Jam hit single, “Alive”, from the album Ten. Such a cool line, with all the right mix of awesomeness: fretless (I believe...

What can we say? If it is bass, we love it. If it makes the top 10 list of bass awesomeness, we love it even more. Here are the top 10 most read articles and most viewed videos on No Treble for the week of July 22-28, 2012. Thanks for reading, commenting and sharing! 1. PBS History Detectives to Trace...