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Archive for March 2013

Weekly Top Ten: The Best in Bass for the Week of March 24
Weekly Top 10

Weekly Top Ten: The Best in Bass for the Week of March 24

Nothing but bass right here, as usual. But there’s nothing usual about our top ten most viewed, most shared and most commented on stories, how to’s and videos for the week of March 24-30, 2013. 1. Vulfpeck: Joe Dart’s Isolated Bass Track on “Beastly” Jack Stratton sent me this video, which made my day. We’re all huge Joe Dart and...

Federico Malaman: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Solo Bass Performance
Bass Videos

Federico Malaman: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Solo Bass Performance

During the 2010 EuroBassDay, Federico Malaman – armed with a Laurus bass and a looper – showcased his solo bass skills at the Tecamp and Laurus booth. Federico took Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and made it his own great all-bass performance.

Bugra Balci Releases “The Virtuoso Bassist in 14 Melodic Baroque Etudes”
Sheet Music & Instruction

Bugra Balci Releases “The Virtuoso Bassist in 14 Melodic Baroque Etudes”

As a bassist, Bugra Balci gained inspiration from working through Bach’s Cello Suites, which he says gave him a deep, wide approach to the bass and musicality. He’s taken those concepts of building technique through examples that go beyond exercises in his latest instructional book, The Virtuoso Bassist in 14 Melodic Baroque Etudes. “All the etudes are in this book...

Mike Lull Announces Non-Reversed T-Bird Style NRT4 and NRT5 Basses
Basses

Mike Lull Announces Non-Reversed T-Bird Style NRT4 and NRT5 Basses

Mike Lull has taken the classic non-reversed T-Bird style bass concept and combined it with his own engineering. The result is the new NRT4 and NRT5 basses. The NRT4 and NRT5 offer up the same specs as the company’s T4 and T5 models, but with the non-reversed body shape. Lull wanted to take the classic deep tones of the original...

Improvising: Scale Substitutions for Bass
Bass Lessons

Improvising: Scale Substitutions for Bass

In this new lesson, we’ll cover some tips on soloing over changes. In the video below, you’ll see that I’m playing chords through a looper, to create the pattern to play against. We start with a D Major scale, over an E minor chord, which is the Dorian mode. The scale: D E F# G A B C# Then, the...

Senses Fail: “Bite to Break Skin”, Live
Bass Videos

Senses Fail: “Bite to Break Skin”, Live

Our Facebook friend Colton Frausell sent us a message with this video saying, “I feel like Jason Black deserves to be in the spotlight. One of the best punk rock bassists I have ever had the pleasure of hearing.” We agree. Here’s Black performing “Bite to Break Skin” from Senses Fail’s Halloween DVD.

IK Multimedia Introduces iRig Recorder App for Android
Apps

IK Multimedia Introduces iRig Recorder App for Android

IK Multimedia has released their first mobile app for Android with the iRig Recorder, an audio recording app that works with your device’s built-in mic as well as IK’s iRig MIC, iRig MIC Cast or iRig PRE. The app is designed to make recordings on the fly. iRig Recorder has no recording time limit, requires no setup, and has an...

G&L Reissues LB-100 Bass
Basses

G&L Reissues LB-100 Bass

G&L has reintroduced the LB-100, a bass they describe as a “subtle evolution of the p-style platform.” Originally released two decades ago, the bass features a streamlined alder body for improved comfort and balance. The new LB-100 retains the tone of its predecessor thanks to an accurate recreation of its Alnico V pickup, which is wound in house, as well...

Earplugs… A Love-Hate Relationship (Part 2: Where, When, and Why)
I Wish I Knew That

Earplugs… A Love-Hate Relationship (Part 2: Where, When, and Why)

Photo by Quinn Dombrowski In Part 1 of this series, we looked at two different types of earplugs, the over-the-counter ones as well as the custom molded ones, and some of the benefits of each. Now, let’s think about when to use them and how to get comfortable playing with them in. Before we jump in, let me say that...

Ben Hands: Solo Bass Cover of Adele’s “Someone Like You”
Bass Videos

Ben Hands: Solo Bass Cover of Adele’s “Someone Like You”

Yep, we dig it when bassists take pop tunes and turn up the awesome meter by arranging them as a solo bass piece. Here’s Ben Hands doing his thing to make Adele’s “Someone Like You” way cooler. (We may be biased).

2013 ISB Convention Headliners to Include Victor Wooten, Ron Carter
Events

2013 ISB Convention Headliners to Include Victor Wooten, Ron Carter

The International Society of Bassists’ biennial convention is set for June 2nd through June 8th, 2013 at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and this year promises to be another great get-together. The week-long bass hang features over 200 events for bassists of all walks, including clinics, classical and jazz competitions, bass making competitions, performances and more....

Bass of the Week: Overwater Basses Expression Semi-Acoustic Bass
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: Overwater Basses Expression Semi-Acoustic Bass

U.K.-based company Overwater Basses stretches things with their Expression model, a semi-acoustic bass built with a solid spruce top and 3? deep hollow Central American mahogany body bound in Cocobolo. Its body has elements of a violin-shape and a single-cut with a the lower horn cutaway for better access to up to the 22nd fret. Available in 4, 5, and...