Archive for March 2013 - Page 2

This month’s transcription is “Boomerang”, a funk-filled slap-fest from Hungarian bassist Viktor Lörincz we originally featured back in 2011. This chops-heavy piece is a great workout for anyone looking to take their slapping and tapping skills to the next level. Download the transcription (PDF) and follow along: Viktor opens the piece with a Latin-flavored tapping part which outlines a series...

Tomás Montoya sent today’s featured video to us saying “This guy is Ernesto Holman, a jazz folklore fusion bass player [who] is very original I think. He is from Santiago Chile.” We loved everything about this: low end, melody, musical, technical… It has it all.

Looking for a really sweet summer job? A month after splitting with longtime bassist Adam Duce, Machine Head is searching for a temporary bassist to play with them during this summer’s Mayhem Festival. The veteran metal band announced their bass auditions on their Facebook page. The audition requires bassists to record “standalone performances” of themselves playing and singing along to...

Q: This week’s column was written in part from a response to a FaceBook question I had about controlling rhythm and expressing it musically. I was also asked about my approach with my right hand, and where it came from with regard to rhythm and how I use it in my lines. I took that response and expanded on it...

If you don’t know bassist Sharay Reed by now, you should definitely check him out (start here, then come back, or vice versa). In this video, Sharay says he was grooving on a couple of songs his dad wanted him to record, the Jackson 5’s “Darling Dear” and Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her”. Thank you, Sharay’s dad!

After releasing their Metal EP, Newsted is set to hit the road starting April 19th. The band, fronted by former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, will kick things off at the Red House in Walnut Creek, California before sweeping up the West Coast and heading east. The band’s lineup includes drummer Jesus Mendez, Jr. and guitarists Jesse Farnsworth and Mike Mushok....

Meet bassist Carson Childers, who shares his story in this week’s reader spotlight feature. It is always exciting to see the next generation of players taking inspiration from the long line of bass playing legends who came before them, and Carson is clearly well schooled in the old and new school – spanning plenty of genres too. Check out his...

I’ve been digging the new “vault” release by Lenny White (check out the story we shared earlier this week). This new album offers up music from White’s 1997 tour with his band, which included two bassists: Victor Bailey and Foley. So I started hunting for videos from this era and found this great one. This line up is close to...

Two weeks after lead singer Randy Blythe was exonerated of charges in the Czech Republic, Lamb of God are picking up where they left off with a new tour in support of their latest album Resolution. Kicking off in Asheville, North Carolina on May 16th, the group will visit 30 markets with direct support from Decapitated, while Terror will appear...

We’ve found where the most common harmonics are at the end of the fingerboard, and also toward the nut. Today, let’s find the most common harmonics in the middle part of the string. In the examples below, the lower staff tells us where to put place our fingers and find the harmonic. The upper staff tells us the sounding pitch...

Jack Stratton sent me this video, which made my day. We’re all huge Joe Dart and Vulfpeck fans around here, and so it was a nice treat to hear Joe’s bass line to the tune “Beastly” in all its glory. If you want to hear the original, we have that too. And if you dig that, you’ll also want to...

It was during the recording sessions for Hiromi’s 2011 album Voice that the pianist teamed up with bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips. Hiromi and Jackson had worked together before, but this was the first time the trio performed together. “I had such a great time recording with them, and we went on the road together and that was...