Weekly Top Ten: The Best in Bass for the Week of August 18
No Treble had record numbers of readers in the last week, thanks to some great videos – including a top 10 list of all-bass arrangements, plus new gear and some great how-to’s.
Here are the most read features and most watched videos on No Treble for the week of August 18-24, 2013. Thanks as always for reading, commenting and sharing!
1. Jaco Pastorius: “Chromatic Fantasy”, Live (1986)
When Kevin sent me this video, I was stunned… such a rare gem and an excellent closeup of Jaco Pastorius performing solo in 1986. This was during one of his gigs with drummer Brian Melvin. I don’t recall many videos of Jaco performing “Chromatic Fantasy”, but this one has to be among the best…
2. Squier Adds New Precision Bass Models to Vintage Modified Series
Rounding out the summer’s new models for Squiers Vintage Modified Series are a trio of P-basses: The Vintage Modified Precision Bass V, Precision Bass Fretless, and Precision Bass PJ. Similar to the rest of the series, the new basses are designed to add new twists to familiar designs…
3. Jan Urbanec: Acoustic Bass Funk
Warning: you’re about to experience some serious funkiness. The only problem, it doesn’t last long enough. Jan Urbanec is laying it down on his acoustic bass. He says he’s “…just messing around with one of my favorite grooves.” Oh yeah. And about that bass…
4. Top 10 Cover Tune Videos Arranged for Bass â?? 5th Edition
We may be biased, but we can’t think of an instrument that’s more versatile than a bass. But we don’t need to say it… we just need to show it. Here are the 10 most popular solo bass videos we’ve featured since the last time around…
5. Tech 21 SansAmp VT Bass DI Pedal Now Shipping
Tech 21 is now shipping the VT Bass DI Pedal. First introduced at this year’s Winter NAMM show, the VT Bass DI puts the company’s VT Bass preamp into a direct box format with three outputs: 1/4 Inch, XLR, and Parallel…
6. AC Guitars Introduces The Krell Bass
AC Guitars has introduced a new bass model named The Krell, inspired by the 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet. The bass takes its name from an extinct race of advanced beings from the movie that built a machine that could “turn thoughts into reality and project that reality anywhere on the planet”…
7. Sight Reading for Auditions: Tips for Bass Players
Damian tackles a reader’s question about sight reading for a college audition, and ended up sharing something valuable for everyone who wants to improve their reading ability…
8. For Once in My Life: James Jamerson’s Bass Line Visualized
Vulfpeck’s Jack Stratton sent us this cool video he made saying, “[James] Jamerson belongs with Bach, Debussy and Mozart, and that includes graphical scores on Youtube.” We couldn’t agree more. We dig this visual representation of one of Jamerson’s most amazing bass lines…
9. Groovy Fingerstyle Bass Lick Lesson
Here’s a neat little fingerstyle groove lick lesson, complete with double stops and that open string trick we’ve been playing around with over a couple of the recent lessons. I can’t seem to stop using this technique when playing licks. Maybe it is becoming my signature thing! Follow along with the video and the transcription…
10. Bass of the Week: Manne Guitars Kayenta
This week we check out the Kayenta bass from the Italian bass builders at Manne Guitars. Designed around an offset body, the bass’s shape puts it in a more upward angled position when playing that the company says is suited well for players that wear their instrument higher…
