Archive for January 2014 - Page 2

Electra has updated the Phoenix Bass for 2014 with improvements including reshaping the body for a more comfortable playing. The upper horn has been moved out to the 12th fret while the belly of the body has been extended. The bass also marks Electra’s first collaboration with EMG. The Phoenix is fitted with two EMG HZ-P pickups that are matched...

Everybody loves a good bass intro, especially bass players. Sebastian Sanhueza pays homage to the bass intro in this video he made in which he plays fifty bass intros in a single take. For anyone looking to play along, Sanhueza compiled tabs for each of them (grab them here). What’s your favorite bass intro? Tell us in the comments.

If you dig on rockabilly sounds with plenty of old-school rock-and-roll double bass work, you’ll be thrilled by The Reverend Horton Heat’s . It’s the psychobilly outfit’s first album since 2009’s more country-oriented Laughin’ and Cryin’ with the Reverend Horton Heat. As the band’s records have since 1989, the album features the work of upright/electric bass player Jimbo Wallace, who...

Years after the original was discontinued, Digitech is reintroducing the Bass Whammy pedal. The updated pitch-shifting pedal is optimized for bass guitar tones and retains its classic settings while introducing new true bypass and MIDI operation. Digitech says the Bass Whammy is ideal for 4-, 5-, or 6-string basses and has very accurate pitch detection and polyphonic note tracking. It...

If the first step in acquiring control of our vibrato is to obtain a smooth motion that we can turn on or off at will, then the next step is to gain control over the speed and width of the vibrato. Being able to adjust the speed and width of a vibrato is indeed a valuable skill. Having this kind...

I hung out with Evan Marien for a while during the NAMM Show, and he told me I must check out bassist Panagiotis Andreou. I later got the chance to meet Panagiotis and asked him to send me some videos. It was nearly impossible to pick one, but in the end, I decided on this one by Now Vs Now....

NAMM week means the gear stories start flooding in. We had a handful ready in time for the show and loads more coming… And as is the case, gear coverage reigns supreme in late January. Add to that some really epic videos and some popular how-to’s, and you have one top 10 list worth checking out. Thanks for reading, watching,...

Squier has teamed up with Eva Gardner to introduce a new signature Precision bass. Gardner was the original bassist for The Mars Volta and has continued to work with artists ranging from Veruca Salt to Pink. The Squier Eva Gardner Precision Bass is built with a basswood body finished in gloss black, a maple neck, and a rosewood fingerboard sporting...

It wouldn’t be NAMM without a performance by this epic duo. This year, Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey took the stage and did their take on George Gershwin’s “Summertime.”

Meshell Ndegeocello has a new signature bass from Reverend Guitars, aptly named the Meshell Ndegecello Fellowship Bass. Based on the Reverend Thundergun, the bass features set neck construction with a raised center ridge and reverse headstock. The Fellowship bass is fitted with the company’s new P-Blade pickup, which they say extends low end and clarity. Its controls include a single...

Miles Mosley is the epitome of cool. Add drummer Tony Austin and it’s an unstoppable duo. Here’s a video of the master musicians doing their thing on the song “The Mighty HRP.”

I love Opeth, so when our friend Yuval Raz sent in this video of his bass cover of “To Bid You Farewell,” I knew it was going to be good. Raz covers the whole tune, which appeared on 1996’s Morningrise, including the bass line, melody, and harmony. Overall, the version has four channels of bass recorded on the bassist’s Ken...