Archive for January 2014 - Page 3

DragonForce’s Fred Leclercq has a new bass from ESP’s LTD Signature Series. As opposed to his previous ESP signature, the ESP LTD Signature Series Fred Leclercq FL-204 features bolt-on construction with a maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, and a mahogany body finished in Snow White Satin with graphics. The bass has a 34″ scale and 24 XJ frets. Its neck has...

We first met luthier Pierre Erizias at the 2010 Summer NAMM Show in Nashville. I was so floored by his basses and his story that it led us to create our Custom Shop series of interviews with bass builders. Recently, he sent me a photo of one of his latest single cut basses, and I had to find out more....

There are plenty of musicians who call themselves multi-instrumentalists, but Chuks Okpu is the real deal. Steve Bailey, who has been working with Okpu at Berklee, sent us this video for the song “Chuk for Chick,” which is inspired by Chick Corea. Okpu lays down the drums, keys, double bass, and electric bass with an incredible groove and level of...

The No Treble Crew is in Anaheim to cover the 2014 Winter NAMM Show. Be sure to check back often for all the latest bass news and more from the show.

Thumbscrew, a new modern jazz trio, composed of veterans from the scene, including double bassist Michael Formanek, has released its . Formanek, who has worked with everyone from Elvis Costello to Stan Getz, has joined forces with guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Tomas Fujwara to create Thumbscrew and its first album, which was recorded live in the studio. And while...

EMG Pickups has unveiled the GZR-P and GZR-PJ signature bass pickup sets for Black Sabbath 4-stringer Geezer Butler. Designed with Butler, the pickups are made to reproduce the bassist’s tone during his earlier years in the band. The vintage style sets offer old school vibe with a few modern touches. The P set is all solderless and uses Alnico 5...

Q: Sometimes I have difficulty extracting the bass line from a song my band has decided to cover, especially for songs where the bass is deep in the mix. Can you recommend any applications or techniques for isolating the bass line or at least bringing it up to the surface? A: While there is something to be said for developing...

Gallien-Krueger is kicking off a new series of videos with their artists, starting with Robert “Bubby” Lewis. The bassist shares how he got his start in music, his big break of working with Snoop Dogg, and his advice for musicians. Afterwards, Lewis improvises two beautifully melodic bass solos.

Back in the 1960s, The Beatles albums heard in the United States weren’t always the same as their original British counterparts. Track order was changed, reverb sometimes added to songs, and even completely different albums created for the American market. These U.S. versions of albums haven’t been around much since CD issues of Beatles records began, all of which used...

Meet Kyle Greene, a bassist with one very smart dad. Kyle’s dad told him “that playing bass in addition to guitar would give me more performance opportunities.” “He didn’t mention that the bass was actually just cooler than the guitar,” Kyle adds. You know we dig that kind of talk. Kyle is No Treble’s reader in the spotlight for the...

In our last lesson, we focused on using vibrato to your bass lines for better phrasing. This time around, we’re going to spend time working on trills on the electric bass. As you’ll hear in the video, playing a line without trills is not bad. But when you add those trills, the line has so much more life to it....

No, it’s not the famed Ozzy Osbourne song, but Gheorghe Postoronca’s “Crazy Train” is epic. The bassist combines a deep pocket with some extended techniques to make a catchy solo bass tune. “Crazy Train” will be featured on Postoronca’s upcoming second solo album.