Archive for April 2014 - Page 2

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea is writing a memoir, which has already been picked up by Grand Central Publishing. The book is expected to cover the childhood of Flea (born Michael Balzary), which shifted from normal suburban living to a bohemian youth with his stepfather, who was a jazz musician; all his years with the RHCP (including the group’s...

Victor Bailey is about to get you to kick your practicing into high gear with this video. It’s a playalong of his take on John Coltrane’s “Countdown” as heard on . “When I went to Berklee 35 years ago, I transcribed a bunch of Coltrane solos including this one,” Bailey shared. “I’m playing Coltrane’s solo. This is just my playalong...

Big Tone Music Brewery has released the Quadboost, a pedal that combines four of the most popular boost circuits into a single stompbox. Building upon the company’s Triboost, the Quadboost has germanium, silicon, MOSFET, and JFET boosts with a 2-band EQ to create sculpted boosts. The germanium boost is based on the Dallas Rangemaster Treble Booster and features a new-old-stock...

Doug Johns is one of the funkiest bassists alive. The Terra State Video Club caught some of the funk with this 45-minute look into his style, his outlook, and his personality. “I’m proud to announce… The Dougumentary!” Johns shared on Facebook. “Filmed at Terra State Community College/Terra Video Club/ Brandon Beining, Mark Grine, Chris Cavera. These are all talented cats!...

Neon Trees’ third studio album, , is hitting retailers just a few months after bassist Branden Campbell underwent open heart surgery to repair a mutated aortic valve. Campbell’s surgery was in December 2013, according to Fender.com, and he’s feeling better than ever. The bassist for the pop/rock outfit also revealed a bit about the album in the interview with Fender....

For the official launch of our Bass Players to Know series, we’re starting with the man, the legend, the ’fro: Donald “Duck” Dunn. Lets cover some of the need-to-know facts, an examination of his style, and a few key listening examples… So who is Duck Dunn, anyway? Dunn was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee and is best known for...

Any time Adam Ben Ezra shares a new video, I know we’re all in for a treat. This time around, Adam is performing the song “Balagusto” on his 5-string upright. It is simply remarkable how he can make it sound so much bigger than one person playing live. The track is available on Adam’s Bandcamp page.

G. Love & Special Sauce founding member, bassist Jim “Jimi Jazz” Prescott has returned to fold for a new album that marks the 20th anniversary of the group’s recorded debut. Prescott previously played with the group from 1993 through 2008. The new album, , will sound somewhat familiar to old school fans of the group known for its laid-back, bluesy,...

Facebook is great for discovering new and beautiful instruments. Our friend Russ Sargeant posted a picture of this fantastic Anaconda Crusher Standard and I was hooked. Built in England, the hand-crafted bass has some nice curves for ergonomics and aesthetics. The Crusher comes in several flavors, with the Standard version offering all of the most important features in a clean...

Metallica’s Robert Trujillo never met Jaco Pastorius, but like many bassists, Trujillo is a lifelong fan. Trujillo’s ties to Jaco have been growing over the last four years, starting with obtaining Jaco’s famed Bass of Doom back in 2010. Stolen in 1986 and resurfaced in 2006, the bass was the subject of a long and frustrating legal battle before Trujillo...

For Zander Zon’s 50th solo bass video, he went back to one of his favorite movies for inspiration. Zander found the soundtrack for Braveheart to be “amazingly beautiful music”, and arranged the main theme for solo bass. For this arrangement, his bass is tuned B, Eb, Db, Gb.

Argentine bassist Andres Rotmistrovsky and Portuguese singer Sofia Ribeiro have teamed up to create a jazzy-Brazilian album of nothing but bass and vocal music, called . The songs hail from Brazil, Argentina and Portugal, and feature No Treble favorite Rotmistrovsky, who has worked with in the vocal/bass duet form before, with Angela Watson. The sound he and Ribeiro make is...