Archive for June 2014 - Page 9

If John Paul Jones is your go-to bassist, then you have some kind of reason to rejoice this year. All the Led Zepplin’s nine studio albums will be re-released in remastered, deluxe (and even super-deluxe boxed) editions, starting with Led Zeppelin I, II and III. Guitarist Jimmy Page oversaw the entire remastering process. Each deluxe edition not only includes the...

Meet Wayne Whittaker, a bassist who has studied with some impressive teachers and keeps busy as a session musician. We found ourselves smiling at many of the things he said, and many readers will appreciate his approach to the bass. Wayne is No Treble’s reader in the spotlight for the week of June 2, 2014. Bio: Wayne graduated from Berklee...

The Black Star Riders have announced that founding bassist Marco Mendoza will be leaving the fold after their current U.S. tour wraps up on June 22nd. Mendoza, who also plays in Thin Lizzy, cites other projects and schedule conflicts as the reason for his departure. The group has already named former RATT and Lynch Mob bassist Robbie Crane as its...

Today’s isolated bass track has some historical significance for the Beatles. According to the Wikipedia page about this song, “‘Paperback Writer’ is marked by the boosted bass guitar sound throughout, partly in response to John Lennon demanding to know why the bass on a certain Wilson Pickett record far exceeded the bass on any Beatles records. This changed with the...

Bassist Meshell Ndegeocello has returned with her 11th studio album, . The album was “little labor but a lot of love,” Ndegeocello says of the album which is melodic, yet groove-driven and meditative. You can hear what she’s talking about in this clip of “Conviction” from the new record: Comet, Come to Me is available on , and as a...

Following up on their recent PB series, Carvin has announced the JB4 four-string and JB5 five-string Classic Bolt-Neck Jazz Basses. The new models blend classic styling with the company’s more contemporary features including a locking bass bridge, a smooth contoured neck heel with a 5-bolt neck plate, and a 22-fret neck with dual carbon fiber reinforcement rods. Another key aspect...

Over the years, I’ve received questions from aspiring bassists, and many of those questions have turned into the Lowdown columns you read here. I’d love to do more of this. Please send me questions you’d like to see me cover in future Lowdown columns. You can send them to [email protected] or post them in the comments below. I look forward...

Kicking off our fourth Isolated Bass Week is the one and only Flea. Here is the isolated bass and drum track for the Chili Pepper's "Give It Away"...

Three jazz greats — Jamie Saft, Steve Swallow and Bobby Previte — prove that excellent music doesn’t always take long to make. The trio’s first record, , was recorded in about three hours in an upstate New York studio. Saft, who composed seven of the record’s 10 tracks, had high praise for bassist Swallow, who has played with Gary Burton,...

The last week of May closed the month with a bang (or a boom) in the world of bass. Our top 10 list this week kicks off with two monster videos, along with some great bass how-to’s, some new bass method and transcription books, the Bass of the Week and more. Here is your top 10 for the week of...

Molten Voltage has released The Tempode, a MIDI clock generator pedal for synchronizing up your MIDI-capable pedals to a single device. The Tempode can be used as a stand-alone device but is also compatible with all MIDI controllers. Built for simplicity, the pedal has MIDI in and out jacks and a pair of footswitches to start the clock or tap...

If you’ve listened to Live in Italy, with Jaco Pastorius, Bireli Lagrene, and Tomas Böröcz, you’ve heard one killer version of Jaco’s “Teen Town”. Now you can see a video of the trio performing the tune (with some other tunes/jams thrown in) live in 1986. Thank goodness we’re past the era of video tapes (and thank goodness they were around...