Archive for March 2016 - Page 5

Simon Fitzpatrick is back with another epic video. In this one, he pays tribute to the late great Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Fitzpatrick tackles the melody from the band’s version of Aaron Copland’s “Hoedown” on his Sei Bass Flamboyant 6 bass.

Using examples from some of rock’s top bassists, you can compose your own bass lines, according to Steve Gorenburg’s book from Hal Leonard, “How to Create Rock Bass Lines.” The book takes bassists like Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones, Flea and John Entwistle as examples as it also teaches the essentials of finding the beat, pentatonic scale riffs, rock chord...

Some people keep their basses dirty, standing by James Jamerson’s sentiment that the “gunk keeps the funk.” If you’re not one of those people, Kyser has introduced a new line of instrument care products to clean up your axe. The lineup includes three types of disposable wipes – String Cleaning, Polish, and Lem-Oil – to freshen up your bass. Each...

G&L has been making made-in-Fullerton jazz basses for about 10 years, but they’ve now expanded the US-made line to include a five-string. The G&L JB-5 adds a low B-string with a fast neck featuring a 1.775″ nut width and slim rear profile. The bolt-on bass is built with an alder body for standard and solid finishes or a swamp ash...

The B’ANG Duet, comprised of double bass monsters Petros Klampanis and Or Bareket, have unleashed their second offering with their take on the classic Jaco Pastorius song “Teen Town”. It’s already a feat to play the blistering melody on upright, but the two bassists make it look easy while using a shaker and loop pedal to fill out the whole...

Bassist Kenny James, who has created music for television and film, has released his third album under the moniker he uses for production work — Invisiblemann. James plays all the instruments on all but three tracks of Invisiblemann Volume 10: Ready to Float. Invisiblemann Volume 10: Ready to Float is available on James’ website and at CDBaby. Check out the...

When David Bowie passed away, I wanted to pay tribute with a solo bass arrangement of one of his songs. I personally consider Bowie one of the greatest artists in the world. He was in fact a great musician, actor, and painter. Among other things, the eclectic nature of his music was characterized by the creation of several different imaginary...

Here’s a great clip of Richard Bona performing a live bass solo. So tasty. I love saxophonist Stefano di Battista’s reaction to his playing throughout.

London-based professional bassist Phil Mulford’s two books on beginner bass guitar have been merged into one complete edition, “Absolute Beginners: Bass Guitar-Omnibus Edition.” Mulford is an author and teacher with extensive studio, television, stage and advertising work to his credit. The book is designed for anyone looking to begin playing, filled with practical advice, plenty of clear photos, and a...

Providence has unveiled the Vitalizer BF VZF-1, an active impedance converter designed specifically for bass guitars. The compact pedal acts as a buffer to convert high impedance signal, which the company says is more likely to degrade the sound quality by picking up noise, to a low impedance signal that is less likely to be affected by those issues. “It...

Q: I’m in a situation where I’m in a cover band that is wanting to expand into doing original music, but they’re kind of looking to me to be the one to lead the writing as I have the most experience as far as music knowledge goes. Even though I’m well versed in my theory and consider myself an above...

I love it when my favorite players collaborate, and this clip is a great example of why. First, Mr. Talkbox covered Vulfpeck’s “Back Pocket” and posted it online. Then the unbelievably talented Dywane “MonoNeon” Thomas, Jr. added his own distinct style to it. Finally, Vulfpeck’s own Jack Stratton took the video and added a bit of his own funky self...