Archive for April 2016

Luthier Michael Gillett has launched a new range of basses called the Gillett Contour Electro-Acoustic Bass. Introduced at the London Bass Guitar Show, the aptly-named hollowbody basses feature unique contouring for an ergonomic experience. “Our basses have been a long time in the design and creation phase starting out over ten years ago when I was working as a peri...

Like countless others, we were devastated to hear the news of Prince’s passing on April 21st. Since then, the flood of Prince videos and tributes have filled up our feeds on social media. This one stood out to us. Backed by Larry Graham on bass, here’s Prince performing their funky version “Motherless Child”. RIP, Prince.

Arco aficionado Gaelen McCormick has expanded series of instructional books for the double bass with Mastering the Bow, Part 2: Spiccato. The book dives into the intricacies of spiccato strokes with elaborate definitions and examples. It’s designed to systematically build your technique with a variety of exercises and etudes, including those from the methods of Dotzauer, Kreutzer, Lee, Popper, Bille,...

As a part of Aerosmith, Tom Hamilton has held an important bass seat in the world of rock for decades. Now he’ll assuming another as the bassist for Thin Lizzy during their 2016 and 2017 reunion shows. “I’m really psyched to be playing these shows with Thin Lizzy during my downtime with Aerosmith this summer,” Hamilton stated. “It’ll be great...

In the previous BPTK column, we took a look at the early years of punk rock with Paul Simonon of The Clash. It’s time to fast forward to the 1990’s and the punk renaissance that popularized bands such as Green Day, Blink-182, The Offspring, and Weezer. Exercising a modern take on this musical counter-culture, Green Day’s record Dookie personally inspired...

A Prairie Home Companion’s bassist Larry Kohut shared this epic video with us yesterday, and we couldn’t wait to share it with you. We’ll let Larry set it up: “Here’s a bit of bass player humor, courtesy of Garrison Keilor, Prairie Home Companion. He wrote the script, spot on. I only wish that I had as much insight into what...

If you’re into funk bass, you probably know the work of Doug Johns. However, you might not know Doug Johns as well as you think. That may change after a listen to his brand new album Vodka in the Woodpile. The bassist’s fifth solo album is described as his most autobiographical to date with a fresh approach added to his...

Undertone Audio has introduced an innovative new product called the Vari-Cap instrument cable. Designed by producer Eric Valentine and Larry Jasper, the Vari-Cap allows for varying the amount of capacitance imparted by the cable with a 16-step rotary knob. The effect changes the tone of the cable. Its range of adjustment from 150 pF to 1650 pF in fifteen 100...

“Crazy Train” by bassist Gheorghe Postoronca was right at the top of my list of pieces to transcribe this month. In fact, regular readers of my column might have noticed an absence of transcriptions recently, and this is purely because this piece took so long to get written down! It’s a solo bass piece that is heavy on technique, but...

Back in March, Tal Wilkenfeld visited Paste Studios in New York and recorded this live performance of “Under the Sun”. Like the Tal’s solo performance of “Chelsea Hotel”, we once again get to experience not only her bass playing, but also her vocals.

ZZ Top has been forced to cancel a string of tour dates after Dusty Hill injured his shoulder. The bearded bassist was preparing to take stage in Lubbock, Texas when he was tripped by an unlit step-up backstage. The band’s website explains that Hill has subsequently undergone treatment for a fractured shoulder. “My physicians told me that this type of...

Bassists looking for that old school thump have a new option with the Bass Mute Clamp. The aptly named device clamps to your bass strings and can be adjusted to vary the amount of muting. It works with four, five, and six-string basses and over a variety of string spacings. Application takes seconds and the mute only weighs six grams....