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Archive for June 2016 - Page 8

Crowbar Announces Bass Changeup
News

Crowbar Announces Bass Changeup

Crowbar’s lineup has gotten a little shakeup after the band announced that bassist Jeff Golden has left their ranks. Bandleader Kirk Windstein made the announcement on Facebook. “As many of you may have heard, we have parted ways with Jeff Golden, and he is no longer our bassist. Being in a band is like being in a relationship and things...

Reading Complex Rhythms
Ask Damian Erskine

Reading Complex Rhythms

Q: I’ve only been playing bass about 1.5 years – still a newbie trying to learn the tricks of the trade. I mostly learn a song and play basic, but as of late, I’ve been learning to read. I’m not fluent in reading, but that’s not my problem. My problem is trying to play the rhythm of the notation. I...

Zander Zon: The Last of the Mohicans for Solo Bass
Bass Videos

Zander Zon: The Last of the Mohicans for Solo Bass

Zander Zon is back with another movie theme arranged for solo bass. And this time, he employs his new fretless and his traditional fretted with the help of an Ebow and some pedals. Enjoy.

Hellyeah Marks Fifth Studio Release
New Albums

Hellyeah Marks Fifth Studio Release

Heavy metal supergroup Hellyeah has released its fifth studio album, Unden!able. The record its the band’s first since 2014’s Blood for Blood and the first featuring Kyle Sanders (Bloodsimple, MonstrO) on bass. (Sanders is also the brother of Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders). The band also includes Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray, former Nothingface guitarist Tom Maxwell and former Pantera/Damageplan drummer Vinnie...

Reader Spotlight: Selina Finsel
Reader Spotlight

Reader Spotlight: Selina Finsel

Meet Selina Finsel, a relative newcomer on bass who has already enjoyed a nice start to her musical career and on social media. Selina is No Treble’s reader spotlight this week. Here’s her story… Bio: Former A&R Rep and Booking Agent in Los Angeles and former Journalist/Editorial Administrator for the Santa Monica Observer, Selina started playing the bass seriously in...

Fender Unveils Limited Edition American Standard “PJ” Bass
Basses

Fender Unveils Limited Edition American Standard “PJ” Bass

Fender’s Magnificent Seven series has gotten a little more magnificent with its first four-stringer called the Limited Edition American Standard “PJ” Bass. As part of the series, they are handcrafted in the U.S.A. and limited to 500 basses worldwide. The bass blends elements of the company’s two mainstay models with a P Bass body and a Jazz Bass neck (featuring...

Hal Crook, Featuring Esperanza Spalding: Never Again
Bass Videos

Hal Crook, Featuring Esperanza Spalding: Never Again

Berklee recently celebrated the music of trombonist Hal Crook (who graduated Berklee in 1971). The lineup for this was pretty impressive, with Berklee alum Esperanza Spalding on vocals and bass, saxophonist Chris Cheek, pianist Leo Genovese, Lionel Loueke and drummer Antonio Sanchez. Here’s the group performing Crook’s tune “Never Again”.

Les Claypool & Sean Lennon Collaborate on “Monolith of Phobos”
New Albums

Les Claypool & Sean Lennon Collaborate on “Monolith of Phobos”

Primus bassist Les Claypool and Sean Lennon began to jam together in 2015 when Lennon’s band, Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, opened for Primus, and that musical connection spawned an album: The Claypool Lennon Delirium’s Monolith of Phobos. “I use the metaphor that a musical interaction or jam is a conversation, and the best conversations are the ones that...

Bass of the Week: LedBelli Basses 6-String Noah Bass
Bass of the Week

Bass of the Week: LedBelli Basses 6-String Noah Bass

Humans of New York’s phenomenal Facebook page often catches my attention with intimate photos and insightful stories, but this portrait stopped me in my tracks: The bassist’s spirit and determination also called to LedBelli Basses luthier Cleve Johnson. “In January of 2015 I was surfing the Humans of New York website and came across the photo,” he said. “I was...

Talking Technique: Right Hand Thumbs Up!
Talking Technique

Talking Technique: Right Hand Thumbs Up!

When you’re playing fingerstyle, where do you put your right thumb? You can anchor it on the pickup, but that can limit your tonal range. You could anchor on the lower strings, but then where do you put it when you need to play those strings? That’s precisely the question we got from a reader, so today we’re examining the...

Karl Clews: “1999” Solo Bass Prince Tribute
Bass Videos

Karl Clews: “1999” Solo Bass Prince Tribute

Karl Clews shared this solo bass tribute to Prince with us. We’ll let him explain: “In tribute to the passing of one of my musical heroes, this is my arrangement of Prince’s classic ‘1999’ for solo electric bass. Performed here on a 2003 Status Graphite Kingbass Artist, recorded via a Presonus Audiobox into Cakewalk Sonar Platinum, using a variety of...

The Melvins Have All The Bassists They Need on Latest Album
New Albums

The Melvins Have All The Bassists They Need on Latest Album

The Melvins have gone through a lot of bass players over the years. So, on its latest album, Basses Loaded, the band decided to go for broke and feature six different bassists. Some, like Jeff Pinkus (Butthole Surfers), Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle/Fantomas), Jared Warren (Big Business) and Dale Crover, have appeared on Melvins albums before and perhaps will again. While...