Archive for 2016 - Page 16

Last month, musicians from throughout Prince’s career came together for an official tribute concert in Minneapolis. The star studded event was anchored by five of the Purple One’s bass colleagues: Sonny T from New Power Generation, Ida Nielsen from NPG/3rdEyeGirl, Andrew Gouche from NPG, Josh Dunham from NPG, and MonoNeon. In a beautiful moment, all five bassists performed together on...

It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that bass legend Victor Bailey has passed away from complications with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. He was 56 years old. Bailey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania into a musical family. His father, Morris Bailey Jr., was a composer, arranger and saxophonist that wrote songs for R&B artists from the ’60s and ’70s...

Experimental pedal maker Earthquaker Devices has released updated versions of four of their pedals including the Dispatch Master, the Speaker Cranker, Acapulco Gold, and the Afterneath. The pedals, which range in use from delay/reverb to distortion and overdrive, all now feature silent soft-touch relay based switching. This allows for “truly silent and effortless operation with increased long-term durability,” the company...

It’s election week here in the U.S. The country has been saturated by advertisements, campaign rallies, and repetitive debate jargon. Times like these require a creative outlet, a way to ease the politically charged anxieties. For many people, music is the perfect remedy. While some listeners flock to acoustic folk music or groovy reggae, others set their radio dials to...

Alessandro Corsi sent us the latest video from his band La Vague for the song “Little Village”. The bassist lays down an awesome bass line while simultaneously taking care of accompanying chords. Who needs a guitar, anyway?

Metallica’s …And Justice For All is one of the band’s most classic albums, but it’s often maligned by bass players due to the almost inaudible bass. Bassist Jason Newsted‘s bass was just about mixed out of the album. Current member Robert Trujillo recently told Rolling Stone Australia that songs from the 1988 album were hardest to learn when he joined...

Q: Why are some fingerboards curved and some flat? Is there any benefit to one over the other? A: The curve in the fretboard is called a radius, and there are varying arguments I’ve found for the reason. Many people agree that a radiused fretboard works best with the natural curvature of the hand. This is especially geared towards guitarists...

Ben Allison has a new album out with saxophonist Ted Nash and guitarist Steve Cardenas called The Quiet Revolution, and it’s sublime. Modeled after the drummerless trios of Jimmy Giuffre and Jim Hall, the band’s configuration allows for freedom while pushing each member to get creative. Here’s a video of the trio performing Giuffre’s “Pony Express” with Allison starting things...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have announced the second leg of their 2017 North American tour. The outing starts April 12th at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. and will focus on the East Coast with several Canadian dates mixed in. The new dates are in add to their existing Winter tour and will now take the band on tour...

Meet Calum Craig, once a classical guitarist who saw the light and switched to bass. Calum is part of a multi-national band known as Frontierer. He’s this week’s reader in the spotlight. Here’s his story… Bio: I’m from Edinburgh in Scotland. I played in a few bands at home before I moved to Spain three years ago. I currently live...

Time to celebrate some great music – and great bass playing – via the top 10 reader favorite videos of the month. Thanks for watching, commenting and sharing! 1. Anthony Crawford: Jazz vs Hiphop Bassist Anthony Crawford shared this on his Facebook page and it immediately caught my attention. He recorded it as a demo for his Mirura MB-2 bass,...

Federico Malaman joined vocalist Marco Venturini in the studio to record their own version of “At Last.” The iconic tune was made popular by Etta James in 1960. We love the what these two did with the song, including Federico’s jam at the end.