Archive for 2016 - Page 81
Jason Everett: Moksha: The Elimination of All Duality, Part One
Bassist Jason Everett, aka Mister E, has unleashed part one of an epic 22-minute bass driven sonic story called “Moksha: The Elimination of All Duality”. This clip captures three movements of the world-jazz-fusion saga, which includes Everett’s slick 7-string fretless work and a diverse cast of musicians. ”’Moksha: The Elimination of All Duality’ is the sonic story of a soul…...
Dave Roe Plays on Sturgill Simpson’s Latest
Country artist Sturgill Simpson has released his followup to 2014’s Grammy-nominated Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. Called A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, the Nashville-recorded album features soul-inflected vocals from Simpson and bass work handled by prolific bassist Dave Roe (Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, Dan Auerbach). Esquire magazine has already said of the album, “It’s hard to...
Reader Spotlight: Mischa Marcks
Meet Mischa Marcks, a bassist with a real focus on music and making music his work. Mischa has studied the world in his travels, and keeps busy playing in bands, teaching, producing, composing and more. Mischa is this week’s No Treble reader in the spotlight. Here’s his story… Bio: Heartbeat. Pulse. Groove. Five strings, one vibe. An ongoing, perpetually varying...
Ernie Ball Music Man Previews Cutlass and Caprice Basses
Ernie Ball Music Man has unveiled their first fully passive basses with the Caprice and Cutlass models. The basses, which were debuted at the NAMM Show this year, feature brand new body styles that are influenced by old school design with modern playability. Even with new body styles, players will be familiar with the necks as the Cutlass borrows the...
Shareef Addo: Secrets
Shareef Addo sent in this video for his cool bass-centric tune “Secrets”, and it’s been stuck in my head since. The bass drives the song, but vocalist Adam Benjamin helps to fill out the melodic content. This is a great example of making the bass interesting while focusing on the songwriting aspect. Well done, Shareef!
Joe Hubbard Authors Book on Functional Harmony
Top bassist and bass teacher Joe Hubbard (also a No Treble contributor) has released the book, Functional Harmonic Concepts. Hubbard is known for his recording work with artists such as Mose Allison, George Benson and Dave Garabaldi and his instruction (The Who’s current bassist, the prolific Pino Palladino, was one of his students). According to Hubbard, the 120-page book will...
Bass of the Week: Alembic Series II “Leap of Faith”
Alembic’s basses have been a big influence on custom builders, and it’s easy to see why. They started in 1969 as a live sound consulting operation. Founders Ron and Susan Wickersham then moved into instrument electronics, creating low impedance pickups and what would become first set of active electronics for a guitar. Their first bass was built in 1972 for...
Introduction to “Shell Voicings” on Bass
Playing chords on the upright doesn’t only add to our tonal palette, it also strengthens our knowledge of a tune and our instrument. Some voicings, however, are more pleasant than others. Three and four note chords can easily become “muddy” and unclear, especially in the mid to lower register. As a result, many bass players choose to play Shell Voicings,...
Playing For Change: Higher Ground
This video has been making the rounds recently on Facebook, and I was mesmerized by it. I was surprised to learn it actually came out in 2011. Organized by Playing For Change, this performance of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” features musicians from nine locations around the world in one of the most interesting collaborations I think I’ve ever seen. Reggie...
Classic Santana Lineup Regroups for “Santana IV”
The majority of the classic Santana III lineup of guitarist Carlos Santana’s eponymous band, Santana, has reunited to record together for the first time in 45 years on Santana IV. Sadly, the new record could not include Santana III bassist David Brown, who died in 2000. Instead, current Santana bassist Benny Rietveld (Sheila E., Miles Davis) holds down the low...
Weekly Top 10: Talking Technique, Better Intonation on Fretless, New Transcription, Top Bass Videos, New Gear and More
Happy Sunday. We have a great top 10 list for you this week, built by readers. Here are the top 10 stories, how-to’s, videos, and more for the week of April 9-15, 2016. Thanks for reading, watching, commenting and sharing. 1. Jeff Healey with Marcus Miller: See The Light Ian Pettersson has sent us a handful of great videos, and...
Sire Guitars Launches Marcus Miller M7 Series
Sire Guitars has teamed up with Marcus Miller once again to introduce the Sire Marcus Miller M7 Series. The dual humbucker design, which has been in the works for some time, is now open for pre-order and will be shipping on April 30th. Available in four and five-string versions, the M7 has a modern body shape made of either alder...