Archive for October 2017 - Page 4

Here’s episode #3 of Stuart Clayton’s popular “Bass Lick of the Week” series. In this episode, Stuart offers up a slap bass groove in the style of Marcus Miller. He even performs it on a Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass. Stuart has the transcription available on his Bassline Publishing site. (To access these files, just click on “Free Stuff!” on...

Bassists will be getting their due in a new documentary called Beneath The Bassline. Directed by Nick Wells, the film features loads of interview time with some of the greatest bass players in the world. Wells traveled to Fodera Guitars, Sadowsky Guitars, and Aguilar Amplification in New York to get the scoop on gear and meet up with bassists Will...

Prepare yourselves, you puny humans. Gwar is making their triumphant return on October 20th with The Blood of Gods, an 11-track album chronicling the band’s history of war against the creatures of Earth. If you’ve never seen the Richmond, Virginia-based band, their on-stage antics may come as a shock. The group portrays an elite fighting force of aliens with oversized...

No Treble reader Jason Kishander sent us this video of him covering the Marcus Miller tune, “Run for Cover.” He told us this version was arranged “by the awesome talented prodigy Yohan Kim.”

ZZ Top’s 2017 tour has come to a halt after legendary bassist Dusty Hill has taken ill. The band’s Tonnage Tour has concluded with plans to reschedule missed dates, they wrote on Twitter. “ZZ Top’s tour is temp. suspended & are arranged for rescheduling” they wrote, adding on their website that “ZZ’s cornerstone bass guitarist, Mr. Dusty Hill, is addressing...

Louisiana’s Rougarou Pedals has launched the Draugr, a versatile drive pedal that they say has “massive amounts of headroom and gain on tap while maintaining clarity through the range of the drive control.” The Germanium diode-based distortion circuit is controlled with a simple three-knob layout. “The drive and tone controls interact with each other in a way that makes an...

Q: What would you say that it takes for someone to master an instrument? I’ve heard the “10,000 hours” thing but sure not all 10,000 hours are created equal? A: I couldn’t agree more with you that not all hours in the shed are created equally. Time spent with well-considered goals for yourself – practicing with focus and intention –...

The Tedeschi Trucks Band has an annual residency at the Beacon Theatre, and they like to make it special every year. On the final night of the run this year they brought Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio out for the epic Allman Brothers song “Mountain Jam.” Fans were treated to a spectacular bass solo from Tim Lefebvre during the jam that...

Meet Rachel Rhodes, a musician who started life in Austin, Texas and now lives in France playing music and working on mobile games. While she started on other instruments, she credits her dad with showing her the way, with plenty of James Jamerson, Chuck Rainey, David Hood, and others in rotation. Rachel is this week’s No Treble reader in the...

De Gier Guitars is paying tribute to a classic bass design with their new model called the Lowlander. Luthier Sander De Gier studied several vintage T-Birds to create an updated version with tweaks to improve its shortcomings. “One of the most prominent features is, of course, the 9 ply neck-through. It is a rigid construction for a bass neck, it...

Mike Stern and his band took the stage at Jazz à Vienne in 2011, along with guest Didier Lockwood on violin. Here they are performing “Tipatina’s,” which appeared on Stern’s 1999 album, Play. Bassist Tom Kennedy plays a fierce bass line throughout, with Dave Weckl on drums.

Through every lineup, the members of King Crimson created some of the most riveting music ever made. Now the first-ever transcription book of their music is available with THRAK – The Complete Scores. The book offers full-band transcriptions from the classic double-trio era that included six musicians: two guitarists, two bassists, and two drummers. The low end was held down...