In celebration of our 10 year anniversary this month, we’re taking a look back at some of the most popular features in our history. Back in 2014, I got an email from my friend Seth Godin introducing me to Mitch Joel with the note, “I bet you guys would enjoy connecting.” I had no idea what it meant, but we connected a few days later. That day, I learned about Mitch’s idea for Groove, and I immediately agreed to do it.
Mitch of course is no stranger to podcasts, having run the successful Six Pixels of Separation Podcast since 2006 (669 episodes and counting!)
It took a while for us to get it all worked out, and I wanted to start it out with a bang. So I asked another friend of mine, Robert Trujillo if he’d be the first guest. Robert had just released the phenomenal Jaco documentary and was working with Metallica on their next album. Robert agreed, and that one remains the #1 most listened to in our history.
And just as important to me, my good friend Aaron Gibson agreed to write and record the official theme music.
As of last week, we’ve published 53 episodes of Groove. We have a lot in store for this podcast in the future too. Here are the top 10 reader favorite episodes since it began:
Robert Trujillo is known to millions of people – all over the world – as Metallica’s bass player. Fans of Metallica know Trujillo as the guy who replaced Jason Newsted in 2003. Both Trujillo and Newsted had tough boots to fill after original Metallica bassist, Cliff Burton, was killed in a tour bus accident in 1986. Prior to Metallica, Trujillo...
“Who is that bass player with the long beard?” That was my initial reaction when I first saw the video for Phil Collins’ smash hit, “Sussudio”, in 1985. I did not know Leland Sklar’s pedigree as a bass player before that (and, what happened after is a journey of impressive artists and songs that continues to expand to this day...
Let’s just call it a “mutual admiration society.” Vulfpeck bassist, Joe Dart, has always been very kind to the No Treble community. And all of us – here at No Treble – can’t get enough of his funky grooves that often dominate and lead the band’s music. In short: we’re huge fans of how this University of Michigan project has...
Imagine playing the bass when your last name is Pastorius. Many of us might think that this is a blessing. There is no question that Jaco Pastorius is one of (if not THE) founding fathers of the modern electric bass. His son, Felix Pastorius, has no desire to carry-on the legacy, other than to find his own path with the...
The Music Lesson is a book that will forever change you. Not because it was written by one of the world’s greatest bass players but because the message is core to living a life worth celebrating. Music is all over Victor Wooten. He was bathed in it from the womb (that’s not a clever play on words, just ask him)....
There is a memorable scene in the Modern Electric Bass instructional video from 1986, when Jerry Jemmott asks Jaco Pastorius who really influenced the development of his playing style. Without missing a beat, Pastorius starts riffing on some of Jemmott’s classic funk bass lines. He talks about how he would listen to the radio, and try to emulate the sounds...
Juan Alderete doesn’t remember me. Fair ball. The last time I saw him, he had long hair, tight jeans and was playing bass for a hard rock band called The Scream back in the early nineties. That band is most notable because frontman, John Corabi, later went on to replace Vince Neil in Motley Crue. Back then, Juan was known...
Bridget Kearney doesn’t talk much about the electric bass (mostly because that’s not her instrument of choice). The musician and composer is a double bass player that graduated with a dual degree from Tufts University and New England Conservatory of Music. She started playing the bass when she was nine years old and fell madly, deeply in love with the...
Jeff Berlin had a moment that he describes as “the dark night of the soul” at the age of sixty. Now, he’s 63 and he’s reflecting. He’s reflecting on his career as one of the most influential electric bass players who has ever lived, and he’s being critical of just how critical he has been about the state of the...
There are bass players who are able to cross musical genres, but few do it as well as Tim Lefebvre. His playing consistently demonstrates an uncanny ability to adapt to a wide range of different styles. It may well be the exact reason why David Bowie chose Tim to play on his final studio album, Blackstar, which was released two...
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