Articles by Evan Kepner - Page 7

Kala Ukulele has just released their latest invention: the Ka uBass. The uBass is an instrumental fusion with surprisingly cool results. This instrument produces a full low end and even with the 16 frets and diminished size it functions just like a bass guitar. The uBass was formed as a collaboration between Kala and Road Toad music and is built...

On October 21st 2009 legendary free jazz bassist and composer Norris Jones, better known as Sirone, passed away at the age of 69 in Berlin, Germany. Sirone was part of Revolutionary Ensemble, a jazz group formed in 1971 which featured violinist Leroy Jenkins, drummer Jerome Cooper and Sirone on bass. The group was one of the most innovative at the...

Bassist extraordinaire Marcus Miller is about to kick off a tour of Japan and Europe. The tour is “Tutu Revisited – The Music of Miles Davis” which is dedicated to the legendary trumpeter. The concert programs are based around the Miles Davis album Tutu, co-produced by Miller. The band lineup includes Miller on bass and multiple other instruments, trumpeter Christian...

Oteil Burbridge, the longest standing bassist for The Allman Brothers (who have been through a few in the past four decades), made a few lucky students’ day by jamming with them at their high school. Burbridge jammed on two tunes with high school band, a few of the students had the following descriptions for the Miami Herald. “It’s pretty crazy...

Faith No More bassist Billy Gould has confirmed, via Twitter, that there are U.S. dates being planned for the band’s current reunion tour: “Tweet THIS: In response to all of our concerned US brethren…YES…we yare now actively planning US dates.” Faith No More kicked off their reunion tour in June with shows in Europe, continuing to South America with Australia/New...

An important part of every musician’s evolution is ear training. It’s a strange concept, but becoming an active and educated listener pays off in a huge way. First lets cover a few points about what ear training is and isn’t and then we’ll get to the exercises. Ear training is a broad term used to cover two aural developmental practices...

Bassist Gustaf Fjelstrom released his new album Metamesmeric which is now available for free download. Metamesmeric lives up to its name, bringing very atmospheric looping bass music to the stage. Fjelstrom uses an NS Design Bass Cello, some simple processing, and a Looperlative LP-1. Fjelstrom was previously playing with the band Maximum Indifference, who released two albums: The Transmutations of...

This year is the 75th anniversary of Epiphone, making them the oldest amplifier company in the world currently in production. To celebrate, Epiphone has been running “75 years of Great Tone” series every three weeks. The series is now up to four installments: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Epiphone currently produces multiple bass guitar series including: Allen...

eMedia Music Corp, the group who brought us Band-In-A-Box, are delivering a cool new software package to improve your practicing: TimeStretch. TimeStretch lets you play back any piece of music at any speed without changing the pitch (sorry Mac users, this is Windows only). Additionally, the software can transpose a piece of music, so you can practice in all the...

Ernie Ball is going to be at Bass Player Live on October 24th and 25th, with different clinics running from players that swear by their instruments. They’re providing an all-star line up, so if you’ll be at the event in Hollywood, these clinics will definitely be worth checking out. The performance schedule includes: Saturday October 24th 10:15-10:45 Mark Bass Alain...

If any great player could endorse you who would you choose? There is not a much higher recommendation than one coming from Victor Wooten himself, who posted on his web site: “You MUST check out Quintin Berry and the Uglistick!”. Actually, we already have, but in case you haven’t here’s a little more information on Berry. Berry, aka Q, has...

NS Design has announced that the NXT Double bass will be available on November 1st 2009. The NXT series is created in the Czech Republic by the same makers of the well known CR Series bass. The NXT will also make use of the NS standard dual-mode polar pickup, designed for lateral sensitivity to get the most out of the...