Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 512

If you haven’t caught on to the incredible playing of Snow Owl, it’s high time you did. The bassist – real name Juan Garcia-Herreros – has been turning heads with a style that synthesizes all of his musical tastes with flavors of jazz, latin music, pop, rock and more. Part of that special blend comes from his multi-cultural experience. Garcia-Herreros...

Here’s a great clip of Umphrey’s McGee in the studio performing “Puppet String” from their latest release, Similar Skin. The band builds an atmosphere before bassist Ryan Stasik comes in at the 1:14 mark with a cool slap line that becomes the centerpiece of the song. The band goes on to groove hard on unison lines with huge drums provided...

Ever since Meghan Trainor released her single “All About That Bass,” we’ve been getting tons of email and Facebook messages about it. We can certainly appreciate the song’s chorus, “You know I’m all about that bass, no treble.” It has a nice ring to it. Postmodern Jukebox took things a step further with this swing version of the song with...

Reunion Blues is doubling down on their RBX series with the introduction of the RBX Double Bass Guitar Gig Bag. Designed to carry two bass guitars, the new bag features the company’s RBX protection system that includes a multi-layer foam surround, a strategically placed impact panels, a multilayer foam neck cradle and end-pin rest. An interior padded wall separates the...

Jensen has added two new types of bass speakers to their product lineup with the Jensen Punch Sound series and the Jensen Smooth Sound series. Each style of speaker comes in 8, 10, 12, and 15-inch diameters with wattages ranging between 150 and 350 watts. The company describes the Punch Sound series as focusing on dynamics with a fast response....

A few months ago, Jordan Brown sent us some pictures of a bass he was having made. I knew even before it was finished that it was going to be a killer bass, and it looks like I was right. Brown, who is an active player in London, reached out to Italian luthier Matteo Rufini to build an instrument that...

MBS Effects has introduced the Mr. Smith, a compact delay pedal that offers up to 1600 ms of delay that can be set via Tap Tempo or rotary knob. It has four types of subdivisions: quarter note, eighth note, triplets, and dual triplets. The Argentinian effects company designed the pedal to have an analog dry-through with selectable true bypass and...

Solo bassist Gheorghe Postoronca sent us this video for his latest song, “Dreaming of You.” Combining fingerstyle, slap and tapping, the song flows through several textures to give a full accompaniment to Postoronca’s catchy melody.

db Instrument Amp has announced the 4E Dual Axis Expression pedal, a pedal with four expression control mega-potentiometers to control up to four individual expression enabled effects at once. The pedal has a two axis design and moves up and down as well as left to right, allowing for simultaneously and independently adjusting separate effects on the fly. The 4E...

This is one of the most spectacular Bach-inspired pieces for bass guitar I’ve ever seen. Joshua Young wrote this extremely intricate and beautiful solo bass fugue in the style of the 18th century composer, complete with melody, counterpoint and bass line. If you weren’t looking, you’d think “Dominatus” was being performed by three different people. Young takes his craft seriously...

Bassist John Gustafson, who spent time in the Ian Gillan Band and Roxy Music, has passed away of undisclosed causes. He was 72. Gustafson was born in Liverpool and started his early career in the late ’50s and early ’60s. His first group was one of the UK’s first rock trios called The Big Three, which he joined in July...

This week we check out a stunning bass by Italian company Black Beard Guitars called the Fahrenheit 4:51 II. Inspired by the Fender ’51 Precision bass, Black Beard calls this “the first electric bass… revisited.” Its pine body is finished in a roasted semi-gloss and adorned with a an aluminum pickguard that etched with floral patterns. The maple neck has...