Todd Matthews: “Little Drummer Boy” the Way We Like It: for Solo Bass
Editor’s note: we’re celebrating the holidays this week with some awesome (and sometimes funny) holiday videos. Be sure to check back every day for some holiday cheer, bass-style. If you’ve been looking for a great video of Santa dancing while playing bass, look no further. Double bassist Todd Matthews sent us this video of his “Holiday Looping,” where he gets...
Tommy Stinson: The Next GN’R Album will Come Quicker Than Chinese Democracy
Guns N’ Roses bassist Tommy Stinson says the follow-up to Chinese Democracy should come “much quicker” than its predecessor, which was a project 15 years in the making before it was released in 2008. “You know, I just see us making a record much quicker, because, in hindsight, a lot of what happened with Chinese Democracy, we could get around...
Kala Expands S-U-B Series with Cherry Burst U-Bass Option
Kala has added a new Cherry Burst finish to its S-U-B line of solid body U-Basses. The new bass shares all the characteristics of its brethren, including a solid body, a 21″ scale, a Shadow active pickup system, a 2-band EQ, Hipshot-licensed tuners and proprietary polyurethane strings. Kala, a ukelele company, first introduced the U-Bass in 2009 and has since...
Alex Bershadsky: Ma’oz Tzur
In celebration of Hanukkah, we’ve got an incredible bass-only version of the traditional Jewish liturgical poem performed by Alex Bershadsky. The Israeli-raised bassist layers a lyrical fretless line on top of his chordal fretted work to create a rich and introspective arrangement of the song. This arrangement can be found on the new Zon Guitars Holiday Rumblings album.
Mike Lull Unveils Jeff Ament JAXT4 Signature Bass
Mike Lull Custom Guitars has announced the Jeff Ament JAXT4 Signature bass, to be available starting in January 2012. The Pearl Jam bassist worked closely with Lull on the specifications of the bass, which is a modified version of Lull’s T4. One of the key features to the JAXT4 is it’s oversized body, which is 20% larger than Lull’s regular...
Hyunmo Kim: “The First Noel” for Solo Bass
Editor’s note: we’re celebrating the holidays this week with some awesome (and sometimes funny) holiday videos. Be sure to check back every day for some holiday cheer, bass-style. Get your egg nog ready. Arthur Baucour sent in this video of Korean bassist Hyunmo Kim playing a jaw-dropping rendition of “The First Noel.” As a gift to all of you who...
Fuchs Announces Bruiser Bass Amp Models
After nearly a year of product testing since displaying a prototype at the last Winter NAMM Show, Fuchs Audio Technology has announced three final models of their Bruiser Bass Amp: The Bruiser, the Bruiser-I, and the Bruiser-II. The main difference between each head is power, as the original Bruiser is rated 500 watts into 4 ohms while the Bruiser-I is...
Uxia Martinez Botana: Persichetti’s Parable XVII for Double Bass
Twentieth century American composer and music educator Vincent Persichetti is well known for his collection of works entitled Parables, a series of works for unaccompanied instruments which he wrote between 1965 and 1987. “Parable XVII” (our favorite) was written for solo double bass. Here’s a clip of Uxia Martinez Botana performing the piece in recital. The amount of control she...
Iron Ether Debuts Polytope Pedal
Iron Ether has released the Polytope, a quad-voice pitch detuner. The pedal creates up to four identical copies of the input signal that can then be detuned in pitch to create sounds from “subtle thickening to huge multi-voice detuned synth sounds.” The voices are added and faded in by raising the Voices knob with each new voice alternating above and...
Tool Announces North American Tour Dates
With over five years since their last album and a little over a year since their last performance, Tool has confirmed that they will be playing a handful of shows in 2012, starting in Reno, Nevada on January 14th. The band, consisting of bassist Justin Chancellor, singer Maynard James Keenan, drummer Danny Carey and guitarist Adam Jones will be making...
Squier James Johnston Signature Jazz Bass Available Worldwide in 2012
Squier announced this week that Biffy Clyro bassist James Johnston’s signature Jazz Bass would be available worldwide in 2012. First announced in Fall of 2009, the instrument has thus far only been available only in Europe. Johnston’s signature axe is based on his personal Fender USA Jazz and has a basswood body finished in Lake Placid Blue with a matching...
New School: Simon Fitzpatrick
UK-based Simon Fitzpatrick caught the attention of bass lovers around the world last year with his jaw-dropping solo bass arrangement of Bohemian Rhapsody. Since then, the Carl Palmer Band bassist has been continuing to push himself to adapt new songs to the instrument with techniques and technology. What makes you new school? I first started taking solo bass seriously about...