Buzz
Hellyeah Marks Fifth Studio Release
Heavy metal supergroup Hellyeah has released its fifth studio album, Unden!able. The record its the band’s first since 2014’s Blood for Blood and the first featuring Kyle Sanders (Bloodsimple, MonstrO) on bass. (Sanders is also the brother of Mastodon bassist Troy Sanders). The band also includes Mudvayne vocalist Chad Gray, former Nothingface guitarist Tom Maxwell and former Pantera/Damageplan drummer Vinnie...
Reader Spotlight: Selina Finsel
Meet Selina Finsel, a relative newcomer on bass who has already enjoyed a nice start to her musical career and on social media. Selina is No Treble’s reader spotlight this week. Here’s her story… Bio: Former A&R Rep and Booking Agent in Los Angeles and former Journalist/Editorial Administrator for the Santa Monica Observer, Selina started playing the bass seriously in...
Fender Unveils Limited Edition American Standard “PJ” Bass
Fender’s Magnificent Seven series has gotten a little more magnificent with its first four-stringer called the Limited Edition American Standard “PJ” Bass. As part of the series, they are handcrafted in the U.S.A. and limited to 500 basses worldwide. The bass blends elements of the company’s two mainstay models with a P Bass body and a Jazz Bass neck (featuring...
Hal Crook, Featuring Esperanza Spalding: Never Again
Berklee recently celebrated the music of trombonist Hal Crook (who graduated Berklee in 1971). The lineup for this was pretty impressive, with Berklee alum Esperanza Spalding on vocals and bass, saxophonist Chris Cheek, pianist Leo Genovese, Lionel Loueke and drummer Antonio Sanchez. Here’s the group performing Crook’s tune “Never Again”.
Les Claypool & Sean Lennon Collaborate on “Monolith of Phobos”
Primus bassist Les Claypool and Sean Lennon began to jam together in 2015 when Lennon’s band, Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, opened for Primus, and that musical connection spawned an album: The Claypool Lennon Delirium’s Monolith of Phobos. “I use the metaphor that a musical interaction or jam is a conversation, and the best conversations are the ones that...
Bass of the Week: LedBelli Basses 6-String Noah Bass
Humans of New York’s phenomenal Facebook page often catches my attention with intimate photos and insightful stories, but this portrait stopped me in my tracks: The bassist’s spirit and determination also called to LedBelli Basses luthier Cleve Johnson. “In January of 2015 I was surfing the Humans of New York website and came across the photo,” he said. “I was...
Talking Technique: Right Hand Thumbs Up!
When you’re playing fingerstyle, where do you put your right thumb? You can anchor it on the pickup, but that can limit your tonal range. You could anchor on the lower strings, but then where do you put it when you need to play those strings? That’s precisely the question we got from a reader, so today we’re examining the...
Karl Clews: “1999” Solo Bass Prince Tribute
Karl Clews shared this solo bass tribute to Prince with us. We’ll let him explain: “In tribute to the passing of one of my musical heroes, this is my arrangement of Prince’s classic ‘1999’ for solo electric bass. Performed here on a 2003 Status Graphite Kingbass Artist, recorded via a Presonus Audiobox into Cakewalk Sonar Platinum, using a variety of...
The Melvins Have All The Bassists They Need on Latest Album
The Melvins have gone through a lot of bass players over the years. So, on its latest album, Basses Loaded, the band decided to go for broke and feature six different bassists. Some, like Jeff Pinkus (Butthole Surfers), Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle/Fantomas), Jared Warren (Big Business) and Dale Crover, have appeared on Melvins albums before and perhaps will again. While...
Weekly Top 10: MonoNeon on Prince, Jam Session Etiquette, Talking Style, Top 10 Bass Gear, Arthur Barrow Podcast and More
I love sharing the weekly top 10 reader favorites with you each week. But something about this one feels extra special. Thanks for reading, watching, commenting and sharing. And a big thanks to all of the No Treble contributors and guests, who offer such amazing stuff in the world of bass. 1. MonoNeon on Playing with Prince When Prince died...
Morning Bound: Want For Nothing, Live at BAMCafe
Morning Bound is one of my favorite trios. Anchored by bassist Panagiotis Andreou, the band has a very singular sound. It’s hard to pinpoint their genre, and I love that. Here’s a live clip from BAMCafe where the band, including vocalist extraordinaire Tammy Scheffer and drum guru Ronen Itzik, perform “Want for Nothing” from their self-titled EP. Andreou holds down...
19 Foot Trio, Featuring Tim Lefebvre, Releases Debut Album
Timothy Lefebvre has been having a busy year of album releases. He started 2016 with David Bowie’s epic final release Blackstar, quickly followed by the excellent Tedeschi Trucks Band album Let Me Get By. Now he’s venturing into his more experimental territory with the 19 Foot Trio, a group rounded out by guitarist Cameron Morgan and drummer Adam Gust. They’ve...