Buzz
Bass Transcription: Joe Dart’s Bass Line on Vulfpeck’s “Beastly”
“Beastly” is the opening track from Vulfpeck’s first EP Mit Peck. I’ve loved this piece since I first heard it and it’s been on my “transcribe list” for a while now. Fortunately, the isolated bass track cropped a while back, making the task of transcribing it a little easier.
Elin Sandberg and Tracy Robertson: Spain
Bassist Elin Sandberg and vocalist Tracy Robertson took Chick Corea’s “Spain” (with lyrics by Al Jarreau), and turned it into this impressive bass and vocals duet. The intro is from Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”. Wow!
Stevie Wonder Announces Final “Songs in the Key of Life” Tour Dates
If you missed Nate Watts laying it down on Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life tour, you’ve got one more chance. The R&B legend has announced 20 new North American dates to the tour, which celebrates the ground-breaking album by performing it in its entirety. The trek continues on September 30th at Montreal’s Bell Centre and focuses on...
Playing Over Long Lasting Chords
Q: I’ve been messing around with playing over the changes, but I always stumble upon an issue: chords lasting 2, 4, 8 or even 16 bars! I know there’s a ton of different ways to approach this, but I have problems with approaching chord tones. Things like enclosures, double chromatics, diatonic and chromatic approach notes. How can I practice these...
Snow Owl: Live at Nisville Jazz Festival
Snow Owl, aka Juan Garcia-Herreros, is a bass player that I can’t get enough of. His outstanding chops and ear-bending musical compositions are always intriguing. Here’s the bassist throwing it down with his band at the Nisville Jazz Festival. The group rips through “Touched” and “Pequeña Samba” with Snow Owl mixing things up with a pitch shifter before slowing things...
Cannibal Corpse Announces Fall 2015 Tour
Cannibal Corpse, anchored by metal bass legend Alex Webster, have announced a fall tour in continued support of 2014’s A Skeletal Domain. The tour kicks off October 8th at Underbelly in Jacksonville, Florida before snaking up the East Coast, heading west to California, and back east across the South. While most of the performances will be in theaters and clubs,...
Reader Spotlight: Jon Hallam
Meet Jon Hallam, a bassist who I believe has the funniest “sex, drugs and rock and roll” stories in history. Joking aside, Jon is doing the serious work of a bassist, who found his calling after dropping the guitar. Here’s his story. Bio: I started quite late on – when I was 17, one of my best friends at school...
Bass Lick Series: A7?9 Chord Bass Groove with Legato Fill
The A7?9 chord (referred to by some as the “Jimi Hendrix” chord) is a useful chord to know since you can play both the minor and Major pentatonic over it. Here’s a groove using mostly a minor pentatonic fill in the end, with lots slides, hammerons and pullofs so we get a fluid motion. For the gear heads, I’m playing...
Michel Falcão: Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G Minor
Transferring Johann Sebastian Bach’s music to the electric bass is always an interesting feat. Here’s an outstanding clip of Michel Falcão pulling out all the stops on the composer’s Sonata No. 1 in G Minor.
Iron Maiden Releases First New Single in Five Years
Prepare to up the irons: Iron Maiden has released their first new music in five years. “Speed of Light” is the first single from the band’s upcoming album, The Book of Souls, which is due out September 4th. Of course, the legendary Steve Harris provides his snarling bass lines to the album in addition to writing contributions on seven of...
MBS Effects Introduces Parallel Universe Bass Blender
MBS Effects has released the Parallel Universe Bass Blender, a pedal they describe as a parallel mixer that allows you to mix your dry signal with the pedals placed on its effects loop. The Blend feature has become more popular on many new pedals, but the Parallel Universe allows for blending with older pedals or with multiple pedals. “Doing this,...
Bass of the Week: RG Custom Basses Pathos
Bassist Sam Battaglino shared some details of his new RG Custom Basses Pathos on a Facebook group called Best Boutique Basses, and it stopped me in my tracks. The left-handed bass features a neck-through design with solid spalted Ambrosia maple body wings that give it a raw, organic, and yet refined aesthetic. Its five-piece neck brings together spalted Ambrosia maple...