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Alex Canion: Voyager’s “The Domination Game” Playthrough
Here’s another one for heavy music fans. Alex Canion sent us this playthrough of “The Domination Game” from his band Voyager’s album, V, and it’s got some serious weight to it. Canion uses slap and fingerstyle to pull a fat, gritty sound out of his bass that fills out the low end of the mix. Besides the finger-busting riffs, it’s...
Richie Goods’ “Three Rivers” All About Expression
Bassist Richie Goods and Nuclear Fusion aren’t sticking with any one style on his latest album, Three Rivers. “It’s finally me-not confined to any particular genre or style, but just free to express and play what I hear in my heart and spirit,” said Goods, the youngest person ever inducted into the Pittsburgh Jazz Hall of Fame. Goods has recorded...
Ashdown Introduces Retroglide 800 Bass Amp
One of the many new products Ashdown introduced at NAMM this year was the Retroglide-800, an amp head built in their custom shop. The company describes the amp as a throwback to the ’80s with founder Mark Gooday saying, “[it] takes me back to my roots as a bass player [with] pure, simple tone at your fingertips.” The Retroglide revolves...
Hammer and Tongs: An Interview with Frankie Poullain
Nearly three years after their last release, over-the-top rock band The Darkness has announced that their fourth album, Last of Our Kind, will be dropping on June 1st. The record sees the band return in epic fashion with ten new songs filled with tales of battle, love, and struggle. Of course, the whole album is tied together by the massive,...
Willy González Trio: La Saladita
I love hearing music from around the world, especially when it features the bass. Here’s a fantastic clip of Argentinian bassist Willy González and his Trio performing “La Saladita” from their latest album, Tamocomoqueremo. González, who started as a jazz musician, has been reimagining traditional Latin American styles on his six-string bass. “La Saladita” is in the vein of Cueca,...
Mark Egan Releases Eighth Album, “Direction Home”
Jazz bassist Mark Egan has released his latest album, Direction Home. It’s the eighth album for the onetime student of the late Jaco Pastorius, known for his past work with the Pat Metheny Group and the band Elements. Direction Home is a follow up to last year’s About Now, which offered up more groove with longtime colleagues drummer Danny Gottlieb...
Reader Spotlight: David Hogeboom
Meet David Hogeboom, who started playing bass in high school before selling it as he left for college. But the bass wouldn’t be out of his life for good… each time he set it down, he ended up finding an opportunity to come back. David has two important jobs as far as I can tell – one is playing bass....
Exploring Vertical Harmony in Bass Playing
Q: I have never studied an instrument aside from bass. In watching countless guitarists pick up my bass and rip out some cool lines (and the left hand of pianists), I’ve realized that I’ve never really found an effective way to internalize “vertical harmony”, and thus my lines lack coherence as a whole. How do you suggest I familiarize myself...
Rami Lakkis & Gene Lake: Insomnia
Shapeshifter Lab is a great venue in Brooklyn that hosts innovative artists to explore musical boundaries, and since it’s co-owned by Matt Garrison, you can bet that it’s very bass-friendly. Here’s a great clip of bassist Rami Lakkis with drummer Gene Lake performing “Insomnia” at Shapeshifter last year. The song is an original composition by Lakkis that fuses electronica and...
Marcus Miller Releases “Afrodeezia”
Marcus Miller’s latest album, Afrodeezia, is influenced by the wide variety musical styles that can trace their roots to Africa. The bassist is a UNESCO Artist For Peace and spokesperson for the organization’s Slave Route Project, and his role with the group affected Afrodeezia. ”The power of music has no limits,” states Miller. “Through spirituals, jazz and soul we were...
In Memoriam: Andy Fraser
Andy Fraser, bassist and founding member of the ’60s rock band Free, has passed away at 62. Although a cause of death has not been released, Fraser had recently been battling AIDS and cancer. Fraser was born in London in 1952 and began music studies on piano at the tender age of five. He switched to guitar when he was...
Bassist Co-authors Book on Recording with iPads and iPhones
The co-author of , Ryan C. Williams, is back with another book for musicians. This time out, he has co-authored a book in the “For Dummies” series — iPad and iPhone for Musicians for Dummies. Written by Williams and Mike Levine, U.S. editor for Audiofanzine, the book covers a wide range of topics, including invaluable music apps and making apps...