Buzz
George Porter, Jr. Returns to UK With Tour
George Porter, Jr. will be returning to tour the UK for the first time in years. The bassist will be taking his band The Runnin’ Pardners on a four-date run of Brighton, Manchester, Nottingham, and London. Porter is famed for founding the legendary New Orleans band The Meters and can be heard on such classics as “Cissy Strut,” “Just Kissed...
Bass of the Week: Jon Willis’ Billy Sheehan “Wife” Bass Replica
Jon Willis shared a photo of his pride and joy on our Facebook page, and needless to say I was floored by the instrument. But the story behind it is even better. The bass is a near perfect replica of Billy Sheehan’s famous Wife bass, which the Mr. Big bassist used from his very first gig in 1971 until the...
I’ll Take You There: An Interview With David Hood
Think about your favorite bass line. Sing it in your head. Picture yourself hearing it on the radio… you’re driving in the car and suddenly you hear this groove pulsating from the speakers. At that moment, you bop your head, tap your fingers, and forget about where you’re going. You don’t worry about the work that’s at the office, the...
Milt Jackson & Ray Brown: “Slippery”, Live at Montreux 1977
Here’s another great video of Ray Brown doing what he does best. This clip is taken from his performance at the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival with Milt Jackson. With the help of a star-studded band, the duo tackles “Slippery,” which is also found on Brown’s album Something for Lester. The rest of the band includes Clark Terry on trumpet, Eddie...
Cynic Returns with “Kindly Bent To Free Us”
Progressive metal band Cynic, and its bassist, Sean Malone, have released the group’s long-awaited record, , Cynic’s first in three years – and its first full-length album since 2008. Malone, aside from his Cynic and solo work, is also an author, having penned four music books, including Music Theory for Bassists and A Portrait of Jaco: The Solos Collection. It’s...
Ibanez Introduces Fieldy K5 Signature Limited Edition Bass
The members of Korn are getting new signature instruments from Ibanez this year including bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu’s K5 Signature Limited Edition bass. The updated K5 takes an opposite aesthetic approach of Fieldy’s black signature bass and features a flat white finish as well as a white painted maple fretboard. The white theme is accented with a set of blue...
Discovering the Right Practice Routine
Q: Some people stand strongly by the notion of having a true practice routine while others claim that routines stunt growth, because the same thing is being practiced each day (e.g. scale modes in broken thirds with such-and-such technique striving for X bpm). Will you please elaborate on what a routine is and how to create one that keeps one...
Aretha Franklin with Jerry Jemmott: “Make It With You” (1971)
Sometimes you just need a nice buttery groove to make your day. Here’s Jerry Jemmott making it happen with Aretha Franklin on the song “Make It With You” during her 1971 concert at Fillmore West.
HELLYEAH Announce Lineup Change
HELLYEAH has split ways with guitarist Greg Tribbett and bassist Bob “Bobzilla” Kakaha, according to a new post on Blabbermouth. The supergroup didn’t give a specific reason for the split, but posted about it on their Facebook page. “Things happen for necessary reasons,” they wrote. “It’s so easy for people to assume or makeup reasons for things. Don’t ASSUME anything!...
Reader Spotlight: Zach Suter
Meet Zach Suter a musician with a very touching story on what music means to him. Early in his musical journey, Zach played cello before turning to the “cool” instrument – the bass. Zach is the No Treble reader in the spotlight for the week of February 17, 2014. Bio: I have been playing music since I was seven, first...
Zon Introduces Mosaic Mojo Bass
Zon is going old school with their new Mosaic Mojo model. The new bass carries a classic style and are fitted with a set of Aguilar 60 series pickups to get a vintage sound. The Mosaic Mojo is built with a three-piece maple neck with either a maple or rosewood fingerboard. Zon offers the bass with either ash or alder...
Zander Zon: Kinetic
Zander Zon impresses as always with a performance of his tune, “Kinetic”, from his album, Saturn Return. As Zander explained in our Track by Track feature on the album, “The ideas behind this piece were energy, motion and dynamics, hence the title. I’m using [a] thumb percussive technique … as well as tapping and fingerstyle.” While we love the composition...