Buzz
Allman Brothers Band Release Two Classic Live Albums
Fans of The Allman Brothers Band’s 1990’s lineup can travel in the wayback machine and experience some of its famed concerts. documents the band’s first long run at the theatre. It, and DVD release , shows off the band after it reconstituted itself for its 1989 20th anniversary with new players, including bassist Allen Woody. (Woody left the band in...
Carvin Launches Xccelerator Series with X54 5-String Bass
Carvin unveiled the Xccelerator Series of basses at NAMM this year with its introductory model, the X54 5-string bass. The X54 sports several new features for the company including a fast-playing, thinner maple neck that’s reinforced with graphite. Its body also has a new shape with deeply sculpted cutaways for better access to the higher registers. The bass is built...
Bass Lesson: The Fast “Fade” Trick (All in the Fingers)
Here’s a quick lesson about a little trick for manually fading a note without using a volume control. It really is all in the fingers, and I bet it’ll come in handy.
Pat Metheny Trio with Dave Holland: Vera Cruz
In 1992, the Pat Metheny Trio took the stage at the Brecon Jazz Festival, performing Milton Nascimento’s “Vera Cruz”, among other tunes. Bassist Dave Holland and drummer Roy Haynes make the trio really cook. Check out Dave’s solo around the 1:00 mark. Oh yeah.
Weekly Top Ten: The Best in Bass for the Week of February 9th
I love it when a top 10 list has another top 10 list in it. So much bass goodness. Last week, No Treble readers enjoyed more gear news from the NAMM Show (we’re still working on stories from the show!), as well as some great videos, Damian Erskine’s lastest “Ask” column, our interview with Snark Puppy’s Michael League and more....
Spector Announces NS-2000/5 Dan Briggs Signature Bass
Spector was showing lots of new instruments at the NAMM show this year, including the NS-2000/5 Dan Briggs Signature bass. It’s modeled after the same NS-2000/5 that Briggs has owned and played since he was 16. The bass features neck-through construction with a 3-piece rock maple neck, a rosewood fingerboard, maple body wings, and a quilt maple top. The body’s...
Yolanda Charles: NAMM Bass Bash 2014
One of the great hangouts during the annual NAMM show is the Bass Bash held at JT Schmid’s in Anaheim. This year was no exception as players ranging from the great Uriah Duffy to Ethan Farmer to Snarky Puppy all laid it down to a crowd of bass fanatics. Here’s one of our favorite videos taken from the two night...
Carlo Chirio Releases “Double Thumb Technique For Electric Bass”
Bassist Carlo Chirio has released a new instructional eBook called Double Thumb Technique for Electric Bass. The technique, popularized by Victor Wooten, makes use of the thumb almost like a plectrum by striking down and up. Chirio’s book uses short patterns to get readers comfortable with the technique and groove before building on it. “I think that the choice of...
NS Design Adds CR4 to Radius Bass Guitar Lineup
Following up on the introduction of the NS Radius Bass Guitar last year, NS Design has announced the CR4 Radius bass. The newest addition to the line is a 4-string version of the Czech Republic-made headless model. Similar to the CR5 Radius, the CR4 features bolt-on construction with the company’s Fusion one-piece maple neck, which features an embedded continuous carbon...
Eric Silver and Victor Wooten: Living In the Country
When Victor Wooten shared this awesome video of himself playing a duet of Pete Seeger’s “Living in the Country” with guitarist Eric Silver, it really drew me in. The song has special significance to to Silver, who recorded it after Seeger’s recent passing. “‘Living In The Country’ was one of the first songs I remember learning on the guitar,” the...
Stanley Clarke Announces Winter/Spring 2014 Tour Dates
Bass legend Stanley Clarke has announced tour dates through April. It begins February 21st in White River Junction, Vermont then heads across the Northeast and Midwest before heading to Chile for a one-off perforamnce. The trek is rounded out by concerts in Florida, California and New York City. Four of the dates include a special program called “Stanley Clarke Presents...
Makers of the Melody: Part 2 – Soloing
Bass solo! Bass solo! The bandleader points his finger at you, giving you the okay and hushing the rest of the band. Great. Now what? We’re not the guitar player… we haven’t worked on Hendrix licks or memorizing the solo section to “Freebird”. We can’t just crank up the distortion or create mesmerizing soundscapes with our pedals. We’re the bass...