Buzz
Easy Experimentation for Artistic Growth in Improvisation
Students of improvisation are often looking for the quickest way to learn vast amounts of new material, all while sounding great immediately. Oftentimes this translates into playing a large number of tunes for a few minutes each. In the short term, such practice sessions can be helpful. This is especially true if we need to learn a great deal of...
Herbie Hancock Kennedy Center Honors with Dave Holland, James Genus and Marcus Miller
It’s incredible to think about how much music Herbie Hancock has made. He was honored this past year at the Kennedy Center, and the diversity of styles is astounding. In this video, a cast of some of the world’s finest musicians play through songs that define Hancock’s career, and that includes some heavy hitting bassists. Dave Holland roots the band...
Norm Stockton Releases The Worship Bass Book: Bass, Espresso, and the Art of Groove
Norm Stockton has released , a 234-page instructional book aimed at helping bassists working in a worship setting. Stockton, who spent six years playing bass for Lincoln Brewster, takes a different approach to the book than you might think. “As opposed to a comprehensive methodology for all things bass, this will be more of a collection of the nuggets –...
Weekly Top Ten: The Best in Bass for the Week of February 2nd
Add some bass gear news from NAMM to a handful of epic videos, and then add a bass lesson, a message from Flea and a Bass of the Week and you get one terrific top 10 list worth checking out. Here are the most popular videos, stories and features on No Treble for the week of February 2-8, 2014. Thanks...
Traynor Adds SB500H Bass Amp To Small Block Series
Traynor has expanded their Small Block series of bass heads with the SB500H. A companion to last year’s SB200H, the new amp delivers 500 watts while weighting a mere four pounds. The SB500H retains many of the same features of its smaller brethren, including active and passive inputs, a 4-band EQ with low and hi mid controls, and the company’s...
Errick Lewis and Michael Manring Jam
So this video was apparently the first time bassists Errick Lewis and Michael Manring performed together. And they just decided to improvise it all the way through. Sweet.
Dave Klein Leaves Black Flag
Black Flag’s personnel is in flux once again as bassist Dave Klein announced he’s quit the band to rejoin punk band They Stay Dead. “I guess I should OFFICIALLY (puns!) say that I’m no longer playing with [Black Flag],” Klein wrote on his Facebook page. The news came the same day that Rolling Stone published a story stating the band...
Tonecraft Audio Launches with 363 Tube Direct Box
Tonecraft Audio launched this year with their flagship product, the Tonecraft 363 Tube Direct Box. The interface is made for all instruments that use a 1/4″ connection, but the company’s designer Ryan Feves notes that it was created with a slant towards upright and electric bass. “While the DI is not exclusively for bass, [Jon Erickson] and I are both...
Adam Stevens: All Bass Cover of MAGIC!’s “Rude”
When Adam Stevens first heard the tune “Rude” by Reggae/pop group MAGIC!, he said he couldn’t get the song out of his head. A week later, he recorded this all bass cover of the tune. And that makes it just a little sweeter, to us at least.
OoN Releases “Polaris”
Electric bass and bassoon may seem like a strange duo setting, but OoN is proof that the instruments blend quite nicely. The group, which consists of the fabulous Ariane Cap on 6-string bass and bassoonist Paul Hanson, has released their debut album, . Named for the North Star, the album showcases a range of styles, from jazz to rock to...
Flea Makes Statement on Red Hot Chili Peppers Super Bowl Halftime Show
The Red Hot Chili Peppers received a lot of heat for their performance during the Super Bowl halftime show, and not in a good way. Social media was buzzing after a picture of Flea’s unplugged bass from the show proved the band was only miming to a pre-recorded version of “Give It Away.” After a few days of outrage, Flea...
New Steps Ahead: “Wishing Well”, with Richard Bona
What Richard Bona can do with a bass is pretty much supernatural. Here’s New Steps Ahead performing one of Mike Stern’s tunes, “Wishing Well,” which features Stern and Bona prominently before the rest of the band kicks in. That band also includes Mike Mainieri on vibes, Bill Evans on sax, and Steve Smith on drums. So so good.