Buzz
Heavy Music with a Hollow Body Bass?
Q: Here’s my problem: I’m a big fan of archtop guitars and I love the lighter tonal quality. I also don’t like playing solid body basses since they don’t go well with my slightly weaker left shoulder (which is made worse since I’m left-handed but play right-handed). That’s not the real problem though. The big problem is that the band...
Grant Stinnett: Run of the Angels
Here’s a gorgeous tune by Grant Stinnett called “Run of the Angels.” Stinnett employs a higher altered tuning and some tapping to create a gorgeous soundscape. “The tuning is C-G-C-G. There are no effects, overdubs, or alterations to this live recording,” he shared. “This video and my CD are designed to demonstrate what I do in a live show.” The...
Royal Southern Brotherhood Releases “Songs From the Road: Live in Germany”
Blues-rock supergroup Royal Southern Brotherhood’s legendary October 2012 performance at Bonn, Germany’s Crossroads Festival for the German TV show Rockpalast has been captured in a CD/DVD set as a part of Ruf Records’ Songs From the Road series. If you’re unfamiliar with the Brotherhood and love Southern blues/rock, these are guys to check out, with Charlie Wooton (ZydeFunk, Bonerama, Woods...
Reader Spotlight: Mike Dyer
Meet Mike Dyer, a bassist who appears to be living the musical dream (i.e. he doesn’t have a day job.) A recent graduate of Berklee, he appears well on his way. Mike is No Treble’s reader in the spotlight for the week of February 10, 2014. Bio: I grew up in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri and played in...
Top 10: The Most Watched Bass Videos (January 2014)
Hard to believe how fast 2014 is already moving. Maybe it is in part due to all the great bass videos we were able to watch in January. Of the 31 we featured, these 10 were tops with readers. 1. Chuks Okpu: Chuk for Chick There are plenty of musicians who call themselves multi-instrumentalists, but Chuks Okpu is the real...
Adam & Justina: So in Love
Adam Neely and Justina Soto make a great duo. Here’s their latest, a bass and voice take on Cole Porter’s “So in Love.” Neely and Soto shot the video as part of their aptly named Rooftop Sessions series.
Rufus Reid Honors Elizabeth Catlett with “Quiet Pride”
Music and sculpture combine in renowned jazz bassist Rufus Reid’s five-movement composition, , based on five sculptures by artist Elizabeth Catlett. Each movement of the piece, written for a large jazz ensemble (including Reid on bass), corresponds to a sculpture by Catlett, the late African-American artist (she died in April 2012 at age 96) whose grandparents on both sides were...
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...