Buzz
Bass of the Week: Prometeus Guitars Ahab
Any instrument named after the monomaniacal captain from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick needs to have a similar aggressive design, and the Prometeus Guitars Ahab delivers in spades. This week we check out a 6-string, multi-scale version of the bass that left me speechless. While the Ahab can be built with varying woods and materials, this particular bass sports a jaw-dropping...
Sketches of Bob: An Interview with Bobby Vega
San Francisco in the ’60s and ’70s was a hotbed for bassists. With bands like Sly and the Family Stone, The Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane calling the city their home, the Bay area was fertile with exciting new music filled out by a lot of low end thump. It was in this musical landscape that Bobby Vega began his...
David Pastorius: Tech N9ne’s “Worldwide Choppers”
David Pastorius recently wowed us all with his performance of Tech N9ne’s “Questions”. He’s at it again. Here’s David adding his thing to Tech N9ne’s “Worldwide Choppers”.
Muse Releases “Live at Rome Olympic Stadium” CD/DVD
Muse has followed up the success of last year’s The 2nd Law with a new live album and DVD. presents the band’s Italian performance on July 6th in front of over 60,000 fans as part of their Unsustainable Tour. It also acts as a musical snapshot of the band’s increasingly electronic sound, which lead singer Matt Bellamy says will be...
Lehle Now Shipping Julian Parametric Booster Pedal
Lehle is now shipping the Julian, a preamp pedal with parametric mids and treble controls for tonal shaping and recreating sounds of classic treble boosters. Its booster offers up to 15dB of boost or cut. Since the vintage boosters had low input impedance, the Julian is equipped with a switch that reduces the impedance from 1MOhm to 10kOhm to reproduce...
When to Play with the Harmony: A Discussion for Bass Players
Q: The (new) guitarist in my band has mentioned a few times that I’m not “holding it down” because I don’t always play the root, and he finds it “detracts from the song.” He is an extremely good musician and I respect his opinion. However the chords in our songs are super vanilla. Our vocalist says she loves the way...
Jesús Rico Pérez: “Still Silhouette” Cover
Jesús Rico Pérez is a bassist we discovered earlier this year thanks to his cover of Michael Manring’s “Come With Me, My Love”, and later, his own original compositions. Here’s Jesús once again, performing a cover of Jeff Schmidt’s “And I Crumble”. [Editor’s note: we featured Jeff performing this tune in April.] Great tune, great performance, and you gotta love...
Jon Liebman’s “Rock Bass” Method Reissued
Fifteen years after its original release, Jon Liebman’s Rock Bass instructional book has been updated. The revised edition features a new section focusing on music from the 2000’s, an updated appendix on equipment and effects and a foreward by Billy Sheehan. Rock Bass now features over 130 musical selections ranging from the earliest rock riffs of the ’50s to present...
Reader Spotlight: Matt Lawton
Meet Matt Lawton, a bassist who has played for more than half his life now, and covering many genres along the way. He didn’t start that way, first choosing the guitar. But once he discovered he was playing “single note lines” on the guitar, he knew he was really a bassist at heart and made the switch. Matt is No...
Sandberg Announces 5-String MarloweDK Signature Bass
Two years after issuing MarloweDK’s signature bass, Sandberg has unveiled a five string version of the instrument. The MarloweDK 5-string bass retains most of the features of the four-string with a few adjustments to accommodate for the extra string. Built with an alder body and a bolt-on maple neck, the bass has a longer 35″ scale for a more powerful...
Led Zeppelin’s Celebration Day: “Black Dog” Live
A little over a year ago, Led Zeppelin released Celebration Day, recorded when the surviving members reunited for a 2007 concert. The lineup included singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones. Jason Bonham, the son of the late John Bonham, is on drums. Man, I dig JPJ’s tone on this performance of “Black Dog”.
Deep Purple Releases “Perfect Strangers Live” DVD/CD
1984 was a big year for Deep Purple fans. The band, notorious for personnel changes, announced a full-scale reunion with its classic “Mark II” lineup of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, singer Ian Gillan, keyboardist Jon Lord, drummer Ian Paice and bassist Roger Glover. The resulting Perfect Strangers album was the lineup’s first work together since 1973 and ultimately led to a...