Buzz
Phil Jones Bass Introduces Double Four Micro Combo Bass Amps
Phil Jones Bass has introduced the Double Four, a new 70-watt combo micro-amp that is roughly the size of a shoebox. Sporting a pair of Neo Power 4-inch drivers, the Double Four features a new driver design, acoustic loading, and separate PWM amplifiers for each speaker. The backs of the speakers are loaded with a Rectangular Auxiliary Low Freqency Radiator...
iDouble Bass: A Look at the App for Learning Double Bass
iDouble Bass was recommended for review by my friend (and fantastic luthier/bass/educator Laurence Mollerup in Vancouver, BC). This is a simple app with a simple goal: to help educators and beginning upright students to learn the proper techniques, teaching techniques and provides a wealth of information regarding application. There are plenty of pictures included which will help you to learn...
Remi Zik: Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” Playalong
Sometimes you find a video on YouTube that reminds you how much you need to practice, and bassist Remi Zik has raised the bar with this virtuosic rendition of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”. With extreme attention to detail, Zik nails the tune’s bass line. We can only imagine he worked up a sweat on this one. “Not an easy song! But...
Lace Announces “Man O’ War” Series Bass Pickups
Lace Music has released a new line of passive Lace Sensor pickups for bass dubbed the “Man O’ War” Series. Available in J-bass, P-bass, and MM-style configurations, the new pickups are upgraded versions of the Lace pickups originally introduced in the early ‘90s as replacements for Fender’s P Bass Plus and J Bass Plus instruments. Lace describes the new “Man...
Weekly Top Ten: The Best in Bass for the Week of March 24
Nothing but bass right here, as usual. But there’s nothing usual about our top ten most viewed, most shared and most commented on stories, how to’s and videos for the week of March 24-30, 2013. 1. Vulfpeck: Joe Dart’s Isolated Bass Track on “Beastly” Jack Stratton sent me this video, which made my day. We’re all huge Joe Dart and...
Federico Malaman: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Solo Bass Performance
During the 2010 EuroBassDay, Federico Malaman – armed with a Laurus bass and a looper – showcased his solo bass skills at the Tecamp and Laurus booth. Federico took Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and made it his own great all-bass performance.
Bugra Balci Releases “The Virtuoso Bassist in 14 Melodic Baroque Etudes”
As a bassist, Bugra Balci gained inspiration from working through Bach’s Cello Suites, which he says gave him a deep, wide approach to the bass and musicality. He’s taken those concepts of building technique through examples that go beyond exercises in his latest instructional book, The Virtuoso Bassist in 14 Melodic Baroque Etudes. “All the etudes are in this book...
Mike Lull Announces Non-Reversed T-Bird Style NRT4 and NRT5 Basses
Mike Lull has taken the classic non-reversed T-Bird style bass concept and combined it with his own engineering. The result is the new NRT4 and NRT5 basses. The NRT4 and NRT5 offer up the same specs as the company’s T4 and T5 models, but with the non-reversed body shape. Lull wanted to take the classic deep tones of the original...
Improvising: Scale Substitutions for Bass
In this new lesson, we’ll cover some tips on soloing over changes. In the video below, you’ll see that I’m playing chords through a looper, to create the pattern to play against. We start with a D Major scale, over an E minor chord, which is the Dorian mode. The scale: D E F# G A B C# Then, the...
Senses Fail: “Bite to Break Skin”, Live
Our Facebook friend Colton Frausell sent us a message with this video saying, “I feel like Jason Black deserves to be in the spotlight. One of the best punk rock bassists I have ever had the pleasure of hearing.” We agree. Here’s Black performing “Bite to Break Skin” from Senses Fail’s Halloween DVD.
IK Multimedia Introduces iRig Recorder App for Android
IK Multimedia has released their first mobile app for Android with the iRig Recorder, an audio recording app that works with your device’s built-in mic as well as IK’s iRig MIC, iRig MIC Cast or iRig PRE. The app is designed to make recordings on the fly. iRig Recorder has no recording time limit, requires no setup, and has an...
G&L Reissues LB-100 Bass
G&L has reintroduced the LB-100, a bass they describe as a “subtle evolution of the p-style platform.” Originally released two decades ago, the bass features a streamlined alder body for improved comfort and balance. The new LB-100 retains the tone of its predecessor thanks to an accurate recreation of its Alnico V pickup, which is wound in house, as well...