Buzz
Billy Sheehan, Mike Portnoy and Richie Kotzen Project Wraps Up Debut Album
A new album by a new supergroup will be coming in 2013, thanks to the teaming up of bassist Billy Sheehan, drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist/vocalist Richie Kotzen. “I’m really pleased with it,” Sheehan shared with Blabbermouth.net. “Richie sang his ass off and played amazingly unique stuff, and, of course Mike annihilated on drums. [It’s a] really cool, unique record.”...
Reader Spotlight: Matthew Hughes
Meet bass player Matthew Hughes, a musician we both understand and appreciate. Matthew suffers from G.A.S. more than most folks (see below) and has a great sense of humor (see below). But it was his story that made it for us – a guy having fun, taking things seriously and not so seriously in a way we found very balanced...
Thomas Depner: Solo Bass Performance of Linkin Park’s “Numb”
Check out bassist Thomas Depner – aka TommyLeeDepp – and his solo bass arrangement of the Linkin Park tune, “Numb”. Love the tone and the arrangement.
Mercury Records Reissues Rush’s “2112”
This week is a big week for Rush some nerds fans as Friday’s date is December 21, 2112… or “December 21/12”, as they say. And just in time for the celebration, Mercury Records has reissued Rush’s classic 1976 album. The reissue is available in two packages: a Deluxe Edition, with CD + Audio Blu-Ray or CD + Audio DVD formats...
Darkglass Electronics Unveils Vintage Microtubes Pedal
Darkglass Electronics has unveiled the Vintage Microtubes, a unique overdrive pedal aimed at creating classic rock and roll bass tones from the ’70s through the ’90s. “What we did for this one was to study the greatest and most legendary bass tones and all the components involved in creating them; amplifier brands, recording techniques, etcetera,” said Darkglass founder Douglas Castro....
Isolating Your Right Hand: Exercises for Bassists
When confronted with a difficult passage that just isn’t getting any better, most of us will isolate the left hand to improve our accuracy. We may change from arco to pizzicato to isolate the left hand. We may “shadow bow” the passage. Perhaps we may finger the strings in the left hand alone, completely taking the right hand out of...
Viktor L?rincz: Delayed Bass Solo
Here’s an awesome clip Viktor L?rincz sent us where he has some fun with a delay. With a tempo of 178 BPM and a delay of 253 ms, he makes it sound like he’s playing twice as fast as he really is. “This solo is not too hard. [You] just need to keep the tempo and play short sounds,” the...
The Aristocrats Release “Boing, We’ll Do It Live!”
Rock/fusion power trio The Aristocrats have followed up their debut with a new live release, Boing, We’ll Do It Live! The release captures the live performance of bassist Bryan Beller, guitarist Guthrie Govan and drummer Marco Minnemann over two nights at Alvas Showroom in San Pedro, CA in June of 2012. The release is being offered in two formats: a...
Suhr Announces New Buffer Pedal
Suhr has introduced the Buffer pedal, a transparent signal buffer/line driver. The company explains that tone loss happens from signal degradation, which often is caused by long cable runs or using multiple instrument cables like on a pedal board. The Buffer uses unity buffering to reverse these effects. Suhr’s Buffer features a compact, aluminum enclosure that houses low noise op-amps...
Weekly Top Ten: The Best in Bass for the Week of December 9
Here are the most read bass stories, lessons, videos and more, for the week of Dec 9 – 15, 2012. Thanks for reading, commenting and sharing. Bass players rule! 1. Top 10: The Most Watched Bass Videos (November 2012) Here are the 10 most watched great bass videos from October, 2012 on No Treble. Enjoy! 2. It’s Official: Rush to...
Rolli’s Tones Big Band: Every Breath You Take
Bassist Maurizio Rolli shared this video with us, featuring a 2009 performance of his Rolli’s Tones big band. The group, which includes drummer Peter Erskine and saxophonist Bob Mintzer performed their unique arrangement of The Police’s “Every Breath You Take”, including a sweet solo by Maurizio. Maurizio is playing his Mayones Signature MR5 bass.
Loud Button Electronics Introduces Morphine Dream Distortion/Analog Phaser Pedal
The Morphine Dream, a new pedal from Loud Button Electronics is based on the classic Roland AP-7 that the company calls a “dreamy, eight-stage phaser with fuzzy vintage distortion up-front.” The pedal has four footswitches to control Effect/Normal, Fuzz/Clean, Shallow/Deep, and Slow/Fast as well as four rotary knobs to control Fuzz Level, Tone, Resonance, and Slow Rate. The Morphine Dream...