Buzz
Bowing Fun: A Look at the iOS App for Bowing Exercises
Bowing Fun offers up exercises for bowed instruments – double bass (violin, viola and cello too) – designed to develop sight-reading skills and agility. A friend recommended that I check out this app, as he’s enjoyed it thought might be worthy of a review here. I have mixed feelings about it, but decided it was worth sharing the good and...
Columbia Releases Mingus Collection
Columbia is putting together some terrific “Collection” box sets for bassists and bass enthusiasts. Among those is Charles Mingus – the Complete Columbia & RCA Albums Collection, a 10-disc set spanning seven titles by the late bassist and composer. The set starts with Tijuana Moods, the lone RCA release in the collection, recorded in 1957 and released in 1962 as...
Old School: 1964 Höfner 185 “Artist Bass”
Zsolt Váradi sent us this wonderful story (and video) of his equally wonderful 1964 Höfner 185 “Artist Bass.” Höfner’s “Vintage” site has this to say about the Artist Bass: Introduced in late 1962 as the main two pickup bass for the UK market, it replaced the Hofner “Solid Bass” which was actually the European market Hofner 182 model. The Artist...
Incognito: Goodbye To Yesterday
Incognito has got it all: groove, soul, and killer bass lines. Here’s the music video for “Goodbye to Yesterday” from their latest album, Surreal. The video features bassist Ernie McKone laying down the low end where it counts with a perfect groove and fills in all the right places. I bet you’ll hit replay a couple times on this one.
Weekly Top 10: Isolated Bass Week 2, Jamerson’s Amp Mystery Part 2, New Transcription Column and More of the Best in Bass
Our second isolated bass week generated a lot of views and comments. Like you, we had a ball watching and listening to all the bass greatness over the week. So it is no surprise that our weekly top 10 list is dominated by isolated bass tracks. Our brand new transcription column by Stuart Clayton debuted last week too – with...
Larry Graham and Graham Central Station Return with New Album, “Raise Up”
Photo by Erich Francois Larry Graham and Graham Central Station are back! The slap bass pioneer and his crew have just announced that Raise Up, their first studio album since 1999’s GCS2000, will be dropping on September 25th. With guest appearances from Prince and Rafael Saadiq, Raise Up will include three new versions of classic Graham Central Station songs and...
HAO Introduces Bass Liner Preamp Pedal
Japanese boutique pedal company HAO has unveiled the Bass Liner Preamp pedal. Co-designed with Phil Jones of Phil Jones Bass, the stompbox-sized preamp offers a 5-band EQ, Level control, and an Input Gain control to suit any bass. The 5-band EQ provides 18 dB of cut/boost at 50 Hz, 160 Hz, 630 Hz, 2.5 kHz and 12 kHz, which the...
The Police: Sting’s Isolated Bass on “Next To You”
In 1978, the Police debuted with the release of Outlandos d’Amour, an album dominated by punk influences. The opening track, “Next To You,” is a perfect example of this, especially when you hear the isolated bass line from Sting. The muted notes really act like a train engine, and gives greater impact to the end of the song where he...
Ray Riendeau’s Star Monarchy Releases Debut Album
Ray Riendeau’s new project, “Star Monarchy”, has released their debut album, entitled Volume 1. Written and produced by the bassist himself, the new album covers metal, modern rock, and progressive styles with a plethora of artists from their respected rock genres. Riendeau, whose own resume includes laying down the low end for Rob Halford and Dream Theater singer James Labrie,...
Two Notes Audio Engineering Introduces Torpedo C.A.B.
Two Notes Audio Engineering has introduced the Torpedo C.A.B., a stompbox styled cab simulator designed for bass and guitar. The C.A.B. is placed after all your effects pedals in your signal chain and takes the place of an amp by plugging straight into the mixing board. Among the bass cab simulations are presets based on models from Ampeg, SWR, Mesa/Boogie,...
Esperanza Spalding Issues Tour Update
Esperanza Spalding will be taking a quick break from her Radio Music Society World Tour for a few dates with Us Five, a jazz quintet led by saxophonist Joe Lovano. The group, filled out by James Weidman, Otis Brown III, and Francisco Mela, will be playing at Scullers in Boston and the Roots ‘N Blues ‘N BBQ Festival in Columbia,...
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Flea’s Isolated Bass on “Scar Tissue”
Flea can be a crazy funk-rock bassist, but here we get a look into the mellower side of the bassist with his isolated bass track from “Scar Tissue” from the 1999 Red Hot Chili Peppers album Californication. He sets a steady groove with some nice higher melodic content. Interestingly, you can hear the use of some flanger, which isn’t as...