Buzz
Alex Bershadsky: Ma’oz Tzur
In celebration of Hanukkah, we’ve got an incredible bass-only version of the traditional Jewish liturgical poem performed by Alex Bershadsky. The Israeli-raised bassist layers a lyrical fretless line on top of his chordal fretted work to create a rich and introspective arrangement of the song. This arrangement can be found on the new Zon Guitars Holiday Rumblings album.
Mark Evans Releases Memoir, “Dirty Deeds: My Life Inside/Outside of AC/DC”
In 1975, bassist Mark Evans joined AC/DC, Australia’s hardest working rock band, when he was just 19 years old. Over the next few years, the band recorded four best-selling albums and the band shot up the ranks to headlining, world-tour super-stardom. Evans, who held down the low end for the band between March 1975 and June 1977, has authored a...
Mike Lull Unveils Jeff Ament JAXT4 Signature Bass
Mike Lull Custom Guitars has announced the Jeff Ament JAXT4 Signature bass, to be available starting in January 2012. The Pearl Jam bassist worked closely with Lull on the specifications of the bass, which is a modified version of Lull’s T4. One of the key features to the JAXT4 is it’s oversized body, which is 20% larger than Lull’s regular...
Dr. D’s Guide to Improving Your Walking Bass Lines
I regularly see students who are unhappy with their walking bass lines. Perhaps they don’t like how their lines lead (or don’t lead) from chord to chord. Perhaps they find themselves falling into predictable patterns over and over again. Perhaps their range is limited. Perhaps they just don’t find their lines satisfying. All of this can occur even when the...
Hyunmo Kim: “The First Noel” for Solo Bass
Editor’s note: we’re celebrating the holidays this week with some awesome (and sometimes funny) holiday videos. Be sure to check back every day for some holiday cheer, bass-style. Get your egg nog ready. Arthur Baucour sent in this video of Korean bassist Hyunmo Kim playing a jaw-dropping rendition of “The First Noel.” As a gift to all of you who...
Top 10: Great Bass Gear in the Spotlight, Jason Newsted’s Celebration with Metallica, the Top Bass Videos and More
In the Gear category, readers loved the Chillbass Pantera, our bass of the week, plus our Custom Shop interview with Mike Lull, and the all new Le Fay Fan Fret version of the Pangton Headless bass. In player coverage, the news of Jason Newsted reuniting with Metallica for their 30th anniversary – and the video – made the top ten,...
Fuchs Announces Bruiser Bass Amp Models
After nearly a year of product testing since displaying a prototype at the last Winter NAMM Show, Fuchs Audio Technology has announced three final models of their Bruiser Bass Amp: The Bruiser, the Bruiser-I, and the Bruiser-II. The main difference between each head is power, as the original Bruiser is rated 500 watts into 4 ohms while the Bruiser-I is...
All Bass, No Treble: When is a Bass Not “Bass”?
Here at No Treble HQ, we watch a ton of bass videos, read a ton of email from bassists, and get all the news releases about everything bass. Our name is obviously an attempt at being clever. No Treble, after all, is another way of saying “All Bass”. We love the instrument, we love bassists, and we love where bass...
Uxia Martinez Botana: Persichetti’s Parable XVII for Double Bass
Twentieth century American composer and music educator Vincent Persichetti is well known for his collection of works entitled Parables, a series of works for unaccompanied instruments which he wrote between 1965 and 1987. “Parable XVII” (our favorite) was written for solo double bass. Here’s a clip of Uxia Martinez Botana performing the piece in recital. The amount of control she...
Help Make the “Mingus On Mingus” Documentary a Reality
In about nine hours, the fate of the “Mingus on Mingus” documentary project will be decided. At least this important phase of it. You’ve no doubt seen our promotions for this project. We have no affiliation with it, we just want to see it made a reality. Kevin Ellington Mingus, the grandson of Charles Mingus, is behind the project. In...
Iron Ether Debuts Polytope Pedal
Iron Ether has released the Polytope, a quad-voice pitch detuner. The pedal creates up to four identical copies of the input signal that can then be detuned in pitch to create sounds from “subtle thickening to huge multi-voice detuned synth sounds.” The voices are added and faded in by raising the Voices knob with each new voice alternating above and...
Marcelo Cordova: Live Bass Solo
Damian Erskine told me to check out bassist Marcelo Cordova recently, and I’m glad he did. I think I watched every video I could find, and while it was difficult to pick one, I think this is my favorite. Here’s Marcelo taking a tasty solo during a live performance in 2010. He’s playing his Ays 6-string.