Buzz
Terri Lynne Carrington Releases The Mosaic Project, Featuring Esperanza Spalding
Drummer Terri Lynne Carrington has released The Mosaic Project, an album featuring all female musicians including bassist Esperanza Spalding, as well as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Nona Hendryx, Gretchen Parlato and others. “Everything about this recording is about making a larger picture out of many various elements,” Carrington explains. “I assembled several friends – most of whom...
The Scuba Cult: Salvoed
Here’s a cool video for “Salvoed” by the one-man-band called Scuba Cult. Rocking out on a Wal bass, the track features just bass and a Dr. Rhythm 808 track. The video on the other hand, features a guy in a big white hat.
Bass The Chord
Gerardo Colon Ortiz has authored a new bass method book, Bass The Chord. The book focuses on the groove, with an emphasis on connecting lines with chords, using rhythm and harmony, to build more interesting bass lines. “The bass line won’t be sacrificed,” Ortiz explains. “In other words if you play a bass line in the style of salsa, blues,...
Primus Plots North American Fall Tour
Primus will be hitting the road again this Fall, just in time for their new album Green Naugahyde to drop. The tour, which starts September 23rd in Boston, Massachusetts, will snake through the East Coast with two Canadian stops before heading west and ending October 22nd in Los Angeles. Bassist Les Claypool and the rest of the oddball trio have...
Buddy Guy, Jack Bruce, Buddy Miles, Dick Heckstall-Smith: Mary Had a Little Lamb (Live, 1969)
Today’s clip comes from the documentary Supershow, filmed in 1969 and featuring Jack Bruce, Led Zeppelin, Buddy Guy, Buddy Miles, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Chris Mercer, Eric Clapton, Colloseum, Roland Kirk, and Stephen Stills. This was dubbed “the last great jam of the ’60s”. Here, Bruce, Buddy Guy, Buddy Miles, and Dick Heckstall-Smith perform “Mary Had A Little Lamb”.
RapcoHorizon Releases the iJam 3-n-1
Audio/visual company RapcoHorizon is now shipping the iJam 3-n-1, a new iPhone instrument interface designed for all electric instruments. The iJam also acts as a practice amp and MP3 play-along device. The iPhone portion of the iJam connects your bass to your apps, including amplifier modelers, recording software apps, and instructional apps. It allows for continuous monitoring for any applications...
Acoustic USA Launches With Revamped 360/361 Bass Rig
A new branch of the Acoustic brand, called Acoustic USA, has launched with the unveiling of an updated version of the classic 360/361 rig. The vintage head/cab combo was originally made famous by players like Jaco Pastorius, Larry Graham and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones. Acoustic USA employed the help of former Acoustic President and bass amp guru Russ Alee...
Practical Theory: Practice Tips for Scales (Part 2)
This week, we’re continuing where we left off with Part 1 of this series, covering the Major tetrachord formula to practice scales. This week, we expand on the basics by covering various finger patterns and covering the entire neck. As part of this exercise, we’ll also skip notes in the scale, playing in thirds, fourths, fifths, and so on, to...
Hadrien Feraud: “Marching Powder” Live Bass Solo
I’m not sure I’ve seen a performance by Hadrien Feraud that didn’t blow me away. But this one is perhaps one of the best of them all. Recorded at The Baked Potato in March, 2011, Feraud takes a solo during the tune “Marching Powder” with “Bubba Lugatz” – in 15/8. The band includes Chris Coleman on drums, Arlan Schierbaum on...
Peter Erskine New Trio Releases “Joy Luck”, with Damian Erskine
Peter Erskine’s latest album, Joy Luck, showcases the drummer’s new trio, and a family connection. Peter’s nephew [and No Treble columnist] Damian Erskine joins his uncle for the first time on an album. Dubbed the Peter Erskine New Trio, the group also includes pianist Vardan Ovsepian. “I’ve waited for the right time to form a group with my talented nephew,...
Source Audio Introduces the Soundblox Pro Bass Envelope Filter
Source Audio has expanded upon their Soundblox Bass Envelope Filter with a new Pro version of the pedal. Similar to its sibling, the Soundblox Pro Bass Envelope Filter has 22 envelope filter effects ranging from 2 Pole and 4 pole Low Pass variations, Single Peak, Triple Peak, Peak/Notch variations and Phaser settings. Options go even further as you can tweak...
Custom Shop: Darkglass Electronics
We first heard about Darkglass Electronics by way of the company’s flagship distortion pedal, the Microtubes B3K [check out our review here], and soon met proprietor Douglas Castro. Castro, who hails from Chile but is now based out of Finland, builds all of the pedals by hand. A bass player himself, Castro couldn’t get the sound he wanted from all...