Buzz

To celebrate 30 years of their music, punk legends Bad Religion have recently released a new live album, 30 Years Live, and are giving it away for free on their website. The Southern California based group, which formed in 1980, took recordings compiled from their spring 2010 tour to build the track list. In an interview with Room Thirteen, bassist...

After pondering which festivals they would play, bassist Phil Lesh and guitarist Bob Weir of Furthur decided to just make their own. The Furthur Festival will take place at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, California on May 29th and 30th, with an “Open Aire Soundcheck” scheduled for the 28th. In a throwback to Lesh’s and Weir’s former band,...

The Des Moines Register is reporting that Slipknot bassist Paul Gray was found dead this morning at an Urbandale, Iowa hotel. He was 38. Police said there was no evidence of foul play, though the investigation continues. An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. Our thoughts go out to Gray’s family, friends and bandmates.

Practicing very, very slowly One of the main advantages to playing a passage vastly under performance tempo is that you give yourself ample time to think. It is easier to plan, calculate and control your playing at slower tempi. Exactly how slowly you should practice depends on the difficulty of the passage. In general, the more difficult the passage, the...

Victor Wooten and Stu Hamm Jam: Chameleon

Check out this jam session between Victor Wooten and Stu Hamm at the Hartke booth during Winter NAMM 2009. They’re performing an all bass version of Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon”!

1. Player News: Black Sabbath Bassist Remembers Dio Black Sabbath bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler released a statement last week, remembering his friend and band mate Ronnie James Dio. 2. Video: Ran Levi (aka Bassran): Bass Solo Here’s Israeli bassist Ran Levi doing a cool bass solo on his 6-string Ken Smith bass. 3. Gear Watch: Warwick Just-a-Nut III Brass Warwick...

This year’s Summer NAMM show in Nashville will include the first ever “Wanna Play Sunday,” which will be open to the public. The event takes place on Sunday June 20th (the last day of NAMM), and will include music education sessions on how to get endorsed, how to set up a home studio, and more. Also on the itinerary are...

This clip of fretless bass master Percy Jones comes from his instructional video, “Bass Exploration of Percy Jones”. Jones is joined by Van Manakas on guitar, Marc Wagnon on MIDI vibes and Jonathan Mover on drums.

Muse has cancelled two shows and rescheduled two others for the North American tour in the late fall of this year. The changes are being made to accommodate bassist Chris Wolstenholme so he can be present for the birth of his fifth child. Muse has made refunds available for the changed shows and has assured fans they “haven’t forgotten them.”...

Here’s a great live performance of Avishai Cohen and his trio performing “Gently Disturbed” at the Leverkusen Jazztage in 2007. Shai Maestro is on piano and Mark Guiliana is on drums.

Bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding is releasing her second album on the Heads Up label, Chamber Music Society, on August 17th. Chamber Music Society is Spalding’s follow up to the 2008 release, Esperanza, which sat atop Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart for over 70 weeks. Backed by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and pianist Leo Genovese, Spalding draws from her classical...

Pro Tone Pedals has teamed up with metal bassist Blasko to produce the Blasko Bass Overdrive Pedal. The pedal is designed to be tonally versatile, which is “something Blasko needs as he rips through rock anthems as well as ballads onstage with Ozzy Osbourne.” The Blasko pedal, which is hand made in the USA, has a Baxandall EQ, and features...