Buzz

Michael Manring’s Out of Print Solo Catalog to Be Re-released

Bassist Michael Manring has announced that Valley Entertainment is re-releasing his entire solo recordings catalog from his days on Windham Hill, High Street, Sony and BMG. After many years of being out of print, Unusual Weather, Toward The Center Of The Night, Drastic Measures, and Thonk will be once again available. No word yet on release dates. In other news,...

Here’s Yorai Oron from Israel taking a bass solo over the changes to “Caravan”. The quartet features Lew Soloff on trumpet, Avi Adrian on piano, Rony Holan on Drums and Oron on bass.

Original Kinks bassist Pete Quaife passed away June 24th at the age of 66. The exact cause of death is uncertain, but he had been going through kidney dialysis treatments over the last 10 years. Quaife was a founding member of the Kinks, which hit the scene in 1962 and was a part of the British Invasion. It was during...

Bassist/Stickist Tony Levin, along with Stickist Michael Bernier and King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto, have released their latest album, Soup. The album consists of material developed over two years of touring, including “the unusual rap/rock title piece (about supercolliders!), a three part epic, ‘Hands’ and four movements from Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird Suite’, and much more.” Preview and download Soup: Amazon.com Widgets

Gear Review: TC Electronic BG500

“Small. Under-powered. Lackluster tone.” These words come to mind when one thinks of a bass combo amp. We’re pre-programmed to assume this as most combo amps are all those things because most combos are beginner amps. TC Electronics’ has set-out to destroy the old combo amp negative connotations with its new BG500. The BG 500 bass combo amp comes in...

Victor Wooten and Felix Pastorius In Studio

Here’s a great studio session clip of bassists Victor Wooten and Felix Pastorius, taken during the recording of Jeff Coffin’s 2008 release Mutopia. The guys are trading solos on “Al’s Greens”.

Gear Watch: The Vee Strap

The new Vee Strap is an innovative solution to the problem of finding the right way to hold a heavy or uncomfortable bass. It features a dual-shoulder strap design that evenly distributes weight and stabilizes your instrument. Essentially, it is two straps built into one, coming together in a “V” on your back and buttoning onto your bass like any...

Gear Watch: Gold Tone PBB and BB-400+

While checking out all the great new gear at NAMM, the Gold Tone booth really caught our eye with some great twists on the bass. New for 2010 is their PBB model, a resonator bass with an extending aluminum endpin allowing it to sit in an upright position. The bass has a 32″ scale, with a mahogany body and maple...

Q: Can you help me get away from the standard root position chords that I already know? A: Hopefully, yes! The following will presume an intermediate level of understanding of chords and basic theory. But, if you’re working on this stuff, you’ve probably already got at least enough of a grip on it to follow along. Give this a shot!...

I don’t know who “Rainy” is but I do know that it’s someone that Youtuber Ninefingerbass wrote this nice solo bass tune about. Some nice harmonics and tapping work going on here.

Sublime with Rome have announced an extensive tour as a follow-up to their debut 6-date trek in April and May. The group continues to perform popular songs from Sublime’s self-titled album, which was released just after original singer Brad Nowell’s death. Bassist Eric Wilson explained earlier this year, “Many of our songs have never been performed live, most notably our...

Reader Spotlight: Justin Williams

Meet Justin Williams, our bass player in the spotlight. We had the chance to meet up with Justin at the Warwick booth during Summer NAMM. Bio: Justin Williams is one of NYC’s upcoming bassists in the Underground Hip-Hop/R&B, Electronic scene. For six years he’s been supporting some today’s hottest acts (Joya Bravo, KalaeAllDay, C. Devone) holding down the low end...