Buzz

Here’s Blood Sweat & Tears, with Gary Foote on bass, performing live at the North Sea Jazz Festival on July 11, 1993. Foote solos, along with guitarist Larry DeBari and trumpeter Jerry Sokolov.

Roland has announced that their new R-05 Wave/MP3 Recorder is now shipping. The pocket recorder boasts clear audio quality, tons of features, and a battery that lasts over 16 hours of continuous recording time. It records directly to SD cards with a maximum of 24-bit/96kHz resolution with its built-in stereo microphone, or you can plug in your own external microphones....

Iron Maiden unveiled the artwork and releases date of their upcoming studio album, The Final Frontier. The band’s new CD will be available Monday, August 16th. Until then they are giving away the first single, “El Dorado,” as a free download. The Final Frontier will be the group’s 15th studio album, following up on 2006’s A Matter of Life and...

Q: How should I go about developing longer solo ideas? In my solos I’m having trouble playing fast lines for more than a couple bars or so. I feel like I can really let the conversation flow by using lots of long notes broken up by short (maybe 4-ish bars at most), quick “chopsy” phrases. When I try to keep...

Here’s bassist Larry Grenadier taking a great upright bass solo with Metheny/Mehldau Quartet.

After being in a coma since November, 2008, Deftones bassist Chi Cheng is showing signs of improvement, according to his band mates. “He’s been out of his coma for a while now, which is great” singer Chino Moreno told The Quietus. “He’s still in a minimally conscious state, which means he sleeps a lot, wakes up, opens his eyes and...

Reader Spotlight: Erik Uhlen

Meet Erik Uhlen, our bassist in the spotlight for June 8, 2010. Bio: I’ve been playing for 23 years and have had the good luck to play with popular and working local acts over the years, whether they were original and/or cover bands. As of late, I have been involved with studio efforts, by two artists and am in the...

An Interview with Etienne Mbappé

Following our review of John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension’s To The One, we had the chance to ask bassist Etienne Mbappé a few questions about the album, working with Joe Zawinul, and about all the great bass that comes out of his native Cameroon. How did the “To The One” project come together? I met John McLaughlin in 2002...

Here’s an interesting video with an even more interesting instrument… Don Schiff takes the Half Fretless NS/Stick for a spin:

Jack Bruce: Live 1980-2001

Jack Bruce‘s latest album, Live 1980-2001, released today and features nine live tracks recorded in 1980 and 2001. The recordings from 1980 feature Billy Cobham, David Sancious and Clemp Clempson. The 2001 recordings feature Phil Mogg and Michael Schenker. Jack Bruce: Live 1980-2001 Track List 1. White Room 2. Jet Set 3. Born Under A Bad Sign 4. The Loner...

As if a new documentary, a new album, and a new tour isn’t enough to keep the members of Rush busy, the legendary Canadian rockers will be getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on June 25. The group will receive their star at 6752 Hollywood Boulevard, just four days before they begin their new “Time Machine Tour”....

Practicing for Performance

When we are first learning a new work, we might spend many hours putting it together. We can easily spend days, weeks or even months working on small sections, phrases, passagework, navigating specific chord changes, or other musical and technical items in a piece. We do this not only to perfect individual sections and assure technical fluidity, but also in...