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John Entwistle Bass Book

The John Entwistle Bass Book is a new book featuring transcriptions of Entwistle’s amazing bass lines from 19 songs by The Who. Transcriptions are presented in standard notation, tabs, and chord symbols and detailed performance notes are included as well. The 127-page book also contains a section on Entwistle’s career, playing styles and equipment.

This is the first in a series of three lessons from my new online course Contemporary Techniques For Bass Guitar.  This lesson is an excerpt from my new book/DVD, Tapestry, which is scheduled for release in September. The song illustrated here is called Ebenella and was written by a good friend of mine, Rob Gourlay. These techniques are the same...

Holy smokes!

Kai Eckhardt and Blue Coast Records producer Cookie Marenco hit the studio last week and recorded Kai performing four new solo pieces. The duo used a new recording technique called E.S.E. (Extended Sound Environment), which “brings the Live performance to you in a holographic sound experience”. The team used five microphones and Kai played three of his instruments during the...

Melodic Bass Lines

We’ve all heard about “chordal scales.” Chordal scales are useful; they contain the chord tones—we really need those!—and a set of neighbor and passing tones that will sound reasonably and reliably good. Chordal scales are emphasized in a lot of teaching methods. Are they the basis of what we need to know as bass players? Do we make our lines...

Today’s featured video showcases the work of Austrian bass player Robert Riegler, performing Ralph Thenner’s Passing Glance. Enjoy!

Bassist Christian McBride is on road with his quintet, Christian McBride & Inside Straight. Here are the dates for the summer: June 11: Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, CA June 12: Anthology in San Diego, CA June 13 & 14: Yoshi’s in Oakland, CA Jun 15: Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle, WA June 17-20: Catalina’s Bar and Grill in...

Kilian Duarte sent in this video, from his Berklee bass department concert this year. Bass, loops and talk box. Wow! Check out more videos by Killian.

Former Nirvana bassist and current Fair Vote chairman Krist Novoselic filed to run for the office of Wahkiakum County Clerk (in Washington state) this week. He’s labeled himself on the ballot as part of the fictitious “Grange Party”. While Novoselic acknowledged this is a publicity stunt and that he has no interest in becoming the county clerk. He said he’s...

Bassist Edo Castro is recording his next album, Sacred Graffiti, the follow up to his 2006 release, Phoenix. Edo is joined by special guests David Friesen, Michael Manring, Dan Zinn, Ray Cooper and Percy Jones on the release, coming out later this year on the Passion Star Records label. Check out Edo in a live performance of his original composition,...

Jambase has the scoop on Mike Stern’s new album, Big Neighborhood, coming out on August 11, 2009. Stern’s track record for assembling a great line up of musicians continues with this release, and Big Neighborhood hosts a big lineup: Bassists: Richard Bona, Esperanza Spalding, Chris Minh Doky and Lincoln Goines Guitarists: Steve Vai and Eric Johnson Drummers: Dave Weckl, Terri...

This is about the craziest bass duet we’ve ever seen. Did these guys even miss a beat?