Buzz
Best of 2020: Top 10 Reader Favorite Bass of the Week Features
Kevin Johnson kicked off the Bass of the Week series in August 2011 with the goal of “featuring low-end instruments ranging from beautiful to bizarre.” To date, he’s featured 487 basses. Here are the top 10 No Treble Reader favorite BoTW’s for 2020.
Áron Hodek: Something New (Bass Cover + Improv)
My first experience hearing Áron Hodek play was at a Winter NAMM Show. I was beyond impressed. Here’s a recent video Áron shared, with him performing a solo bass arrangement/improv of “Something New” by Wiz Khalifa and Ty Dolla Sign.
Liquid Tension Experiment, Featuring Tony Levin, Announces New Album
Listen up, prog fans: Liquid Tension Experiment is back. The incredible supergroup of Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, and Tony Levin have signed to InsideOutMusic and will be releasing a third album in spring 2021.
Best of 2020: The Top 10 Bass Lessons & Transcriptions
Our bass lessons and transcriptions have always been super popular with readers. Here are the top 10 most popular we published in 2020. Time to hit the shed!
Rain: Dandelion
We love featuring videos by our readers, especially when it is as good as this one. Check out bassist John Jowitt and his band Rain performing “Dandelion” from their new album.
Jeff Pilson and George Lynch Release “Heavy Hitters”
Longtime collaborators George Lynch and Jeff Pilson have teamed up once again to release a covers album called “Heavy Hitters”.
Eastwood Guitars Announces Tiger Bass
Eastwood Guitars has unveiled another new project for 2021 with the Tiger Bass. Modeled after Jerry Garcia’s iconic instrument, the bass version will carry on many of the features as their guitar tribute.
Steve Vai: The Attitude Song (Live In Concert)
When I was in high school, I wore out my copy of Steve Vai’s “Flex-Able”. One of my favorite tunes was “The Attitude Song”. Here’s a great clip of Vai performing the tune with Mike Keneally, Philip Bynoe, and Mike Mangini in ’97.
Best of 2020: The Top 10 Reader Favorite Bass Pedals & Effects
This year we saw a huge number of pedals released. Here are the top 10 reader favorite pedals we covered in 2020.
Taylor Lee and Friends: Christmas Bass Shred Session
Taylor Lee has once again called upon some phenomenal bassists for a shred session for the holidays. This time he’s joined by Jon Reshard, Bubby Lewis, Cody Wright, Jay Laws, Shaun Gotti Calloway, and AJ Brown.
Berklee Bass Department: Holiday Mashup 2020
For many years now, we’ve had a great holiday tradition, thanks to Steve Bailey. Steve sent us this year’s Berklee Bass Department holiday video. This year’s Mashup features Steve along with Bakithi Kumalo, John Patitucci, and Victor Wooten.
Trace Elliot Unveils ELF Combo Bass Amp Series
Trace Elliot shocked the bass world three years ago with the introduction of the ELF ultra-compact bass amp, which dishes out 200 watts while weighing just 1.6 pounds. Now they’ve grown the ELF into a combo series, as well.