Buzz
Snarky Puppy with Esperanza Spalding: Grown Folks
Although this is a fan-shot video, it’s too good to pass up. Snarky Puppy and Esperanza Spalding both performed at the GroundUP Festival earlier this year. Spalding joined Michael League and the crew for their song “Grown Folks” from . The bassists trade off on playing the bass line with Spalding taking an unbelievable vocal solo halfway through the tune.
Positive Grid Introduces BIAS Modulation Pedal
Positive Grid has expanded their pedal range with the BIAS Modulation. The standalone pedal has nine built-in effects – Chorus, Vibrato, Flanger, Rotary, Phaser, Tremolo, Pan, RingMod and Autoswell – that can be mixed and matched to create unique sounds. It has intensity, depth, and rate controls as well as tap tempo and LFO controls for dialing in your sound...
Getting Away from Playing the Root on Beat One
Q: I play mostly jazz and am a pretty facile walker, but I’ve gotten into the habit of playing lines that almost invariably lead to the root being on the 1 (or the 3 if it’s a 2-chord measure in 4/4, etc.). While I am guessing that some of the folks I play with don’t mind the solid anchor, I...
Bambo Kino: Angels in Motion
We featured bassist Bambo Kino, aka Mark Buccilli, as a reader spotlight back in 2014 and today we’re sharing some more of his music. Here’s a clip of him playing with the recording for his fusion song “Angels in Motion” from the album Ecto Perfecto.
Herbie Hancock Recruits James Genus for Summer Tour
Jazz legend Herbie Hancock has announced a tour of the United States and Europe this summer, and it’s going to be incredible. He’s put together a killer lineup for his band with Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Lionel Loueke on guitar, Terrace Martin on drums, and James Genus on bass. The bassist has been a mainstay in the jazz community for...
Reader Spotlight: Dylan Caillouet
Meet Dylan Caillouet, a bassist from New Orleans who has an impressive resume over his 13 years of playing. Dylan is this week’s No Treble reader in the spotlight. Here’s his story… Bio: I am a New Orleans musician who has played with the likes of Trombone Shorty, George Porter Jr., Henrik Linder, Tab Benoit, Terrence Higgins, Donald Harrison, Jody...
ESP Unveils New Frank Bello Signature Model Basses
Anthrax’s Frank Bello teamed up with ESP again this year to create a new signature bass, resulting in the custom shop Frank Bello J-4 and the LTD Series FB-J4. Each bass is a take on a classic P/J design in a sleek black color scheme with red accents. The custom shop version is crafted one at a time in Japan....
Royal Blood: Lights Out
It has been a while since we’ve featured a video by the duo known as Royal Blood. Bassist Mike Kerr (who also handles keyboards and vocals) and drummer Ben Thatcher have released their video for “Lights Out,” which is appearing on their upcoming album, How Did We Get So Dark?, set to release on June 16th. The album is available...
Top 10: The Most Watched Bass Videos (March 2017)
Time for your monthly roundup of the best in bass videos – AKA the top 10 most watched videos on No Treble. Here the 10 most popular videos we featured in March. Thanks for watching, commenting and sharing. 1. Marcus Miller: How To Improvise a Solo After getting the ability to groove under their fingers, many bassists struggle to learn...
Bass of the Week: Hannah Mayne Gamba Bass
I love the elegance of the double bass, especially this gorgeous Gamba model built by Hannah Mayne. Inspired by an 18th-century Italian bass, it’s crafted with Bosnian maple for the back, sides, and neck with an Engelmann spruce top. “I modified the original outline of the bass, along with the dimensions, making it my own design. The sound holes, other...
Advanced Bass: Giant Steps Plays the Blues
“Giant Steps” is well known as a challenging workout for all aspiring jazz musicians to learn. In this lesson, we’ll cover how to superimpose “Coltrane Changes” over the first 4-bars of the Blues with a fingerboard friendly symmetrical pattern that will open doors – both harmonically and stylistically into the world of John Coltrane. Download the transcription for this lesson...
Allan Holdsworth: Devil Takes The Hindmost
In 1985, my best friend shared Allan Holdsworth’s Metal Fatigue album with me. We both nearly wore out the vinyl, and I became an instant fan of his work – picking up his subsequent albums over the following years. I was devastated to learn of his passing yesterday and went back to many of those albums – and some videos....