Buzz
Steve Lawson: Five Stages
As in most of the world, politics in the UK have taken some strange twists and turns this year and it deeply affected bassist Steve Lawson. Today we’re sharing a first look at his upcoming album, The Surrender of Time that expresses his feelings on the situation. “The next chapter in my instrumental exploration of what’s going on in the...
Elvis Costello & The Imposters To Play Fall/Winter U.S. Dates
After Elvis Costello wraps up solo U.S. tour dates this fall, he’ll join with his band, The Imposters for East Coast/Midwest dates on the Imperial Bedroom & Other Chambers Tour. The tour’s name, of course, references Costello’s 1982 album Imperial Bedroom and the tour will feature selections from that record, as well as ”the songs that led in and out...
Q-Tuner Unveils Transparent Q2.0 Pickups
Q-Tuner has announced a small-scale production of transparent versions of their neodymium q2.0 bass pickups. Each unit will be one of a kind and made to order. As such, the pickups can be fine-tuned in terms of output, dynamic response and frequency range, the company says. The new models, which will be available later this year, will act as a...
Making Walking Bass Lines Come Naturally
Q: I would like to ask you about improvising bass lines. Could it be unconscious? I recognized that when I play walking bass, I’m always think about how to reach the next chord. I sometimes have great ideas that I hear in my mind’s ear, but most of the time it’s a really conscious procedure. It’s really interesting because during...
Carlomaria: Feel The Love
Matteo Vallicella sent us this video of a project he’s working on with Italian singer Carlomaria. “I playied a ’66 P-bass with flats,” Matteo shared. “The efx [includes] a Wonderlove, a Doom by 3 Leaf Audio and an Oc2. Also a Ditto x4 by TC Electronics for a reverse effect of a pre-recorded slide at 1:58.” He had us at...
Legendary Betty Davis Sessions Released
Music from a couple of storied and previously unheard recording sessions, which signaled a legendary melding of jazz and rock, is finally seeing the light of day. Those sessions were produced by jazz legend Miles Davis and Teo Macero on May 14 and May 20, 1969, and featured Davis’ then-wife, Betty (the pair split by the early 1970s) on vocals,...
Reader Spotlight: Antonis Mikelis
Antonis Mikelis borrowed a bass while attending college, and the rest is history. Now he spends his time playing, teaching and running sound. Antonis is this week’s No Treble reader in the spotlight. Here’s his story… Bio: Born on the small but picturesque island of Milos in Greece, his first introduction to music was classical piano. However, it didn’t really...
Bass Gear Roundup: The Top Gear Stories in July 2016
Time for a reader (and one of our) favorite lists of the month… the top 10 list of bass gear. As always, this is based on reader views. Here’s what everyone enjoyed during the month of July. Thanks for reading, commenting and sharing. 1. Fender Unveils Flea Signature Jazz Bass Fender has teamed up with bass legend Flea to release...
Stu Hamm Band: Black Ice, Live
Stuart Hamm has been killing it on the road this year with solo and band tours. While he’s been touring behind his latest album, The Book of Lies, he has also been mixing in some of his older tunes for a career spanning experience. Here’s a clip of Hamm and his bandmates Jeff Bowders and Randy McStine tackling “Black Ice”...
The Descendents Release First Album in More Than a Decade
The Descendents have released their first album in a dozen years. Hypercaffium Spazzinate is the band’s seventh album and the first released by the punk band since 2004’s Cool to Be You. Karl Alvarez handles bass on the album, as he has through the band’s existence (and its several hiatuses and reformations) since 1986. The Descendents also influenced a host...
Bass of the Week: Jerzy Drozd Soul IV “Matisse”
Tim Cook sent us a few pictures of his bass, and we were drooling. The Jerzy Drozd Soul IV “Matisse” is a real piece of art, which is fitting since it was inspired by other pieces of art. “Jerzy Drozd monikers his work as ‘Jerzy Drozd, the Bass Art Company’ and fittingly a search for a description of this bass...
Talking Technique: Two-Octave Triads
How about some cool two octave triad fills for your grooves? Playing triads over two octaves is surprisingly difficult to do on the bass. Today we’ll cover how to not only master playing those triads over two octaves, but also how to build some cool fills from that tonal material. An important tip ensures that delivery is right. Be sure...