No Treble Archive for March 5th

It’s time to get your dance on. Stuart Clayton has just released “The Chic Book”, a transcription book that compiles 18 songs with both bass and guitar parts written out. That means you can learn the parts from both Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards.

Gruv Gear has expanded its line of signature straps by introducing a new model with John Patitucci. Designed with music industry and bass health specialist Dr. Randall Kertz, the strap combines classic and modern features.

There was a buzz on Yolanda Charles’ bass playing long before Sting chose her for his upcoming tour. Yolanda’s resume is as diverse as her musical tastes. She’s our guest in this new episode of Groove. Enjoy the conversation...

Kevin sent me this incredible video from the 2020 Winter NAMM Show. In this clip, Nathan East and Mr. Talkbox take the stage to perform “Daft Funk.”

Adam Booker has released his second album as a leader, entitled “Seven Last Words.” The album is a showcase for the dichotomy of his playing as it alternates tracks between two sets of music.

Meet Melissa Petitto, a bassist from Italy who has started making waves in music thanks to her bass and vocal videos. While Melissa started out on flute, she said that she loves the “lowest notes,” making the switch to bass “a natural choice.”

Hartke was at the 2019 Winter NAMM Show to unveil the XL Series V2 bass cabinets, which commemorate 35 years of the business and the original aluminum-cone cabinet that was hand-built by Larry Hartke. The new version of the XL Series will include two new models and a revamped design.

Oz Noy has a new album coming out called “Booga Looga Loo” on March 15th. Check out this clip of “Chocolate Souffle” with John Patitucci holding down a solid shuffle with drummer Vinnie Colaiuta. Patitucci also throws down on an epic solo at the 3:48 mark.

Snarky Puppy is ramping it up for 2019. They have a new album, “Immigrance,” coming on March 15th. They’ve just released a new video for the single, and they’ve also announced a tour to support the record.

Nordstrand Audio has expanded their pickup line with a drop-in replacement to fit a Rickenbacker 4003 neck pickup. The Nordenbocker is Nordstrand’s Big Single pickup design housed in the unique pickup size. “It even uses your stock pickup screws,” the company writes. “Louder and more aggressive tones can now be found in your neck pickup to keep up with the...

I’m always floored by Tuli Basses, and builder Aron Bach made my day by sending me the details of his latest HIILYX bass. The six-string bass is the new single cut model that he revealed at the 2018 London Bass Guitar Show. Even with six strings and a single cut body, the HIILYX comes in lighter than many four-strings. “I...

I received Vulfpeck’s Mr Finish Line on vinyl recently, and I’ve been spinning it ever since. Here’s the most recent video release for the track, “Business Casual.” I love the vocals on this one, and as always, the bass playing of Joe Dart.

Are you a complete beginner or have someone interested in starting on bass? Hal Leonard has just published First 15 Lessons: Bass Guitar by Jon Liebman to aid fledgling players. The step-by-step lesson plan starts with holding the bass and graduates to playing open strings and beyond. While it covers the basics, the book gets you ready to jam with...

Three decades ago, Ibanez first introduced the SR bass. This year they’re celebrating their flagship bass model with four new instruments. “Throughout the past 30 years, Ibanez has been improving and developing the SR series by closely following market requirements and opinions from various artists and valued customers,” they write. “SR is now one of the most popular and distinctive...

KEXP is a constant source of musical discovery for us, and we just checked out Naked Giants for the first time on their channel. Here’s the band, anchored by bassist Gianni Aiello, performing their tune, “Twist.” We’re really digging this.

After teasing that they would be going on a North American tour this year, King Crimson has finally revealed the tour schedule for 2017. The trek kicks off on June 13th in Seattle, Washington and will make its way across the U.S. and Canada before ending with a pair of to-be-confirmed dates in Mexico City. “We can finally satisfy all...

Luthier Scott Surine was showing his basses at the NAMM Show this year including a brand new model called the Lunara NTVII. The bass, which is Surine’s second single-cut design, features neck-through construction with a seven-piece Rock Maple and Walnut neck. The Lunara NTVII’s swamp ash body core is sandwiched between a Redwood burl top and back with black Sycamore...

We first featured Young Pandas back in October, with their “Suspended” video. Bassist Kyle Nagel sent us the latest by the band, and we’re really digging what this band is doing. “It’s one of my most proud bass moments that I’ve recorded,” Kyle said. “I’m playing my Lakland Hollowbody with Bartolini pickups and flatwound strings. Matt, our drummer who’s always...

Bassist and Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding’s newest album, Emily’s D+Evolution has arrived. The album’s title refers to Spalding’s middle name, Emily. “. . . I’m using this fresh persona as my inner navigator. This project is about going back and reclaiming un-cultivated curiosity, and using it as a compass to move forward and expand. My hope for this group is...

“Who is that bass player with the long beard?” That was my initial reaction when I first saw the video for Phil Collins’ smash hit, “Sussudio”, in 1985. I did not know Leland Sklar’s pedigree as a bass player before that (and, what happened after is a journey of impressive artists and songs that continues to expand to this day...

Mike Frost sent us this great clip of his band performing the classic Chick Corea tune, “Armando’s Rhumba.” Taken from a performance at the Shapeshifer Lab in Brooklyn, the band is cooking with some Latin flavor. Frost gets a warm sound from his fretless to pin the band together. “The video is showing my new Fretless Clifford Roi 4 string...

Bassists Armand Sabal-Lecco and Jan-Olof Strandberg have joined together to create a unique live album, Live in Finland, as the Jan-Olof Strandberg & Armand Sabal-Lecco Project. A Cameroonian, Sabal-Leco is known for his work with Paul Simon, Stanley Clarke, Peter Gabriel and Stewart Copeland. He’s currently part of Robert Trujillo’s group Mass Mental. As for the Finnish Strandberg, for quite...

Darkglass Electronics is expanding on their vintage pedal concept this year with the Vintage Deluxe Preamp. A riff on their Microtubes Vintage, the pedal revolves around an ERA knob that interacts with the drive control to dish out different tones from the ’70s through the ’90s. The Vintage Deluxe takes the Drive, Level, ERA, and Blend controls from its predecessor...

Q: Most pros say that playing with other musicians is one of the most important things a bassist can do. After practicing alone for a few years, I’ve returned to the band setting. I love gigging and I love band practice, but I find myself playing very conservatively. In no way am I trying to get crazy and show off...

The Professors of the Cornel School of Contemporary Music got together and performed their take of “The Chicken”. The group includes Abraham Laboriel on bass, Jimmy Branly on drums, Otmaro Ruiz on keys and Allen Hinds on guitar. Many people think Jaco Pastorius wrote this tune, but it was actually composed by Alfred “Pee Wee” Ellis, who arranged and co-wrote...

Les Claypool has been focusing on his Duo de Twang lately, but he’s getting geared up to return to Primus with a string of dates announced for May and June. The jaunt will kick off with a three-night run at the Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, Nevada from May 1st to May 3rd, after which they’ll join Queens of the...

Bassist Viktor L?rincz has wowed No Treble readers (including us) with his incredible videos. In this week’s spotlight, we get to learn more about this exciting bassist, and what makes him tick. Viktor is the player in the spotlight for the week of March 4, 2013. Bio: I was born in Budapest in 1973. I am a musician – a...

Blast Cult announced a new electric bass model late last year, but the details were still being worked out, into 2013. Now we know a whole lot more. The aptly named “Thirty 2” is a 32? inch scale bass, and the first electric made by the company. Blast Cult is offering lots of options for this bass, including standard and...

Over the weekend, Kevin and I attended Gerald Veasley’s Bass Bootcamp. There were a lot of highlights, and one of them was having dinner with bassist Janek Gwizdala. I was already a Janek fan before I met him. I found out that as great a bassist as he is, he’s an even greater human being. So I was inspired to...

The highly anticipated album by supergroup Atoms For Peace is out. Amok is the debut album for the group, which includes Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, drummer Joey Waronker (Beck and R.E.M.) and percussionist Mauro Refosco. The group release the single, “Default“, back in September. Atoms For Peace was formed...

New for 2012 is the Traveler Ultra-Light Bass, an extremely lightweight and compact bass guitar. The whole instrument measures 33 3/4? in length and weighs in at a mere three pounds and 6.5 ounces. Built from a solid piece of Eastern American Hard Maple, the Ultra-Light Bass features a removable metal lap-rest and a built in thumb rest for comfort....

I first heard about ThumbJam from Richard Bona in the Blue Note Tokyo green room while we were both working with the Jaco Pastorius Big Band. (I’m setting this up not to brag, but rather to let you know that when a master like Bona raves about a music app, we all listen!) The app has a very simple premise:...

We first featured bassist Choi Dong-Ju (aka “jacogrow”) about two years ago and his video “Fretless Bass Improv”. Here he is once again, with a video he titles “Improv (Fast) Fretless”. His three-finger technique is obviously inspired by the great Gary Willis, and the closest we’ve heard to the original himself. Jacogrow even plays this on his Gary Willis signature...

Last week, No Treble readers enjoyed the latest gear coverage, especially Epifani’s AL Series aluminum combos and cabinets and Ashdown’s new ABM-1000 and ABM-2000 amps. Our bass of the week, the Rob Allen MB-2 bass, was another hit feature. In the video category, Victor Wooten and the Roots rip it up in the (too short) video from the Jimmy Fallon...

Mark Adams, the bassist from the popular ’70’s Ohio funk band Slave, has passed away. Adams, who co-wrote the band’s first hit “Slide,” was an influence to many budding bassists. Anthony Wellington shared his thoughts: “My very first bass hero/idol Mark Adams (Mr. Mark) died last night,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “I remember being inspired by the song...

As Pearl Jam celebrates their 20th anniversary, bassist Jeff Ament is staying extra busy with his side project, Tres Mts. The band, with Fastbacks drummer Richard Stuverud and dUg Pinnick of King’s X, is releasing Three Mountains throughout the month of March, starting with the digital format on March 8th, followed by the CD (March 15th) and LP (March 22nd)....

Dani Weber‘s solo bass work has been featured here before, and this is a nice piece we were recently checking out. Dani is playing his ’86 Warwick Thumb NT with piccolo strings tuned E – G# – B – E.

Warwick is celebrating its new affiliation with Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo by introducing the Robert Trujillo Streamer Signature Bass. The bass has a shiny coat, with a quicksilver or turquoise blue chrometone finish. The bass, which was designed for Trujillo over the course of two years, is based on Warwick’s Streamer model. Features include an increased mass of the neck,...

Anthony Jackson is a living legend of modern music. Like his hero, the great James Jamerson, millions of music lovers know his music who might not know his name. He is a true innovator, a great musical mind and a man of great integrity. He invented and pioneered the 6-string extended range bass guitar (his contrabass guitar), used a pick...

Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell bassist Geezer Butler has relaunched his web site with a brand new design. To help celebrate the occasion, he is giving away a rare track called “Beach Skeleton,” which was only ever released as a bonus track on the Japanese version of his 1997 solo album Black Science. The track was released under the “Geezer” banner,...

Here’s Italian bass player Roberto Badoglio playing his own serene composition “The last goodbye”. Roberto Badoglio has studied with some of the best bass players in the world (Matthew Garrison, Dominique Di Piazza, Skuli Sverrisson) and has recently released a new album, called Re-Evaluation-Time. For more Roberto Badoglio check out his website.

What’s a new album without t-shirts? Duff McKagan (Guns ‘N Roses, Velvet Revolver) is promoting his latest project, Duff McKagan’s Loaded, and their upcoming album release with a t-shirt design contest. As recently announced via the band’s Myspace page, submissions can be sent to [email protected] and they’ll choose a winner “as soon as [they] find the ‘one’“. The blurb promises...

We’ve been tinkering with our Myspace account for a bit, and we’re now ready to make friends. It is still ugly, but hey… it is functional. So check us out. We’re looking forward to becoming friends with all the bassists out there (and bass fans). http://www.myspace.com/notreblecom. Next stop, Facebook.