No Treble Archive for September 5th

La Bella Strings’ Lords of the Low End returns to Brooklyn on October 10th with Ian Martin Allison, bass builders, brands, gear, and more.

Vincen García shows restraint and a melodic touch on "Keep Calm," a spacious live solo bass performance from his July 2026 set at Jazz in Marciac, France.

Tony Levin and Stick Men return with Let’s THRAK Again, a new album inspired by King Crimson’s THRAK featuring two distinct versions of the music.

Aguilar launches its first plugin suite, modeling amps, cabinets, and pedals for bassists in DAWs and standalone use. Intro price: $149.99.

Bassist Jason Everett’s Deep Energy Orchestra brings global influences and world-class players together on "The Science of Sound."

Chris Barron broke down in tears during the Spin Doctors’ in-studio take on “Purple Rain,” a spontaneous arrangement for a Musora performance session.

Bass Gym’s Marek Bero releases "Bass Reels," a new book of short funk, rock, and jazz bass licks designed for players and the social media era.

This month’s Groove podcast guest is Brian F. Wright, an Assistant Professor of Music History at the University of North Texas, and author of “The Bastard Instrument – A Cultural History of the Electric Bass.”

Gilad Ephrat sent us another impressive video, where he pays tribute to François Rabbath, Renaud Garcia Fons, and Edgar Meyer.

Last year, Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood joined Nick Cave on his solo tour of North America. Now the bassist is featured on the new Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album, “Wild God.”

Meet Jared Beckstead-Craan, a bassist living in Brooklyn, New York. Jared shared some great stories, including one about their parents and their bass superpower/claim to fame.

In this episode, the guys at Scott’s Bass Lessons break down Victor Wooten’s “Pretty Little Lady Groove” from Vic’s 1994 instructional video.

In 2016, Stuart Clayton of Bassline Publishing released a full transcription book for Stuart Hamm’s solo album, “The Book of Lies.” Now he’s done it again with a note-for-note book on “Hold Fast,” which Hamm dropped earlier this year.

This week we’re featuring the Breed Forty Three by Kononykheen Guitars, which builds limited batches of all their models before discontinuing them. The Breed Forty Three mixes design elements from several classic models, from its body shape to pickup configuration.

Make Weird Music was started in 2014 by guitarist Anthony Garone. They just dropped a new video yesterday featuring Garone with Morgan Ågren on drums, Paul Hanson on electric bassoon, and Michael Manring on bass.

Muse’s music has often been about a dystopian future. However, their ninth studio album, “Will of the People,” focuses more on the here and now. Chris Wolstenholme helps to evoke a sense of urgency with his bass lines and enormous tones.

Jazz bassist Baron Browne, who performed with Vital Information and Jean Luc Ponty, has passed away. He was 66 years old. Ponty remembered Browne on his Facebook page.

Ismael Alcina sent in his latest video, which is a bass arrangement for Paco de Lucia’s “Casilda”. The song, which was released on the 1987 album “Siroco”, originally had no bass part. Here, Alcina adds a wonderful complementary bass line.

Another week comes to a close, so it is time to look back. Here are the top 10 reader favorite stories for the week of August 28th through September 2nd.

Act of Denial is a new melodic death metal supergroup formed by members of Koziak, Soilwork, Testament, Septicflesh, and the Night Flight Orchestra. The bass is handled by Steve Di Giorgio, who tears through riffs on his fretless on “Puzzle Heart”.

Former Bay City Rollers bassist Ian Mitchell has passed away of undisclosed causes. He was 62 years old. The band shared the news on the band’s Facebook page.

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea has been working on his memoir for several years. After getting solidified for release earlier this year, Grand Central Publishing has revealed new details about the book.

When you think of Heart, it’s easy to think about Ann and Nancy Wilson. But Heart can be traced back to 1967 when bass player Steve Fossen formed The Army. We caught up with Fossen for this episode of Groove.

Yesterday, Kevin shared the news of the new Sons of Apollo album, which features a symphony performing songs from their debut album and a set of cover songs. The band just shared one of the cover performances: Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.”

After publishing his book “Let Love Have the Last Word,” Common has released a new album more simply entitled “Let Love.” Burniss Travis, who performs on bass, is also credited with writing and production on the album.

Ashdown has just introduced the Tone Pocket, a compact headphone preamp designed for practice, home studio, and stage applications. It allows for plugging in your bass for access to a 3-band EQ plus a line input for connecting a smartphone and, of course, a headphone output. “The well-equipped rear panel of the Tone Pocket features a USB recording output for...

We’re continuing our exercise series this week with a lesson on modal arpeggio patterns. Learning modes, scales, and patterns help to open the fretboard up in your mind. You learn the connections, intervals, and relationships of the notes. Some of this sounds more complicated than it is. Hang in there and we will work it all out.

Stuart Clayton completed his impressive one-year run of his “Bass Lick of the Week” series this week. In this episode, Stuart incorporates slap and pop along with strummed chords. As always, Stuart is offering up the backing track and a PDF worksheet containing the notation/TAB and instructions on how to play the line on his Bassline Publishing website. Well done,...

Folk/Americana group The Devil Makes Three has released Chains Are Broken, which marks their sixth studio album and first of all original material since 2013. The trio also stuck to its core members – Pete Bernhard, Lucia Turino, and Cooper McBean – with only one guest on the album. Their touring drummer Stefan Amidon adds some extra support to their...

Meet Colin Nee, a bassist who works by day in a job he says is “not rock & roll,” but manages to make time for music on nights and weekends. Among his musical life, Colin performs in a Johnny Cash tribute band, who regularly plays in a former prison. How cool is that? Colin is this week’s No Treble reader...

Epiphone has unveiled two new Pro design basses: the Embassy Pro Bass and the Thunderbird Vintage Pro Bass. The new instruments are inspired by models from the 1960s with modern updates. The Embassy Pro commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Epiphone joining Gibson. It’s built with a mahogany neck and body that’s been rebalanced for comfort. It also has improved...

Fresh off their big debut concert in LA, here’s our favorite Rush-inspired band and their latest original, “Invisible Heart.” Tim Starace as always lays down some seriously gritty bass.

Bill Evans was one of the most influential jazz pianists ever, and he always played with top tier musicians. Now Resonance Records has released another example of that with Another Time: The Hilversum Concert. The album is a rare recording featuring his trio with Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJohnette. While Gomez had played with Evans for two years at the...

No Treble reader Deryl Gallant wrote in to us with a cool story on the creation of his AMJ Guitars fretless bass. Strangely enough, it started out as just a neck for his Fender Jazz and ended up with a body of reclaimed wood. Gallant tells the story: “In 2015 I visited Adam Marsh Johnston of AMJ Guitars to get...

Usually in this column I talk about general double bass (upright bass) subjects, or answer specific questions that I think will be of benefit to the largest number of readers. Lately, however, I’ve been getting a great many questions about my personal bass setup. So, in the next few columns I’m going to go through some of the things that...

Back in April, Marcus Miller and his band took the stage at Olympia Hall (L’Olympia) in Paris. Among the tunes they performed were “Tutu” and “Blast”. Thankfully, cameras were rolling.

Minimalistic, experimental French jazz-pop lounge duo What a Day has released a new EP, Specimen. In keeping with the duo’s established style, the music is primarily defined by Jonathan Joly‘s double bass, singer Léah Gracie’s vocals and more quotidian sounds, like adding machine keys being depressed. Check out the whole EP at SoundCloud. Here’s the track, “Open Space”:

Mesa Engineering has gotten into the world of lightweight amplifiers with their new Subway Bass Series. The lineup includes the company’s first ultra-lightweight Class D amplifier and a pair of bass cabinets loaded with neodymium speakers. Heading up the series is the Subway D-800, an 800-watt amplifier that weighs in at five and a half pounds. Mesa says the amp...

Videos by Viaceslav Svedov have been in short supply lately. But that all changed when he shared this “remake” video of him performing Celso Zymon’s “Desert Eagle”. We’re glad Viaceslav is back.

After announcing their lineup and a single Halloween concert, Grateful Dead alumni group Dead and Company has revealed a 10-date run this fall. The band will kick things off in Albany, New York at the Times Union Center before a two-night run at Madison Square Garden and several other East Coast dates. Their final dates are set for the end...

Each time I embark on a new column, I find myself humbled and overwhelmed by the talent and contributions of the chosen “Bass Player to Know.” There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll discover new music, recognize the birth of different styles, and become more in tune with the virtuosity of the player. As I wade into the pool...

From Racer X to Mars Volta to Deltron 3030, Juan Alderete has been killing it for years. Today, we’re celebrating his birthday with a clip of his project Vato Negro throwing down at Fuji Rock 2010. The song (which starts at the 1:10 mark) brings out an eclectic side of the group with a nice mix of groove and heaviness....

The author of Billboard Books’ best-selling The Musician’s Handbook has some more advice to offer. This time, Bobby Borg, who has a long career as a musician, educator and author, is turning his eye and pen to going DIY with . Published as part of Hal Leonard Corp.’s Music Pro Series of guides and CDs, the book shares how innovative...

IK Multimedia has announced the latest in their mobile musical interfaces, called the iRig PRO. The compact device allows for connecting audio and MIDI to your iPhone, iPad, or Mac with a combo XLR/1/4? input for connecting microphones, basses or guitars as well as inputs for MIDI controllers. The iRig PRO sports a single Gain knob and a low-noise preamp...

In 2010, extreme flooding left a trail of destruction across much of Tennessee including the area surrounding Nashville. Many musicians from all walks of life were affected by the natural disaster. Wooten Woods, Victor Wooten’s home base and teaching haven located near the Duck River, was temporarily overrun by water and had to be evacuated. Thankfully it was restored with...

We’ve been following Viaceslav Svedov for some time now, and his videos are always highly entertaining to us. Viaceslav brings it all: amazing arrangements, amazing playing and amazing energy (including some epic bass faces). He took on a beast of a tune this time around, Primus’ “Tommy the Cat”, which of course features the one and only Les Claypool.

Pat Bruders has quit the New Orleans sludge metal group Crowbar, according to a post on the band’s Facebook page. Bruders had been with the band since 2005 and was featured on the album Sever the Wicked Hand. “Pat Bruders has officially resigned as Crowbars bass player,” the band wrote. “Bring on all comers!!!” No replacement has been named, though...

Vox has expanded their bass lineup with the Apache series of basses, which pick up where their predecessors from the ’60s left off. The new travel instruments are separated by body shape, as the Apache 1 Bass features Vox’s classic Teardrop shape while the Apache 2 Bass features their Phantom body style. Both models have an onboard amplification system complete...

Q: I’m struggling with the thought process behind coming up with bass lines. What advice would you give for ways to approach and think about constructing lines? A: This is another question that is ripe for comments, as everyone probably has something unique to them going through their minds when developing a bass line. To start, a lot of what...

A couple of month’s ago, we introduced Double “V” Projection, the collaboration between bassist Viaceslav Svedov and drummer Valentin Tarasov. The duo record remotely, with Viaceslav in Cologne, Germany and Valentin from Moscow. Here again are the guys, this time with their bass and drum cover of the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Under the Bridge”. Nice and groovy.

Gretsch will launch revamped versions of their Electromatic range of instruments this month, including the Jet Junior and Jet Junior II basses. Updates to the series include improved pickups, inlays, and more. Both the Junior Jet and Junior Jet II basses feature bolt-on construction with a short 30.3″ scale, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and 20 medium jumbo frets. Hardware on...

I have not been a huge fan of any of the iOS drum machines or drum-along “screen tapper” drums-set style apps. But BeatStudio, by Frontier Design Group, brings something new to the table that is really useful and is changing my opinion of this sort of app. Not only does BeatStudio offer multitrack recording abilities, quantization, editing and an array...

Like it or not, disco produced some great bass lines. Jeff Kerestes shared this music video of A Taste of Honey, featuring bassist/vocalist Janice-Marie Johnson, on our Facebook page. The song, “Boogie Oogie Oogie,” is a classic example of groovy bass from the ’70s. “I just came across this video,” Jeff said. “Classic bass line! Great female bass player.” Agreed!

Our Bass of the Week last week – Lemmy Kilmister‘s Rickenbacker Limited Edition Signature 4004LK – took the top honors as the #1 feature on No Treble. Readers also enjoyed the top 10 Jaco Pastorius covers and play-alongs, as well as our exclusive interview with Les Claypool. Ryan Madora checks in with her latest Blues Bass column, focusing on blues...

Shred master Billy Sheehan will be an honorary Ramone when he joins Marky Ramone for a special fundraising concert. The 31 full-length, “all Ramones” song set will take place October 8 at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood California, and money raised will go to Marky Ramone’s new drum scholarship at MI. Joining Sheehan and Ramone will be the Misfits’ Michael...

This video proves it: good bass and good drums is all you need. Bassist Will Lee and drummer Steve Gadd do a nice little jam, with some commentary by Gadd on the drum/bass relationship.

Bassist Chris Kringel has a new bass method book out, The Bassist’s Guide to Creativity: Expand Your Groove Potential. The book/CD combo is designed to help you “opening your mind, identifying your strengths and weaknesses, and examining the many mental and physical aspects of being a bassist.” The CD contains over 80 tracks, with each music example presented in the...

Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, the creators of The Gorillaz, have asked The Horrors to collaborate on a track for their upcoming album. Horrors’ bassist Rhys Webb said: “Damon got a copy of our album Primary Colours really early, contacted us out completely out of the blue and told us how much he liked it… It was kind of...

Here’s a nice performance by the Bill Evans Trio, including a great solo by bassist Chuck Israels. The trio also includes Larry Bunker on drums. Israels joined the trio after the passing of Scott LaFaro. The performance was recorded in 1965, we think.