No Treble Archive for November 21st

Bergantino Amplification has once again expanded their Forté line of bass amps with a new model. The 800-watt Forté D builds upon the original version with the company’s Big Fat Tube (BFT) technology.

I’m a huge fan of Indian Fusion, so I was excited to see this video Vivian Severn sent us. In this clip, Gabriel Severn takes on a new challenge with drummer Siddharth Nagarajan, guitarist Durwin D’souza, and percussionist Rhythm Nagi.

Live concerts are on hold for the foreseeable future, but we can still relive great performances from the past. There’s one more great show to revisit with Iron Maiden’s new live album, “Nights of the Dead – Legacy of the Beast: Live in Mexico City”.

Sean McNabb has announced he’s left the ranks of Lynch Mob. The bassist, who has been with guitarist George Lynch’s band for nearly a decade, made the announcement via Twitter.

Tim Fletcher’s eleventh entry of the “Unsung U.S. Bassists” series includes his transcription and analysis of Greg T. Walker's bass line on "Highway Song" by Blackfoot.

Abby Dart (mom to Vulfpeck’s Joe Dart), shared this video saying, “Vulfpeck shared this today and it was TOO funky not to share with everyone!” This live clip of Prince is definitely funky, thanks to Rhonda Smith and an all-star band.

Q: I am an intermediate bass player and I am a fan of several different bass players. I love the way Janek Gwizdala composes, plays chords and creates music using a looper. I can’t get enough of Gary Willis and his amazing groove as well as his fretless tone. I also love listening to guys like Sean Hurley and Jonathan...

Federico Malaman has a new album out, and our friends at Bass The World have shared a video for one of the tracks. “Afro Fred” was written by Federico, who had this to say about the tune: “I am a great enthusiast of African rhythms. I like the way it triggers an uncontrollable urge to dance. Anyone who has ever...

Ed Friedland’s instructional book Rock Bass 101 has been updated for 2018 by publisher Hal Leonard. The 50-page book covers essential bass lines, techniques, theory, and grooves for the working bassist. It includes full-length songs that are available for download or streaming via Hal Leonard’s website. Specific topics include tips on playing position and posture, warm-up exercises, essential scales, and...

Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner has been turning heads for years, including when he debuted his signature Ibanez hollow-body bass on stage a few years ago. Now Ibanez and the bassist have teamed up to release the bass as a model in the company’s lineup. Made in the company’s Japanese workshop, the TCB1006 is a six-string built with a five-piece maple and...

Kevin has been filling my inbox with some stellar bass videos lately. Here’s another, with bassist Christian McBride and vocalist Melissa Walker performing “Just One of Those Things” on WBGO’s “Singers Unlimited” show. Christian is such a beast.

Iron Maiden has been busy touring the world for the last two years. Now fans can relive the experience with The Book of Souls: Live Chapter, featuring fifteen songs recorded during the tour in 2016 and 2017. Anchored and co-produced by Steve Harris, the band plays through six songs from their album Book of Souls as well as other classics...

Jamaica-born, Australia-based luthier Dwight Cunningham creates some stunning basses, including this gorgeous RLJ-5 Splendour Jazz Bass. The semi-hollow bass features a myrtle and alder body loaded with a Nordstrand Bigman pickup in the bridge position with a split coil in the neck position. Its seven-piece neck is crafted from Myrtle, Indian Rosewood, Maple and Mahogany. The lined fretless fingerboard is...

A little while ago, I finished the creation of a 20-week course which includes an extensive technique practice section. Students had requested videos similar to what you see in fitness videos – a way to just follow along with the video. And this became one consistent part of each week’s program: I recorded “Practice With Me” videos featuring a variety...

I stumbled upon this video a while back and then re-discovered it later. Planet MicroJam is an interesting band with an equally interesting sound. Featuring Artie Sadtler on fretless bass, the band also includes David Fiuczynski on fretted and fretless guitar, Yazhi Guo on percussion, Freyja Garbett on microtonal keyboards, and Ayinde Webb on drums. Here’s their tune “Drunken Longing”.

Seymour Duncan has added to their line of bass pickups with the Apollo Jazz Bass Linear Humbucker. The new model employs two coils that sit next to each other under a standard single-coil-sized cover. Duncan’s head of R&D Kevin Beller designed the pickups to get a warm, traditional sound with modern attributes to clean up the sound. “I’ve been playing...

Evan Marien shared his new video with me this week, and it is so great to see another great performance from him. In this video, Evan performs his arrangement of the Allan Holdsworth tune, “Water On The Brain Pt2”. Check out the solo! If you dig this, Evan made this available on his Soundcloud page.

Recordings from Neil Young’s 1987-88 live dates fronting the Bluenotes (his regular backing band Crazy Horse augmented by a horn section) comprise Bluenote Café, a new release from the Neil Young Archives Performance Series. Performances by bassists Billy Talbot and the late Rick Rosas are captured on the set, which features songs from shows performed leading up to and following...

After releasing the Scott Devine Series bass in 2011, Overwater Basses has announced the J Series “Scott Devine Model.” The new model is based on the 4-string bass he uses in the majority of his YouTube bass lesson videos. “Based on the original custom 4 string bass we built for Scott back in 2010, encompassing all the physical attributes associated...

Bassist Davide Medicina shared this video of his band Maktub Project performing a reimagined version of Simon and Garfunkel’s classic hit, “The Sound of Silence.” Medicina describes their band as influenced by R&B, jazz and neo-soul, and it shows. The trio reharmonizes the song and adds a healthy dose of modern groove. Medicina lays a thick foundation while taking time...

The 10th annual Encuentro Latinoamericano de Contrabajos will take place Saturday, November 22nd through Thursday, November 27th at the Tijuana Cultural Center in Tijuana, Mexico. The week-long Latin American bass workshop is presented by the Contrabajos de Baja California and will include quartets, group classes, masterclasses, a bass orchestra, and much more. This year’s guest artists include world-renowned bassists Catalin...

My Facebook friend Dusty Mulholland shared a picture of a Becker/Martian Bass a couple weeks ago, and I’m glad he did. It led me to find this fine specimen of a bass, known as the Mantis – a bass with a body shape that you might expect from an other-worldly bass company. While they can be made to order, this...

Leland Sklar recently took part in an episode of Studio Jams, an online series that brings together different legendary musicians to jam on songs and see what happens. The rest of the band includes saxophonist Najee, guitarist Joe Jewell, drummer Rayford Griffin and David Garfield on keyboards. The group decided to jam out the classic Meters song, “Cissy Strut.” “These...

When a band has been active for five decades, there’s bound to be some songs that fall through the cracks. That’s certainly the case with The Rolling Stones, according to bassist Daryl Jones. Jones, who has been playing with the veteran rockers since Bill Wyman’s departure, told Noise11 that there’s a wealth of unreleased tracks from the band’s recording sessions...

Q: As bass players, we often find ourselves in situations where we do a job for others, be it taking the bass chair in a singer’s project, subbing in a band, teaching, giving workshops, etc. I often find it difficult to get appropriate feedback for my job. I like it when people are happy with my work, and I also...

You don’t hear a lot of fretless in death metal (save for Steve DiGiorgio and Jeroen Paul Thesseling). So it’s cool to hear the instrument add a new element to a genre. A good example is the band Beyond Creation, featuring bassist Dominic “Forest” Lapointe on six-string fretless. Check out this music video for the song “Omnipresent Perception”, in which...

On December 10, 2007, the surviving members of Led Zeppelin reunited for the first time since in 27 years. The concert, which served as a memoriam to friend and Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, is now available as a DVD/CD set called Celebration Day. The band’s lineup features its surviving members – singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, and bassist...

Fender’s Musicmaster was first introduced in 1971, and in production through 1981. As with Fender’s guitar bearing the same name, the bass was a simpler version of Fender’s Mustang Bass. The Musicmaster was Fender’s budget-priced bass at the time, made from surplus parts from other Fender models. The bodies were from the Mustang production line, and 6-pole guitar pickups were...

One of the most common deficiencies bass players have when using the bow is an inconsistency of tone in various parts of the bow. There may be times when such inconsistency is musically desirable, but it should always happen “on purpose” and not merely as a result of a lack of bow control. For example when playing the passage below,...

Hearing Michael Manring and Grant Stinnett perform together is really quite an experience. Not only are they both absolute wizards on the bass, they really complement each other equally well. Here, the duo performs “Money Talks”, originally recorded on their Project M album, which also features bassists Rob Gourlay and Jim Stinnett.

We kicked off a new bass video series, focusing on all-bass arrangements of great cover tunes. No Treble readers responded with tons of views, putting Zander Zon’s “Stairway To Heaven” and Thomas Morgan’s “Karma Police” in the top 10 for the week. Our bass of the week, the Maruszczyk Instruments Frog Omega Europe 5, came in at #3 and caused...

Inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Fender Jazz bass, Luthman has released the Jazzette bass. Available in 4, 5, and 6-string models, the Jazzette is not merely a copy of the icon, but a new design created with a “Luthman’s eye.” The body is your choice between alder or ash, with a custom upgrade option for more exotic tops....

Jack Bruce is sporting his Warwick fretless on this extended, bass-focused break on Cream’s “White Room”. This was filmed from the audience at the 2008 Hippiefest.

Peter Hook is bringing his band, The Light, to the U.S. in December for a 10-stop tour. The group will play Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album in its entirety. Hook, who was bassist for the groundbreaking rock band during their four-year run, will actually be singing, while his son Jack plays bass. “When I decided to sing, I realized I...

King Crimson’s Lizard is turning 40. In celebration, the band is releasing a new and expanded reissue of the 1970 album on January 12, 2010 (preorder). Steven Wilson remastered the CD in 5.1 Surround Sound from the original studio masters and the mix and release is approved by guitarist Robert Fripp. Three extra tracks are included, plus a DVD-A featuring...

Today’s video features bassist Chris Minh Doky performing “September”, from his album The Nomad Diaries. Chris is performing on his Yamaha Silent bass. Enjoy!

The ever-funky Freekbass has formed a new project with DJ Logic and keyboardist Steve Molitz after the trio had a jam session over the summer in PA’s Church of Universal Love and Music. The group has yet to give themselves a name, and is asking fans to tweet their ideas for band names at DJ Logic’s or Freekbass’s Twitter pages....