No Treble Archive for May 19th

Tigran Hamasyan saw Evan Marien and Dana Hawkins perform live. The next day, he hit up Evan to be on his next album. Evan shared the story behind what he went through to perform “the hardest music I’ve ever learned”.

Punk bass icon Matt Freeman is opening a shop on Reverb to sell some of his bass gear, which he has collected over his career. The Rancid and Operation Ivy bassist will be selling his personal basses, pedals, and guitars.

In Part 2 of this series, Rich Brown continues the study of triads and inversions. You’ll be sure to gain a deeper understanding of the beautiful melodicism found within these three little notes.

David Sanborn and Marcus Miller go way back. So it was cool to see Marcus take part in the Sanborn Sessions for this remote session. In this clip, the group takes on Marcus’s tune, “Detroit”.

Tech 21’s Bass Fly Rig is being updated for 2021 with version 2. The multi-effects floor unit has a built-in 3-band EQ, chorus, octaver, fuzz, compression, and – of course – the company’s SansAmp preamp sounds.

The next installment of the Zoom webinars hosted by Steve Bailey and Victor Wooten is happening on Thursday. Entitled “Gadd-Shed,” the free session will feature drum legend Steve Gadd along with Ron Carter, Chuck Rainey, Tony Levin, Anthony Jackson, and Will Lee.

Miki Santamaria recently shared that he’s part of a new fusion project, along with drummer Alfred Berengena and keyboardist Sergio Delgado. From Inkalawa’s new EP, “Awapit”, here is their performance of the song, “Welcome Elna.”

Janek Gwizdala has just released a new instructional book. “Bass Player’s Guide to Pentatonics” focuses on the many uses of the pentatonic scale and comes with a complete video masterclass and forty play-along tracks to help you hone your chops.

Duff McKagan has released a new track from his upcoming solo album, Tenderness, which comes out May 31st. “Last September” is an ode to the abuse survivors in the #MeToo movement.

Mid Valley FX has expanded their pedal range with the Elevation Fuzz, an original gated fuzz circuit that offers a wide range of tones. The pedal dishes out “huge dirty sounds with octave overtones to sputter velcro tones at lower gain settings.”

I love the “Jam in the Van” videos and just stumbled upon a great one by Butcher Brown. Bassist Andrew Randazzo drives the tune “Fiat” in this clip from the 2017 High Sierra Music Festival.

Blues prodigy Christone “Kingfish” Ingram has released his debut album, entitled “Kingfish.” The 20-year old guitarist (who started playing bass at 6 years old) recorded the album with eight original songs and four covers. The entire album features session bassist Tommy MacDonald.

Following up the previous BPTK, (Rutger Gunnarrson), I found it only appropriate to highlight another late 1970’s popular music icon from across the pond. This time, we focus on the great John Illsley of Dire Straits. A longtime member of the band, his bass lines provide the perfect backdrop to Knopfler’s guitar playing and singing. Always aiming to serve the...

The Blues Beatles are back with another video, once again doing their own thing with a classic Beatles song. In this clip, they take on the Beatles’ 1964 hit, “Can’t Buy Me Love.” As always, Bruno Falcão lays down the low end.

Jimi Hendrix inspired countless musicians to pick up their instruments and become better at their craft. One of those musicians was Dug Pinnick, who has just released a new tribute album to the legendary guitarist. Tribute to Jimi: (Often Imitated but Never Duplicated) covers eight of Hendrix’s most iconic songs including “Fire”, “Purple Haze”, “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”, and more....

Matthews Effects has released the Alchemist, a pedal that allows you to split a mono signal or to sum a stereo signal to mono. It does so by utilizing a pair of independent buffers that also help to restore high-end frequency loss from pedalboards and cables. The Alchemist has two inputs and two outputs. Using just one set of each...

If you’re familiar with ‘The Wrecking Crew,” the group of session musicians that dominated the LA recording scene in the 1960s and ’70s, you’ve probably heard of Carol Kaye and our latest bassist to feature, Joe Osborn. These players jumped from session to session, providing the sonic backdrop to popular culture and racking up credits on top ten hits. Osborn...

The news of Chris Cornell’s passing shocked music fans everywhere, as evidenced by the massive outpouring of comments and shares across the social web. Bassist Miki Santamaria decided to pay honor to the Soundgarden frontman with a solo bass arrangement of band’s hit, “Black Hole Sun.” “Shocked and saddened by the sudden death of singer Chris Cornell… Gone too soon…”...

Last week, we reported on funk legend Bootsy Collins being forced to cancel his upcoming tour dates due to a medical emergency. Collins has now had surgery to remove a tumor that was in his ear and took to Facebook to update his fans. “Ahh, Funkateers! We made it out of surgery by the Grace of the “One,'” he wrote....

Sonic Nuance has introduced the TDI Mk2, a direct box that combines tuner and DI functions. The new pedal retains the signal path from the Mk1 version but has a more accurate and stable tuning section, the company says. At the heart of the TDI is a passive Jensen JT-DBE transformer. The chromatic tuner is phantom powered and fully operational...

Earlier this year we featured the Roks Instruments Futura bass as a bass of the week. It garnered so much interest that we decided to get the inside scoop on the company with luthier Axel Roks. Based in the Netherlands, Roks describes his basses as “tools for musicians created in the twilight zone between craftsmanship and artistry.” One look at...

Dennis Chambers recorded his album in 2013 with an impressive line up of musicians. Among the tunes on that album is “Fall Out”, which features a nice groove thanks to Chambers and bassist Rossana Nicolosi.

Metalcore band Hatebreed has released its seventh studio album, The Concrete Confessional. With Chris Beattie on bass, the album’s themes are wide-ranging, covering everything from the dissipation of the American Dream, to being doomed by vices, to experiencing night paralysis. Then there’s “Looking Down the Barrel of Today”: The Concrete Confessional is available on , and as a digital download...

Meet Lynne Davis, a musician who started young in her musical journey, and turned her focus to bass thanks to Pino Palladino’s work with Paul Young. Lynne has enjoyed a busy and fruitful career as a bassist and educator. She also says “crikey!” For most of those reasons, she was an easy choice for this week’s spotlight. Bio: I have...

Bass legend Chris Squire has been diagnosed with an uncommon form of leukemia called Acute Erythroid Leukemia, according to a post on the Yes website. The bassist, who co-founded the influential prog-rock band, will be receiving treatment in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona during the next few months. Squire’s treatment will force him to sit out of the band’s upcoming...

Matt Lawton shared his new video with us, performing a solo bass arrangement of the Al Green tune “Let’s Stay Together”. There’s plenty to like about this one.

Deathcore band Veil of Maya has released its fourth studio effort, Matriarch. The band, featuring bassist Danny Hauser, has a new vocalist for the album, Lukas Magyar (Arms of Empire) has replaced Brandon Butler, the band’s singer of seven years. Single “Mikasa” provides a good example the band’s current sound: Matriarch is available on and as a digital download (...

When playing at slow speeds we can concentrate on our physical movements for every single note we play. However, this becomes impractical at high rates of speed. When playing at high speed it helps to group notes, and motions, together into a single action. The number of notes we can combine will depend on the requirements of the specific passage,...

Every time I watch a video by Dominic “Forest” Lapointe, it’s sure to blow me away. This one is no exception. Here’s the fretless 6-stringer playing through “Nothing is Everything” by Death. The track comes from their 1993 album Individual Though Patterns, which was originally played by fellow fretless metal player Steve DiGiorgio.

R.E.M. was the only band to ever headline MTV’s acoustic “Unplugged” series twice, and now both those performances — from 1991 and 2001 – are available in a . The 1991 performances features the entire original band — vocalist Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry, while the 2001 performance occurred after Berry left the...

The Deftones were nearly finished with their album Eros in 2008 when tragedy struck and a car accident left bassist Chi Cheng in a coma. After some time, the band decided to shelve the project out of respect for Cheng and recruited bassist Sergio Vega to start a new album, Diamond Eyes. Eros turned out to be Cheng’s final recording...

Great bass is alive and well here in No Treble land, from videos to gear new and old to great how to columns. Here are the top 10 most popular stories, features, videos and columns on No Treble for the week of May 12-18, 2013. Thanks for reading, commenting and sharing! 1. Fabienne Gilbert: “Come On Come Over” Bass Play-Along...

Here’s a fun tune and video featuring the bass work of Rob Derhak with moe. The tune is “Timmy Tucker”, and it starts off just right. This performance took place at moe.down 11 in Mohawk, NY back in September, 2010. The tune is from the band’s 1994 album, Headseed.

Atoms for Peace have announced a world tour for 2013 in support of their debut album, AMOK. The group, which is comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, producer Nigel Godrich, drummer Joey Waronker and percussionist Mauro Refosco, will be in full force as they take the stage starting in Europe. The tour continues in the Fall...

Carl Martin has unveiled their new Bass Drive pedal, which the company says has been in the works for several years. Built in Denmark, the pedal employs a 12AX7 in the circuit for classic tube tone growl as well as fatness and extra sustain. Besides the Level and Gain controls, the Bass Drive has a 3-band EQ for dialing in...

Jazz/rock supergroup Return to Forever is releasing a 3-disc set of music culled from over 200 performances from last year’s world tour. The group, originally formed in the early ’70s had reunions in 1983 and 2008, before a new line-up joined together in 2010. That line-up – including existing RTF members Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White – joined...

Bassist Tom Pesch shared several videos he’s put together, playing along to Rush tunes with his basses to match. Here’s Tom playing “Hemispheres” on his Rickenbacker 4001. Well done.

Prog rock supergroup Flying Colors is gearing up for a European tour this fall, in support of the band’s debut album, released in March. Formed by ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, Flying Colors is anchored by bassist Dave LaRue, and features Neal Morse on keys and vocals, Casey McPherson on lead vocals and guitar, and Steve Morse on lead guitar....

Traveler Guitars has introduced the TB-4P Bass, an electric travel bass designed specifically for practice. Featuring a classic double cutaway design, the bass has several unique features to aid silent practice including a built-in headphone amplifier and a 1/8” aux-in jack for connecting an mp3 player. For increased portability, Traveler removed the headstock and reduced the scale to a 32”...

This week, we’re wrapping up the series on the making of Orchid, an in-depth look at the build process for a custom bass for No Treble’s founder, Corey Brown, by luthier Rick Toone. If you missed the earlier part of the series, check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Shaping Contours Sculpting the body is one of the...

Here is a rare clip featuring Jack Casady‘s legendary bass Alembic 001 (dubbed “Mission Control”) in action live with Hot Tuna in 1972 as they wind out on “Come Back Baby”. The video quality is not so good, but there are some very nice shots of the bass that started it all when it comes to high-end custom rigs. You’ll...

Magna Carta Records has released New World Man: A Tribute To Rush, an album that combines the labels previous two Rush tribute releases, Working Man (1996) and Subdivisions (2005), plus three previously unreleased tracks. Bassists Billy Sheehan, Robert Berry, Nathan Peck, Juan Alderete, Stu Hamm and Ron Tole all perform on the album. New World Man Track Listing (and performers):...

Q: I’ve almost gotten through all three videos, really good stuff in them. I really like the concept of knowing patterns/visualizations to have handy when your soloing, like your ascending 4ths, alternating major/minor, and alternating 6th/7th fingerings. I think I got away from having a set of licks/patterns when improvising, which I can see now is a big mistake! Seems...

This is the Hungarian folk song, “A csitári hegyek alatt”, adapted to bass guitar and performed by L?rincz Viktor, aka Victor L.

In response to complaints about the amount of space wah and volume pedals take up on pedalboards, Morley has released new, smaller scale versions of their respective effects boxes. The Morley Mini Wah and Volume pedals measure 6.75” in length, 4.5” wide and 2.75” in height. The Morley Mini Wah features an On/Off switch and a wah level control. The...

Robin Slick shared this video with us, via Twitter. Robin is the “mother of 2/3 of Adrian Belew Power Trio”. Her daughter, Julie Slick is the bassist, and her son, Eric Slick, is the drummer. Thanks, @RobinSlick. And well done.

Alfred Music Publishing has just released Ultimate Bass Play-Along Pink Floyd: Authentic Bass Tab, the newest title in their “Ultimate Bass Play-Along” series. The book includes bass tabs, music notation, lyrics and chords to nine Pink Floyd tunes, including: Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), Comfortably Numb, The Fletcher Memorial Home, Have a Cigar, Money, See Emily Play, Time,...

Bassist/producer Mark Hoppus posted this video of an interview he did with Hollywood Press. They didn’t talk about our favorite subject (bass), but they did talk about one of our second favorites (Twitter). Mark shares, “This is post about a tweet that happened on the red carpet that I tweeted and then they posted and replied. I have no idea...

Radiohead has ventured back into the studio to record their latest album, announces Radiohead bassist, Colin Greenwood. The band has regrouped with producer Nigel Godrich to begin work on the follow up album to 2007’s In Rainbows. “It was very noisy and chaotic and really fun,” Colin informed BBC’s 6 Music when describing the band’s recording sessions. “It’s at the...