I was always very intrigued by bands (rock bands) that grow as economical entities, and here I could think here of Iron Maiden which is told to own quite a bit of possessions (lands, investments), the plane that Bruce flies, etc.

Another example is Metallica which took their business very seriously and restricted the usage of their name (which is trademarked, OK, no issue here) in a very aggressive way. Maybe you remember the lipstick issue of 1-2 years ago, with that lipstick manufacturer that named his latest product Metallica. Bad business idea…

The reason I started this post is a news about Robert Trujillio who had a business deal with Fernandes Guitars long before joining Metallica, Fernandes Guitars being allowed to use Trujillo’s image in promotional materials, while providing him a load of custom bass guitars.

I don’t know the exact terms of the contract, but I do know that Metallica has a long going contract with ESP Guitars, which you probably are already aware of (who wouldn’t be!); I remember a large poster I had on my room wall about 10 years ago with Hetfield playing an ESP, moment when I was actually very interested in ESP guitars. Whatever…

Now, coming back to the point, Metallica sent Fernandes Guitars a cease and desist letter demanding them to no longer use Robert Trujillo’s name…

Here in Romania we have a saying: what came first? The egg or the chicken?

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These last few days I tried to get to know my new toy, the TonePort interface, to learn it, to play with it, etc. In order to test it, I also took the bass guitar at home, to see how it sounds recorded through my new toy. I have found one great bass tone, a rock tone, full and sharp and I had the time of my life playing the bass in front of my computer.

But! Cause there is always a but, isn’t it? I am a guitar player, used to press light strings against small frets, my guitar is kind of a juwelry, small and nice, easy to use and easy to play (with). Now, the bass guitar isn’t anything close to this, isn’t it? Large frets, heavy strings, larger and heavier than a regular electric guitar!

I have always had fun playing the other instruments in the room, don’t you dare tell me you have never played drumms while at the rehearsal studio to everybody’s dispair! Or bass! I know we had a lot of jam sessions where we switched instruments and this is always a great moment! But when trying to record something, this is not always the easiest thing to do, since you need to be accurate and play every single note as clear as possible. While with the guitar this should not be a problem, while playing the bass, it suddenly becomes one because sooner or later something goes wrong! For example, I have observed that my pinky doesn’t quite want to behave when playing bass, after all, the low E string is almost half of my pinky so I guess it has it’s reasons to missbehave! 

The fact is that after trying and after a bit of rehearsal, my small home recording session went fine but really made me think about my buddy and bass player in my band and man, and all I can say is…

…RESPECT! 

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Call me stupid, call me uninformed, call me whatever you like, but I swear I didn’t know about this girl, Tal Wilkenfeld, who at only 22 yo!! has been touring with Jeff Beck, Chick Corea, Eric Clapton, Herbie Hancock, Steve Vai, and the Allman Brothers. Damn!

I have found out about Tal Wilkenfeld by reading Little Rock Jam’s blog and once again I realized why I love blogging about music so much! Everyday I get the chance to find out about something new and wonderful in this world! That is why!

So, who is Tal Wilkenfeld?

Tal Wilkenfeld has been playing the bass since less than five years! She started playing the guitar at 14 in her native Sydney and switched over to the electric bass three years later.

“I’ve always just picked up any instrument and been able to play it―I could sit down at the drums or the piano and just play for fun…But as soon as I started playing bass I knew it was my instrument. It was like, ‘Yes this is it. I don’t even want to play guitar anymore, this is amazing.’”

I am not going to reproduce the original article since this is not the idea of this post, you should visit Little Rock Jam and read it for yourself there, but I am going to post a video here so you get my point!

By the way, here’s her MySpace page and also her website.

Well, what do you think about her?

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Speaking of when much is too much…couldn’t this guy stop adding necks to his bass guitar or what?
Ah, I know…he plays in 4 bands at once…

Hmm, or he’s just the guy from the CDs store, who wanted his moment of glory, picturing himself with this monster bass?! Fuck, yeah!

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Browsing a few guitar related websites I have found this website speaking, among other things, about tuning problems, especially for rock bands.

Some of them I already knew because I have observed them myself but others never crossed my mind. I must tell you the article is not a short one, but very informative, the information there is a gem and a must read for anyone who’s ever held a guitar in his hands and tried to tune it.

The man(Jack Endino) has a lot of years behind him as a rock music player and as a studio engineer and he speaks from experience. Here’s a quick extras from his website, just to open your appetite for reading further:

You know how when you plug a guitar in and pluck a string, sometimes the tuner needle (or LED display) wavers back and forth and drives you crazy? And you have to pluck it every which way before getting a “good reading” which finally “settles down?” Do these three things:

1. switch your guitar to its rhythm (neck) pickup, if it has one;
2. roll your guitar’s tone knobs all the way off, to remove all the highs; and then
3. pluck the open string right over the twelfth fret, not over the pickup. Try it; you’ll be amazed.

Read the whole article here and then come back and let me know what you think!

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I am a guitar player, I love electric guitars, but I also get excited every time I see a beautiful bass guitar. I love long lined bass guitars. If when it comes to electric guitars, classics may come first (such as with Fender or Gibson), with bass guitars, I love those thin, modern shapes.

Each time I see a bass guitar such as Ibanez SR650PB or Ibanez SR20TH4, I feel great! I feel somehow in shape, I feel sharp, the music seems exact and complex, just when looking at the bass guitar. Ok, if the bass player has dreadlocks and holding the bass guitar up his chest playing with his fingers, man, that’s an image to remember!

I know it is not about the image but about the sound, and a Fender Precision bass or a Fender Jazz bass may beat anything when it comes to the sound, but the look, nothing beats that modern shape when it comes to the bass guitars.

And of course, these dudes playing the bass guitars above need to slap. By the way, in my imagination, Seinfeld’s theme is played on such a bass guitar!

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Since a few days my car CD player is locked (since I removed the battery for a quick fix on my car) and because I am moving into a new apartment, I can not find car’s support leaflet with the unlock code. That’s why I use a portable mp3 player. This gives me an other point of view on the music I listen.

For example, this morning, I realized that there are particular bass guitar sound for specific bands, a bass guitar sound that defines the band’s sound in general. Some I could easily spot were Iron Maiden and Manowar. If you take Steve Harris’ bass sound and style of playing, I think you can not miss it. If you listen carefully, his way of playing, with his fingers gives a smooth, “puffy” sound for the bass (yes, this is my perception of it, despite the musical style,Harris would probably kill me for this), while it also sounds like the strings are loose, like he is somehow tuned 2-3 tones below. Also consider that “riding” style of playing and you have Steve Harris’ unmistakable bass sound!

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