03 April, 2007

Not quite as wonderful as snow globes.

What I'm Listening To:

Song: I Only Said
Artist: My Bloody Valentine
Album: Loveless


Well, I lied. What I have in store for you is slightly more wonderful than snow globes.

Last week I was looking at some video clips of some awesome musicians. There was a particular one that caught my eyes (and ears). I had heard of the artist, but never actually listened to any of his music. His name is Michael Manring and, let me tell you - I have been so missing out. I need to get an album or three from this guy pronto. He primarily plays fretless basses and is known for using multiple tunings within the same song. What I mean by that is, he has basses that let him change tunings on the fly. In the video I've posted below, he is using a Zon (his preferred brand) model that he has 'pimped out' with a Hipshot Bass X-Tender tuning key on each string, as well as a detune-able bridge. If you aren't mesmerized by his incredible playing, try and count how many times he changes tuning while he's playing. I counted 60. Yeah, he's pretty dang awesome. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:



Here he is playing 3 basses at once. Don't believe me? See for yourself:



And here he covers the song Teen Town by Weather Report. Note: He doesn't just play Jaco's amazing bass lines. He plays all the other parts first (he loops each layer before adding another part) and then plays Jaco's amazing bass lines. If you listen closely, you can catch a fun little Hendrix tribute amidst his insane overdriven solo part. A very impressive performance.



That's all I have for now. Maybe one of these days I'll post something besides just videos. Just maybe... Cheers.


What I'm Listening To:

Song: If You Fall
Artist: Azure Ray
Album: Hold On Love

1 comment:

Andy said...

i'm a little behind, but keep 'em coming. it's nice you do the work finding the videos. i just get to enjoy them!