Welcome back, everyone! I hope you all had an excellent holiday weekend! I took most of the weekend off, mostly because I just needed the rest! (smile)

The results of our first Players Poll are in. Here’s how you voted:

Carpet came in first at 53%

Epoxy paint earned 37%

No preference came in at 10%

Our second poll has already begun; this time we’re asking which speaker cabinet you prefer. If you haven’t voted, please go back to the home page and vote now!

I’m very excited to announce that Roy Vogt will conduct a clinic in Chicago on Saturday, May 8th. Times are being nailed down, but it will probably start mid-morning and run through at least mid-afternoon. The clinic is being produced by Jauqo III-X, an old friend of Roy’s and mine, and an outstanding bassist. I’ll be there until about 1, when I have to leave to get back home for a gig. More on this as it develops.

And speaking of clinics, Snow Owl will be offering his master class at Berklee next week. If you can find a way to be there, you’ll be glad you made it!

Got an email from brother WATT today, announcing some Stooges dates – a four-pack of shows in France and one in Spain, beginning this Friday. Check out WATT’s Hoot page for more Stooges dates throughout the summer, as well as other WATT performances.

In addition to being the Godfather of Punk Bass, WATT is also a photographer with a new show: Eye Gifts from Pedro. The show features WATT’s favorite shots of his hometown, San Pedro, CA. Read all about in this article.

That’s all I have for now. I’ll see you in a few days with more DNA news.

Article: Be One with the I

Practice Tip of the Week: Hear it in Your Head

It’s been a busy few days, and I’ve spent almost my entire morning on the phone, talking with endorsers and dealers. Man, I’m getting excited! Let me fill you in on some of the news:

Sister Angeline Saris has made it through surgery and is in good spirits. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to talk long, becasue right after she called they came to take her to her ultrasound checkup on her artery.

Angeline sent me a pair of pictures earlier today. I feel safe posting the one below, but I’m going to hold off on the other one and make sure it’s OK with her to post it, as it shows the drain, which only Gene Simmons could love. But it is a funny shot in an Oh, Gross! sort of way.

Angeline Saris recovering from surgery, with her friend Josh.

UPDATE: Angeline took a nap after the ultrasound, but called me a few minutes ago. She’s still really tired after the surgery, and I hate to say it, but the test showed she may not be out of the woods yet. I won’t say more until Angeline gets to talk to the doctors.

Angeline did say it was OK to post the second picture, so here it is:

Blech! A blood grenade! And it’s mine! Eeew!

By the way, we’re doing all we can to help Angeline raise funds to help pay for all of this. If you can pitch in a dollar, I’m sure she’d appreciate it. And I know that we would, too!

Spoke with Roy Vogt today, as he raced from one appointment to another. He’s been keeping extremely busy, even during Spring Break, what with extra sessions, preparing for the final stretch of this school year, and dealing with the launch of his own learning community, Thunder Row. I’m assisting over there as well, and Roy and I both have blogs. We’re also building a library of lessons, articles and videos, which will feature Roy’s and my current library of material as well as new content. I’m also reaching out to other bassist/writers to invite their contributions.

While all of that is open to the public, there is also a forum which is divided into a public area and Chateau Groove, a private area for owners of Roy’s course, Teach Me Bass Guitar. (You can read my full review here. Whether you’re just starting out, are have been playing for decades, Thunder Row is a great place to improve your skills and pass some knowledge to others. I hope you’ll join us.

And speaking of joining us, have you noticed that we launched the DNA Forums? Thanks to Roger Barlow, we got it up and running last Friday, just in time for the weekend speaker testing. (More on that in a minute.) We already have a couple dozen members, including many old friends. We’ve got over three dozen topics going, including discussions on gear and upcoming designs. If you haven’t registered, please do so now, and join us as we build our community!

Snow Owl and I had a great long Skype call and caught up on several fronts. He’s expecting to attend NAMM 2011, and we’re going to see if we can work a few days in Chicago into his schedule so he can do some in-depth testing with us. Of course we also talked about his upcoming master clinic at Berklee on April 15.

One other thing we discussed – and I’m just so grateful to Snow Owl for this – was the video he sent me. It’s of the Austrian band Rock Office, which includes Hans Baumgartner, one of Snow Owl’s students. The video is of the band’s cover of my song Time of My Dyin’, Part 2, from Dig the Hole. Man, I was thrilled, and honored, they liked the songs that much.

Thanks to today’s technology, I have a video of them doing it as an internationally-sharable keepsake. You can watch it here, if you’re so inclined.

And just HUGE thanks to Hans and the rest of Rock Office – who did an excellent job! – and to Snow Owl for helping it all happen.

Now we get to the really fun stuff. If you haven’t noticed, there are four more videos (five total) from last weekend’s field testing. One word: amazinglyinstenselytotallyawesome. Check out the written report, including Jeff Carlson‘s toughts, on the SEAL Team report page. I haven’t heard back from Mark yet, but I’ll post his comments as soon as he weighs in. By the way, we also kept touch with the forum during the test. It’s in the report.

While the schedule is not set, I can tell you that the first Road Trip for field testing will be to Nashville. In addition to Roy and Sean, Abe White will be taking part, as well as a new member of the family, Marc Williams. In fact, Marc is so new that he and I haven’t met face to face yet, much less have his fake tooth with the cyanide capsule inserted, so it will be an event-packed trip for him. Of course, I’ll be shooting video and stills (of the testing not the insertion of the … never mind) during the test. If there’s time I’m going to try to get each one of them to sit for a shoret interview.

OK. That’s pretty much everything that’s going on… or at least everything I’m allowed to talk about. I’ll see you in a few days, with more.

Wow! What a weekend! I’m still recuperating from the trip, but I did manage to get one interview video done, and another almost there. The video is back on the front page.

To quickly bring you up to date in other areas:

Fellow endorser and good friend Snow Owl announced today that he will offer a master-level clinic at prestigious Berklee on April, 15, 2010. For those who don’t know, Snow Owl is bass professor at Graz University in Austria. More details on the event here, and on Snow Owl here. If you have any change at all of attending, get there! You don’t want to miss this special occasion.

If it fits for you, please offer good energy, thoughts of healing and prayers for sister Angeline Saris. As I reported some time ago, Angeline is dealing with a serious issue involving her left arm and her ability to play bass. Today, she undergoes surgery to hopefully correct the problem. She will be in our thoughts all day today, and I hope you will join us.

Finally, it’s not definite yet, but it appears as if I’ll be heading out on the road to do further testing with our SEAL Team. When I nail down the schedule I’ll tell you more.

OK, it’s already after 1 p.m. my time and I’ve got tons to do, especially if I’m traveling soon I’ll see you in a few days with more news.

Here were on Hump Day again, and so far it’s been a productive week. It also appears as if I’m going up for further speaker testing. We’ll get to that in a minute. First let me catch you up on some other things.

For starters, if you haven’t voted in our first Players Poll, please vote now! I’ll wait while you run back to the home page, OK?

(humming)

Cool. Thanks, we really appreciate it. You see, we’re very interested in your thoughts. We’ve got lots more of that kind of thing coming and we hope you’ll take part in each one.

Now for some endorsers news:

Sean O’Bryan Smith tells me I can finally let the cat out of the bag on his participation in what looks to be a killer gig: The 50th Anniversary Kenny Rogers Tribute. The all-star homage features a wide variety of top names, and not all of them are country… not by half from what I hear.

Among other things, Sean will be performing the opening number featuriing Wynonna, The First Edition and a 40-member choir. More info to follow as the production company authorizes its release. If you want to keep tabs on the updates yourself, check out this web site. Scroll down and read just how successful Rogers has been. The man must have a small warehouse full of awards.

Traa checked in yesterday as well, but by email. He’s down in South America with P.O.D. kicking off their tour plans for the year. The band always has a blast down South, and this time looks to continue the tradition. We should get a full report when the band returns Stateside. Catch his tweets here.

I also want to give a major shout-out to Wes Watson, who is finally back from Germany. Wes served a tour there with the Air Force National Guard. Not long ago, he served in Afghanistan. We’re just glad he’s home safe, we’re betting his wife is, too!

The Homecoming party is this weekend, then Wes and his Lovely Bride head off for a delayed honeymoon before Wes settles back into his Civilian Life.

Today I posted a third video from the last field test. This is another interview with David, discussing ports and cones. There’s a little more interview footage, but I think I’m going to wait until I’m back up there so we can go over those points again, and add a little more info.

As it turns out, I’ll be heading back up North again this Saturday. David has the DNS-410 reay to go, and we’re going to revisit the DNS-110 and DNS-210. Waiting to hear back from Jeff to see if he can make it. Also put a call out to a few others, in case they’re in town.

Roger is putting the tweaks on the next major section of the web site. I’m being a pain in the neck about nitpicky little things, and he’s being really patient with me!

No, I don’t know when it will be done, and I’m not going to guess. Let’s face it, any date i give you will be part hope, part wish, ad part dream. Instead, I’m going to stick with my “when it’s ready” line and leave it at that. But, boy am I excited!

OK, that’s about it for now. I’ll see you in a few days. Until then, keep an eye on the Twitter stream, and don’t forget to Subscribe and Friend Up with us over at You Tube.

Lesson: Proper Hand Position, Part 2: Four Fret Warm Up Exercises.

Practice Tip of the Week – Build a Riff Encyclopedia

I had a great talk with brother Polo Jones. He’s been extremely busy producing a project for earthquake relief. Joining with NFL alumni from the Bay area, as well as Bay Area Celebrities for Earthquake Relief, Polo has cowritten and will produce the single When the Earth Shakes. The song will be a key element in the charity’s efforts to raise awareness and funds.

Polo wrote the song with Zad Magau, with whom he has been working recently. “She’s a phenomenal vocalist,” Polo says, “and we have this great brother-sister relationship.”

Polo is gathering many prominent Bay Area musicians, and hopes to shoot the video in about three weeks. If you think you’ll be in the Bay Area around that time, send me an email and may you can be an extra in the video.

SEAL Team Field Report 031310 and second video

Practice Tip of the Week – Build a Scale Encyclopedia

Hoo boy, what a week it’s been. I apologize for not getting a small update done over the weekend, but I had a minor emergency to deal with. Everything’s cool now, but it took up most of my time.

Much of my time has focused on helping Roy Vogt and the folks at Teach Me Bass Guitar prepare Thunder Row for launch. Thunder Row is a community created for those who want to learn, and connect with other aspiring learners. And while there are some special sections just for TMBG students (like a chat room and a private sub-forum), most of the site is available to anyone.

In order to begin the library of articles, lessons and videos, I’ve been preparing a lot of Roy’s existing content for upload. Moving forward we’ll will be writing new content, including each of us maintaining a blog, and creating some lessons videos. We’re also reaching out to other pro bassists and teachers, and all members can submit content for consideration.

Keep your fingers crossed, and I’ll announce here when we open.

Had a nice 2-cup chat with Sean O’Bryan Smith today. He’s back in Nashville, having survived New York. In fact, he had an extremely productive time, with several successful meetings and a last-minute studio date that was really cool but we can’t tell you until the track drops. It’s always that way with Sean. I never know if I’m talking to a fellow bass player or some doubleOwhatever types.

Sean also did what everyone should do when in The City: have as much pizza as possible, and at least one really good deli run, and a slice of cheesecake.

I saved the best news for last – We’re testing all of the 10″ cabinets this coming Saturday. OhboyOhboyOhboy! Get ready for another video or two, and a lot more fun! (Check out our last test.)

The line includes 110, 210 and 410 designs. David has already done significant testing on all three and made several refinements. I can’t tell you much yet, but I’ll leak one thing now and beg forgiveness later:

At full rated power, the 410 easily and significantly passes the Threshold of Sensibility. We’re talking louder than a pneumatic riveter, and almost as loud as a jet engine! Check out this chart to get idea of what I’m talking about. It’s OK. I’ll wait.

You want to know what scares me? It took almost no time at all to think, “man, I’d love to have a pair of those babies!”

So… think I’m excited about Saturday’s test? Ohhhhhh, yeahhh. Just got off the phone with Jeff Carlson, who’s been testing with us for several years. He’ in, and he’s bringing three basses with him.

Tip of the week: Keep Your Mind Open

Article: Preparing for an audition

That’s it for this time around. Make sure you keep an eye on our Twitter stream on Saturday, as I’ll be blasting updates. See you then!

P.S. – Literally just got off the phone with Angeline Saris. She’s in preplanning stage for an update to her web site and had a some ideas to discuss. Also gave me a really good tip on a Bay area dealer. I’ll be calling him tomorrow. – LB

I’ve been keeping in touch with Sean O’Bryan Smith lately because of a few projects. We wanted to get a thing or two tied up before he heads up to the Big Apple for a lightning round of meetings, a recording session and hopefully some great cheesecake! He said to tell everyone HI! and asks that you all keep your fingers crossed!

Traa Daniels checked in today. He as in the studio this morning, and was heading to rehearsal, so we got a few minutes to catch up. He’s been keeping himself busy with studio dates and one-offs with P.O.D., and says life is good!

We spent most of the call talking about the new cabinets, which he’ll ge to hear live shortly. He’s really excited about them, and has been very involved in the design from the very beginning.

New Content:

Tip of the Week: Accuracy Exercise

Lesson: Diatonic Modes and Chords, Part 2

Lesson: Triads

Article: The Double Groove

Article: The World’s Greatest Bass Solo (or, the Dutch version)

So, there you have it. I’ll probably have a bit more before the weekend, or Saturday at the latest. See you then!

We caught up with Sean O’Bryan Smith this morning for a call and a cup. Sean’s been very busy lately as he works toward the release of his second CD. Next week, he travels to New York for a packed schedule of meetings. He’s also actively booking tour dates for the summer and fall seasons. This is all on top of his work with Anna Wilson as she looks forward to the release of her new CD. Sean shares our love of coffee, mostly for the caffeine, and now you can see why. We’ll continue to update as more info becomes available.

Professor Roy also touched base, or bass, if you must. Roy’s been keeping extremely busy lately, what with classes at Belmont, private students, and a packed schedule of studio and live dates. In addition to all of that, he’s putting the final touches on Thunder Row, the community site for learning bassists of all levels. Roy and I will both be maintaining blogs over there, with a strong focus on learning and playing bass. We’ll also be posting lessons and other articles, many of them from the BASS U. library, as well as videos.

Speaking of videos, Roy recently completed a series of free bass tips that you can sign up for over at Teach Me Bass Guitar. Once you confirm your registration, you’ll get seven free video tips from Roy. We’re already talking about doing a lot more, so if you have any suggestions or ideas, please send me an email.

New Content

Tip of the Week: Turn on the TV

Article: Subbing

Article: Protect and Serve

Article: Making a Case for Covers

Lesson: Practice Tips, Part 1: How to Learn to Play Bass

That’s it for today. Before I go, though, I want to again thank all who have emailed. I make sure David sees every message, and we both appreciate all the well-wishes!

Greetings, everyone. I hope everyone is now dug out from the recent blizzards. We’ve been lucky down in my area, only getting the fringes of the last two storms. David? Not so much. Luckily, David’s used to it, having spent so many years in Iowa and Minnesota.

I’ve been keeping warm with my (not-so-)secret hot chocolate recipe and a space heater in my office. So, let me bring you up to date on everything:

Benefit for Angeline – Many thanks to those who have already made a donation to help sister Angeline Saris with her medical situation. We received another email from her yesterday to bring us up to date:

So the weekend was uh-mazing. The benefit was total mayhem and a great success. We reached maximum capacity 3x throughout the night- it was packed shoulder to shoulder. I had one of my students and her sister sit in, which was super cute (they’re 9 and 11 years old). … I have some video and some great pix for you, which I am working on compiling.

This week, I am taking off for a short 4 day Northwest tour with Jerry Hannan. Just a reminder, he wrote Society for the movie Into the Wild and also helped me to put together this whole benefit. His site: jerryhannan.com

I watched the new vid you put up on the dna site…. I’m super excited for the new cabs! Aaaah! They sound really clear on the vid!

Anyhoo- Thanks again Lane for all your help and support. I’ll be in touch…..

Angeline introduces her student, 11 y.o. Katie Phelan, sitting in.

Our First Local Liaison

If you saw the first SEAL Team video, you already know that Jeff Carlson is once again assisting with R&D testing. Today we are proud to announce that Jeff is our first Local Liaison. Jeff has been working with David and Lane for several years, helping with R&D and QC testing, and more. We’re very excited that he will continue in that role. Please join us in congratulating Jeff on his roles as a DNA Local Liaison and SEAL Team member. By the way, Jeff also has the distinction of being the first bass player to every play through a David Nordschow Amplification speaker cabinet. (I was second.) Jeff’s Bio

New Content

Tip of the Week: Turn off the TV

Lesson: Diatonic Modes and Chords

Lesson: Left and Right Hand Exercises, Part 2

Article: Freelancing

That’s it for today. I have not had time to continue on creating video clips from the footage I shot last Thursday. As you can tell on the first clip, there’s a problem with the sound. It appears that the download process corrupted the file, so I have to find a time when I can shut everything else down on this old box of mine and get a better file. I hope to accomplish that over the weekend at the latest.

See you again soon!

Today we’ve got a lot to cover, so grab your coffee and let’s get started!

Benefit for Angeline - We got a very nice email from sister Angeline Saris for announcing the benefit concert to help with her massive medical bills. The concert is this Saturday, so if you’re in the Bay Area, make sure you stop in and say HI! Read the article here, and please chip in if you can help.

The Italian Job – Brother Ace Livingston finally had time to download his camera and send us photos of his trip to Italy last December. Check them out here.

Update on Snow Owl’s CD – To update our announcement of Snow Owl’s new CD, Art of Contrabass Guitar, Here are some quotes from a recent review (translated from German):

After his debut album “Snow Owl” his second CD has now appeared, and it completely surpasses its predecessor. Juan Garcia-Herreros is one of those who can tell whole stories on the electric bass guitar. This takes more than just technique, this demands also life experience and a broad horizon. Juan Garcia-Herreros possesses both in abundance. His compositions are more than just notes put next to one another, he establishes melodies, he establishes songs and he establishes states. He is assisted with this creation -among others- by Lew Soloff, Klaus Dickbauer and Pete Nater. If there exists a heir of Jaco Pastorius, Juan Garcia-Herreros could be it.

- Alfred Krondraf (Concerto Magazine)

Huge congratulations to Snow Owl, and our best wishes for strong sales!

New Content – New on the site today are the following:

Tip of the Week: Stay Focused

Article: So You Play Bass – Now What?

Article: Creating the Ultimate Gig Bag

Call for Content – As you may have noticed, we’re working hard to offer useful, informative and entertaining content to the web site. (Gee, now, why does that seem familiar?) And we’re inviting you to participate. If you have an article, lesson, or practice tip you’d like to submit, we’d love to see it. And if you’d like to suggest an idea for any of those, as well as glossary or FAQ additions, please send us an email.

Are You Social? – Finally, a quick reminder that we have set up pages on MySpace, You Tube, Facebook and Twitter. If you are on any of those social networks, please link up with us so you can keep tabs on everything we’re doing.

That’s it for today. If all goes as planned we’ll be back in just a few days with more. See you then!