Greetings, all you Low Enders! I hope this post finds you all doing great, playing a TON, and enjoying the holiday season. I know it’s been a long while since we’ve added anything to this section, but we’ve been extremely busy. Today I finally had a few minutes to get over here and drop a few words. So here they are!

A few weeks back, David did a Meet and Greet at Music Garage, one of our newest dealers. The verdict was unanimous: the DNS series cabinets sounded awesome! Some of the biggest names in the Chicago area dropped by to check out the entire line and were seriously impressed. In fact, even though some of them did their absolute best to get the cabinets to break up and misbehave, they were unable to get any of them to sound bad! Even the small but mighty DNS-110 reproduced low Bs with applomb.

Last weekend, we had two of our SEAL Team members test the new power amp module. You’ll be able to read their reports here soon. For now, suffice to say that the module outperformed even David’s own expectations, and we’re moving to the next step in development.

Speaking of development, we’re having a conversation over on the forum about compression. If you’d like to weigh in with your opinion, please do visit the forum and join the conversation.

So… that’s the quick rundown. I’m off to visit the forum myself and catch up on my reading and posting. Until next time, don’t forget to practice every day (at least 15 minutes) and enjoy life! And, as always,

Keep Thumpin’!

Lane on Bass

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to the new site! Give all the credit to Spydah - AKA Roger Barlow - as he is the one who did all the back end work to make this happen. Roger and I have been working on this for several months, and he has been exceedingly patient with me as I requested numerous changes and modifications, and nit picked all the silly little details.

The great thing is that we were able to launch the new design just as the cabinets are shipping to dealers. Yes, they are real. Yes, they are available. Yes, you need one. Or two.! Read the rest of this entry »

Keep Thumpin'!

Lane on Bass

Ask not what Bass can do for you, Ask what YOU can do for Bass!

Lane's Web Site | Lane's Bio

Got a suggestion for an article, lesson or weekly tip? Care to submit an article of your own? If so, please send us an email.

Before you can learn what to learn on the bass guitar, it’s important to know how to learn, and that’s what this article is all about. It contains twenty-one specific tips on how to learn to play the bass guitar. We’ll talk about what to learn some other time. For now, let’s stay with the fundamentals of mindset, focus, technique, and creating good habits that will get you started on the right track. Because if you spend a little time learning how to learn, you’ll find that you progress more quickly, and that’s a Very Good Thing! Read the rest of this entry »

Keep Thumpin'!

Lane on Bass

Ask not what Bass can do for you, Ask what YOU can do for Bass!

Lane's Web Site | Lane's Bio

Got a suggestion for an article, lesson or weekly tip? Care to submit an article of your own? If so, please send us an email.

They say that practice makes perfect. However many students don’t focus themselves properly during practice time, and so don’t even come close to perfect. The result of this imperfect practice is that, instead of learning to play an exercise correctly, they teach themselves how to play it wrong, and will often find it very hard to correct the mistakes. Read the rest of this entry »

Keep Thumpin'!

Lane on Bass

Ask not what Bass can do for you, Ask what YOU can do for Bass!

Lane's Web Site | Lane's Bio

Got a suggestion for an article, lesson or weekly tip? Care to submit an article of your own? If so, please send us an email.

The long weekend is over, the barbecues a memory, and summer is here in full swing. That means that NAMM is just around the corner.

DNA will not be exhibiting this time around, but I’ll be there, walking the floor, and having some meetings. Of course, there’s also the Low Notes For Nashville benefit concert to think about. Sean O’Bryan Smith and Mick Donner are working out details with several bassists, and we’re all becoming more excited by the minute.

One reason that I’m so excited is that we are providing the speaker cabinets for the backline. More than a dozen top bassists will get a chance to hear the cabinets in a working situation. That should be a ton of fun.

For more information, see our Events page, and visit Low Notes For Nashville.

I’m even luckier than the rest, as I’ll be using a rig this Saturday at Springfest. I haven’t decided for certain, but I think I may use the DNS-410. I won’t need it, but it’s here, and it’s bored. I’ll report back next week to let you know how itgoes (went).

Practice Tip of the Week

The summer NAMM show is always a great experience. But this year it’s going to be even better. Reason? Because the night before the show poens - Thursday, June 17, Low Notes For Nashville will host an all-bass benefit concert for Nashville flood relief. The concert will be headlined by Steve Bailey, and will feature a double-handful of top bassists including DNA endorsers Sean O’Bryan Smith and Roy Vogt. I’ll be MC-ing the event and will do a short set as well.

For more information, see our Events page, and visit Low Notes For Nashville.

Practice Tip of the Week

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that’s just getting started. (With apologies to Greg Lake.) I didn’t mention it last week, bu David and Judy enjoyed a wonderful second honeymoon in Hawaii last week. There are no pictures to prove they were really there, and all I really know is that David was totally unavailable for several days.

So, I’m not certain he was in Hawaii. He could have a new undisclosed location known to no one, even me. He could have been off in some very small foreign country doing weird stuff for guys that don’t talk much and blend into shadows. You just never know. But, pictures or no pictures, the officail story is that they were in Hawaii, and until proven otherwise, I’m sticking with it.

Now, Sean O’Bryan Smith and his blushing bride Jami have a very different honeymoon story. They didn’t wait hoonose how many years for their second getaway. They’re doing it for their anniversary. I’m pretty OK telling you because they’re both tweeting their fingers off, and they’ve even tweeted pictures. Plus Sean left me in charge (sort of) of the whole Low Notes for Nashville thing.

So, last week was interesting, and this week is interesting in a different way. My weekend will be spent mostly driving so my family can meet my bride of almost eighteen months for the first time at my mother’s 80th Birthday party. No pressure there, right?

So, let’s up the ante, then. I modified the lyrics to a song to make them about my mom and the kids, and how we got our love of music - and our talent - from her. (Dad loved music, too, but he couldn’t carry a tune in a dump truck, much less a bucket.) My sisters are performing it with me, some thing we haven’t done in decades. And we get one ten minute rehearsal themorning of the party. Should be fun…

Definitely check out Low Notes For Nashville. There’s a lot going on, and there a lot of ways you can pitch in and be a part of it. The list of players involved is just amazing. We’ll soon be announcing details on a benefit concert for the cause.

Over at the forum, we’ve given the place a name. Not surprising that the poll results showed The Gene Pool to be the clear favorite. We’re now discussing potential member nicknames. We’d love to have you join the conversation.

As for new content, in addition to the Practice Tip of the Week, we posted a short video lesson for beginners. To be honest, I’ve been so busy talking to dealers, endorsers and such that I haven’t had time to add more articles from Roy Vogt and Sean. Plus, they’re both in Nashville dealing with the aftermath of the worst natural disaster they’ve had in at least five hundred years. So they’ve been a bit busy, too.

But things are getting better. And the NAMM show is just around the corner. Summer is shaping up to be pretty nice, I must say. But that’s all I can say. See you in a week.

One of the reasons we enjoy our work so much is that bass players are a wonderful community. And we’re proud that many of our endorsers are at the heart of a new effort to assist with Nashville flood relief.

Low Notes For Nashville got its start when Sean O’Bryan Smith tweeted that he was donating all May download profits to flood relief. Within minutes, Lane on Bass followed Sean’s lead. That was last Thursday.

By the end of the day, Roy Vogt and Polo Jones had stepped up, and Sean and Lane were already putting together a much larger effort than expected By the end of Friday, the group had a new web site - thanks to Roger “Spydah” Barlow - our Web UberGeek.

We immediately committed to providing loaner cabinets and whatever other assistance we could. Now, less than a week later, dozens of players have added their support, as have several manufacturers.

Sean O'Bryan Smith and Lane on Bass throw down at last summer's Low Show.

Those wishing to help can purchase downloads from several musicians (with more coming on board), make a cash donation through the site, donate extra gear, or attend the huge bass concert the group is now planning.”This is a way I can help my city get back on its feet,” said Sean. “I’ve always been about strengthening the bass community, and about serving others in need. Now I get to both at once.”

Roy Vogt and Polo Jones, brothers supporting Low Notes For Nashville.

“I’m totally with Sean,” Lane said. This is a unique opportunity to combine my charity work and my love for the bass community. It’s been absolutely wonderful to see so many players - all the way up to the greats I’ve learned from over the years - enthusiastically jump on board. Now let’s see just how far we can drive this bus.”We hope you’re as excited as we are, and will join us in our efforts to support the many brother and sister bass players in Nashville in their time of need. Visit Low Notes For Nashville and do what you can to help.With sincere thanks to everyone involved,

The DNA Team

As you may already know, this has not been a good week for Nashville and the surrounding area. The Cumberland River not only flooded, but rose higher than it has in more than one hundred years. Some are saying it’s the highest the river has ever been.

The last report we received said that, while official flood level for the Cumberland is 22 feet, the river crested at 2-1/2 times that level - an incredible 57 feet! According to some reports, downtown Nashville was under ten feet of water at one point. This has been devastating, to say the least.

We’ve made every attempt to reach our many friends and supporters in the area. We haven’t reached all of them yet, but so far, everyone seems to be safe. We’re very sorry to report that David and Barbara Crossman, owners of The Learning Dock, LLC, publishers of Roy Vogt’s Teach Me Bass Guitar, were forced out of their home and probably can’t go back. Thankfully, they got all of their belongings out, and the home was a rental. They also have close fmaily in the area, so they have a place to stay while they look for new digs.

Corner Music suffered mionor flooding; luckily, they were able to move verything off the floor before the water arrived. As of last report, JD and the crew had everything back together and were going strong.

Obviously, we’re sending all the positive thoughts, prayers and good energy we can muster, and we hope you will do the same. If you’d like to do something more concrete, our friends Bryan Beller and Kira Small sent this link around for those wishing to donate to the flood relief:

Donate to Tennessee Flood Relief

In other news, David has authorized the declassification of a trio of photos of the prototype cabinets. While at an undisclosed location, he is combing through other photos and we may declassify more shots soon. View the pictures on our Cabinets page.

We also updated the Videos section, grouping videos according to type: Field Tests, interviews with David Hisownself, and endorser clips.

The SEAL Team page now has links to all Field Reports.

One last thing to mention - our Forum is going strong, and it’s been great to see so many old friends join in the fun. Right now, we’re running a poll to determine our own nickname for the forum. So if you join now, you’ll have a say.

Visit Our Forum

Practice Tip of the Week

Hey, all y’all! Wow, what a week I’ve had! Operation NASH BASH was a success, but it took 23 hours from door to door. If you want all the details, check out my latest SEAL Team Report.

Another objective of the trip was to get over to Corner Music, our Premier Dealer in Nashville. Here’s a quick introduction of JD, surrounded by some fine looking vintage Ps and Js.

Next week I’ll have another clip of that wall of basses.

It’s after 9:00, and I just got back from rehearsal, so I’m going to leave it here, because I still have to finish writing the report I promised a few paragraphs ago, as well as the Practice Tip of the Week.

If you want to keep up on the latest, visit the forum. I check all unread threads at lesat once a day, usually in the morning. And don’t forget about Twitter, You Tube and Facebook. We’d love to connect with you there, as well.

Practice Tip of the Week.