People who know me, understand I have an affinity for almost all kinds of stringed instruments. The guitar is one of the great musical inventions of all time. The bass guitar did not come into its own until the advent of electric amplification. Up until then, the preferred instrument for the bass line was the double bass. A huge expensive instrument from the violin family. Even then, the bass did not have much volume. Electronics fixed that. The bass guitar replaced the bass fiddle in most bands. Easier to transport, not as expensive, and lots more volume.
The bass viol does not have frets, while guitars do. Inevitably, somebody would come up with a fretless bass guitar.
Zander Zon is the stage name of a guitarist who has taken experimentation with both fretted and fretless bass to a whole new level.
Here he is playing Dougie MacLean’s “The Gael,” which was used in the movie, Last of the Mohicans.
Look forward to seeing Dougie MacLean in Asheville next month.
In this one, Zander Zon plays the theme from Game of Thrones on the fretless bass.
One of the most beautiful melodies ever written was one of the biggest hits of the seventeenth century. Pachelbel’s Canon in D Minor.
Zander Zon’s tribute to the late Chester Bennington of the band Linkin Park. Chester took his own life one year ago.
This is an open thread. Come on in, drag up a chair and tell us your story for the morning.