Bass tone isn't just in the fingers and the pedals...

There's the key ingredient of who you work with, both live and in the studio, and how they capture your sound.

In this week’s episode we take a deep dive into my journey as a recording artist and highlight some of the engineers and moments along the way that have helped shape my sound to where it is today.

Make sure you take advantage of our final sale of the year with digital copies of our books discounted by 80% off when you purchase a signed physical book.

Add ANY digital book to your order of a signed physical book and you’ll get an automatic 80% discount on the digital version at checkout, up to 10 books in an order.

You can also get 25% off any Digital Bundle, including the Complete Library, through December 31st at midnight.

Happy practicing, happy holidays, and we’ll be back with more soon!

Janek

Boutique is an often misused term for our instrument, and in this episode I'm going to try and get to the bottom of what makes something "boutique" in the bass world, and shed some light on the process of choosing the right bass.

As mentioned in the episode I have a couple of pedals available for sale at the website. It’s something I almost never do, and it’s rare for a pedal to be on its way out of the library than on the way in!

Brand new and with the original boxes:

Hungry Robot Wardenclyffe Dexule

GFI Systems Specular Tempus

first come first served!

Good luck!

Janek

Having played the new bass live and spent some time in the studio with it, the verdict is in!

It's always interesting getting to know a new instrument and figure out where it sits in the lineup. I've found some cool use cases for it, and am getting more comfortable with the preamp and controls each day.

There are minor details that need adjusting, but the prototype plays incredible well and pretty much does exactly what we set out to do with this experiment.

I really hope some of you get the chance to play it at the NAMM show, and potentially get your hands on one of the 10 units we’ll offer in 2025. I’m super curious to see where they end up in the world, and how you guys use them out in the wild.

Make sure you take advantage of all the things on sale for Black Friday and Cyber Monday through December 4th at midnight. All discounts are either added at checkout or shown on the product page

* eBooks and eBook bundles are buy one, get 50% off another (up to four products per order)

* The Complete Library is super discounted and includes the new scales book

* Line6 HX Stomp Presets are 35% off

* Physical books on Amazon are discounted 20%

Happy Practicing and more soon!

Janek

The new bass from RKM is here. At least the first prototype is, and I’m really excited to be able to share it with you in this episode of the podcast.

Check out the video on YouTube to get a close-up look at this beautiful instrument, and drop a comment below the video with your thoughts on 5-strings, high C tuning, double reversed P pickups, and all the other stuff we’ve included in this build that we plan to launch at Winter NAMM 2025.

Black Friday is in full-swing with physical books on Amazon discounted worldwide, and our ebooks at the website discounted to get 50% off every other book you purchase. And that’s up to four books in each order. Want 3 books? get 3 more 50% off! This also applies to book bundles. Buy one, get 50% off another. All discounts are applied automatically at checkout.

And don’t forget the pre-sale for the new scale book ends in just a few days on November 26th. This is your last chance to get a signed physical copy bundled with a digital version of the book for this pre-sale price.

* Domestic Shipping (USA)

* International Shipping

We will have a digital-only version of the new scale book launching this Thursday, and our “Complete Library” bundle will include the new book and will go on sale with the book launch on November 28th.

More soon,

Janek

Today’s episode isn’t all doom and gloom, although some aspects of our industry do get pretty dark at times. Especially when it comes to the transparency of companies, channels, and gear videos.

I’m using an unlikely example to highlight where I’m at in the journey of creating these videos for YouTube, and as part of the episode will be doing a pretty tasty giveaway. Just make sure you leave a comment on the YouTube video to be entered to win, and I’ll pick a winner on the next episode of the podcast. It’s totally free and I’ll ship the giveaway anywhere in the world so anyone can enter!

If you want to be one of the first people to own the new book "The Bassist's Book of Scales and Arpeggios", get your signed pre-sale copy now:

Domestic Shipping (USA)

International Shipping

More soon,

Janek

Time is something we can't buy any more of, and the better we manage it while we're here, the more productive, fulfilling, and happy a life we can lead as musicians.

Just remember, always give the day more credit for the amount of time it offers.

If you want to be one of the first people to own the new book "The Bassist's Book of Scales and Arpeggios", get your signed pre-sale copy now:

Domestic Shipping (USA)

International Shipping

More soon,

Janek

I've been wanting to make this video for quite sometime, if only to satisfy my own curiosity and fill in some gaps in my memory of pedals I haven't used in a while.

Welcome to a walk down the memory lane of bass octave pedals, where I started, how I started, what I use now, and why I even had all these pedals out on the desk in the first place.

If you want to be one of the first people to own the new book "The Bassist's Book of Scales and Arpeggios", get your signed pre-sale copy now:

Domestic Shipping (USA)

International Shipping

More soon!

Janek