Good Morning Gloucester

Frankenstein.  Just walking down the street.  On a Sunday afternoon. Because, you know, it’s October and I was in Salem.

Ahhh, the great outdoors.

Michael Manring: Bass Workshop

Working Toward a Deeper Connection with the Bass 
(all levels, bring an instrument) 

Thursday, October 8, 2015 7:30pm – Bass Workshop, $30
Diamond Cove Music, 57 Washington St., Gloucester, MA 01930
For reservations contact Tom – (978) 283-9877

Presented by Michael Manring http://manthing.com

Michael will work with students on exercises designed to increase their facility on and knowledge of the instrument. Topics include: muscle group isolation, permutation and combination studies for right and left hands, intervallic dexterity, and ear training, as well as introducing bassists to Solkattu, an ancient South Indian system used to study rhythm that offers great benefits for all musicians.

Michael Manring solo concert
with special guest Ken Bonfield

Friday, October 9, 2015 7:30pm, $15
Diamond Cove Music, 57 Washington St., Gloucester, MA 01930
For reservations contact Tom – (978) 283-9877

Solo bass concert?  Are you kidding me? It’s hard enough to sit through a bass solo, you want me to go to a solo bass guitar concert? Are you nuts?

Well, not in this case. Michael Manring, who first became known as the Windham Hill house bassist in the 80’s for his work with seminal artists Michael Hedges, Alex DeGrassi, and Windham Hill founder, Will Ackerman, has expanded his range tremendously over the past three decades.  Michael is musically conversant in every conceivable genre and has appeared on hundreds, if not thousands of albums ranging from jazz to folk, rock and roll, new age, classical, and full on heavy metal.

But Michael’s passion is, and always has been, about showing off the versatility of the four string bass whether it’s his custom Zon Michael Manring Hyper Bass that’s tuned much higher than a standard bass and is capable of over 1000 different tunings all while he plays, or his fretted Zon bass Vinnie, or what he’s best known for; his 4-string fretless bass playing that he learned at the feet of the bass-master himself, Jaco Pastorius.  He can make the bass sound as if you’re hearing a shaman raise his voice in prayer in an ambient piece of music, or raise the hair on the back of your neck as he takes you on a death spiral of 64th notes played at breakneck speed. And he can play all three basses at once as evidenced by his song “Three Moons” which has been viewed well over a million times on YouTube through various videos of the song.

Gloucester resident, Ken Bonfield, who toured with Michael heavily in the late 90’s and early 2000’s will open the concert and join Michael for a duo or two. Here’s what Bonfield has to say about him. “Michael Manring may not be the best bass player in the world, but there’s no one better.  And the bonus is, he’s an even better person than he is musician.  You just really need to see and hear Michael to understand what this man is capable of playing on just 4 strings. Seeing is believing!”