Nick Long
Nick Long is a musician and BBC-trained broadcast engineer who's been learning new instruments and playing in bands since his early teens. His repertoire covers Indie, Soul, Country, Heavy Metal, Punk, Post Rock and everything in between!
He enjoys playing bass in various bands and gigging regularly. In his professional life, Nick has worked in radio since university and spent much of his career in the BBC, designing and building studio and production systems.
As a self-taught working musician he's repeatedly found himself hitting walls that can only be overcome with a bit of theory and ear training.
Posts by Nick Long
Bass Tone: Playing Techniques, Part 2
Learn about some of the special techniques bassists use to adjust their tone, including hammer-ons, pull-offs, tapping and slides. Train your ears to hear each.
Bass Tone: Playing Techniques, Part 1
Learn about some of the special techniques bassists use to adjust their tone, including finger-style vs plectrum, and slaps/pops. Train your ears to hear each.
Bass Tone: Playing with Precision
The famous P-Bass guitar brought around a revolution in bass playing when it was released. Find out what exactly made it have such an impact with its sound.
Bass Tone: The Upright Bass
Learn all about the importance of the bass guitar in music, the bass ear training you can do, and get to know the sound of the upright bass a.k.a. “double bass”
New Series! Bass Tone teaches the sounds of the bass
It punches you in the chest, and flaps your trouser legs. It’s the thump that moves the rump. A bass player forms the connective tissue between the drummer and the rest of the instruments, standing with one foot in the rhythmic and the other in the melodic. The...
Mythbusting the Mosquito
The “Mosquito” is a magical high-pitched sound that only youngsters can hear. We bust the top 5 myths which surround this famous and mysterious sound.
Four Chords and the Truth
Did you know: a huge number of popular songs use just four chords. Find out which four and why in this article, and learn how to write your own 4-chord songs.
Listen! Who’s Driving The Bus?
This week I’m going to be talking about the difference between driving the bus and riding the bus – but don’t worry, we aren’t taking a detour into public transport.By focusing your ears on the tricks used by great musicians to seamlessly shift...
Wired For Sound Part 4: Headphones
So far we’ve covered playback sources, discussed options for amps and speakers, and looked at ways to judge improvements to your setup by listening. This week we’re focusing on the more compact alternative to a room full of hi-fi gear: Headphones....
Wired For Sound Part 3: All The Gear, But No Idea?
Missed the previous posts in the series? Catch up with Part One and Part Two. So you’re planning on buying some new toys, or shifting your set up around, but how will you know if you have actually made things better? First things first, you need some test...
