Kyle Honea

USA Instrumental Bass Guitar

    This is our first bass submission for a bass review and let me tell you Kyle Honea set the standard for future reviews. He is a very accomplished bassist from California(USA). From the moment I put in his CD I was amazed by his skill as a bassist. He mentioned one of his influences was Billy Sheehan.  I truly think Billy would be impressed if he had the chance to listen to Kyle's amazing skill. The 4 song CD is jammed packed with major bass shredding.

    "American Elephant" track one is a melody packed bass shred fest. Kyle using finger tapping for most of his leads throughout this song and the CD. Which isn't heard of that much. I really like how he arranged the track. I can't count how many times I heard arpeggios during the track and they were so cleanly executed. He must have put a lot of man hours into them, because they sound phenomenal! "Pastime Compass" track two, really picks up the pace, I really like the backing bass lines, especially the one that opens the song. There plenty of tapping in this song as well. Honea orchestrates his songs just like other instrumental musicians do.  His songs include verses, choruses and a main lead section. In another words, he writes in normal rock format (a major plus). Track three "Moon Beams" is is my favorite song on the CD. He plays alone with no backing instruments. His playing is very tight, always staying in beat.  It's really really hard to play unaccompanied and Kyle pulls it off with no effort.  He has a very melodic hook in the song that has got to be one of the coolest mellow bass lines I've ever heard. I also like his use of harmonics through out the song, they really help to accent parts. "Bassjutsu" is a perfect name for this closing song.  It feels like Honea is kicking the crap out off you with his playing! Kyle storms off with arpeggios that will just floor you right form the start. He also uses a great blend of effects in this song that really create a out of this world atmosphere. The main melody line in this song is made up of arpeggios, something that is rarely heard of. He creates a very climatic feeling with them, and each one builds on the last.

    His skill is extreme, and his playing is super clean. I listened closely and never heard a bad note the whole way through! The cool thing is that Kyle only uses clean toned bass, no distortion.  He blends in some chorus minor effects to help give his bass a nice tone as well. The next step for Honea would be to get a band assembled and show the world that bassists can shred to. I was simply amazed from the first moment I put the CD in.  I have heard great bass playing, but rarely any of this caliber. Kyle Honea doesn't fit the mold for a typical bassist. He blends, shred, melody and lots of style into his work. Hey, if John Alderante ever leaves Racer X I think Kyle Honea would be a logical replacement! Thank you Kyle for writing some amazing music. It really gave me a new respect for bass players. If you are a bassist reading this review, drop this guy a line, it would really be a bonus to your playing out!

Contact Kyle Honea at:  Kylehonea@hotmail.com

Visit his website:  www.geocities.com/kyle_honea

-Nick Martinelli