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The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is a non-profit 501(c)(3) state-of-the-art mobile audio and HD video recording and production facility. In its fourteenth year, with the very newest technology and gear, the Bus continues to be dedicated to providing young people with tours of the studios and participation in free songwriting and multimedia production workshops. With the assistance of three on-board engineers, students learn how to write, perform, record, and produce original songs, produce and shoot music videos and documentaries and complete a broadcast quality music video – all in one day!

The interior is divided into three separate studio environments that can be opened to create one large studio. The front studio is a cutting-edge audio and video production room. The rear studio offers pro-level recording and mixing at the highest possible resolution, as well as an iso booth for acoustic recordings, and a Chromatte (green screen) booth. Featuring the full line of Avid audio and video solutions, the studios, powered by Apple computers, utilize Gibson and Epiphone guitars, M-Audio keyboards, Roland V-Drums, Neutrik connectors, and the latest Sony HD professional cameras. Also on board is an Avid P.A. system enabling performances on the side of the Bus.

All guitars on the bus are provided by Gibson and Epiphone. Gibson is known worldwide for producing classic models in every major style of fretted instrument, including acoustic and electric guitars, mandolins and banjos. Gibson’s HD.6X-PRO Digital Guitar and the Gibson Robot Guitar — and the subsequent Gibson Dark Fire and Gibson Dusk Tiger guitars — represent the biggest advances in electric guitar design in over 70 years. With a storied history all its own, Epiphone joined the Gibson family of companies in 1957 and has continued to produce quality instruments to this very day.

The Lennon Bus is committed to providing students with increased access to music, audio, video, and broadcast technologies. The program works together with local partners to create free events for middle, high school, and college age students to tour the bus, and participate in the production of music, video and digital photography projects reflective of their ideas and concerns, regardless of their levels of expertise.

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is made possible by an agreement with Yoko Ono Lennon.

Click here to learn more.

Yoko Ono with Epiphone Guitar on Lennon Bus

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus and Yoko Ono recently helped to celebrate the 5th anniversary of The Beatles™ LOVE™ show by Cirque De Soleil® at The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. The Lennon Bus was onsite for special tours and Yoko Ono signed several Epiphone guitars for select winners of the event. (Photo above)

Las Vegas Day 4 - Epiphone Guitar Winner Watch the Video
Las Vegas Day 5 - Contest Winner Day 5 Watch the Video
Las Vegas Day 6 - Epiphone Guitar Signed by Yoko Giveaway Number 3! Watch the Video

Announcing the Winners of the Musician's Friend presents The John Lennon Songwriting Contest VIDEO CHALLENGE!

Final judging just wrapped up for the Musician's Friend presents The John Lennon Songwriting Contest Video Challenge. With the hundreds of videos submitted—all packed with incredible talent—we're so glad the voting wasn't left to us.
Read more...

GRAND PRIZE - Third Nature of Saratoga Springs, NY Lost for Now Watch the Video
2ND PLACE - Colin Hatch of Provo, UT Answer the Phone Watch the Video
3RD PLACE - Michael Swenson of Largo, FL Dark Visions & Ghostly Dreams Watch the Video

Featured Articles from Gibson.com

Q&A: John M. Borack, Author of John Lennon: Life Is What Happens Michael Wright \| 12.08.2010
The Ultimate John Lennon Album Guide Andrew Vaughan \| 10.07.2010
The Making of John Lennon: Eight People Who Profoundly Influenced the Late Beatle as a Songwriter Russell Hall \| 05.21.2010
The Night John Lennon and The Beatles Met Elvis Chuck Crisafulli \| 10.04.2010
Instant Karma: John Lennon’s Top 10 Guitar Moments Ted Drozdowski \| 10.08.2010
10 Things You Might Not Know About John Lennon Russell Hall \| 10.06.2010

From the Lennon Bus Blog

Five String Basses Bais

Five string basses

ORGIN STORY
I play bass quite a bit and it is one of those instruments that fell into my lap. Everyone seemed to always need a bassist and I had always had wanted to play in whatever band that I could. The first bass that I ever bought (and still love) was the
Epiphone Viola Bass. It is an amazing little bass and the short scale neck always worked for the type of music that I was playing at the time (either Brit Pop or Post-Punk). But as time went on, I started to realize the limitations of having a four stringed bass.

NASHVILLE LEARNED ME WELL
After spending some time seeing bands play in Nashville, I noticed that the five-string bass was the most common bass to be playing. Session musician after session musician would bring a five-string on stage and I noticed there were reasons for this.
The five string bass has a factor that allows for more versatility than a normal four-string bass in how one is able to play certain notes while not having to move the hand. Let us take a look at this little fret-board chart that I created:

from high string to low

On a typical four-string bass, we only go as low as that E that is at the bottom, so that when staying in first position (the first few notes), the lowest of low notes that can be hit is the E. With the introduction of the fifth string, the lowest note is now a B which allows for an easy follow up into the E on the fifth fret (which translates over to our normal low E string).

Watch this in action in a video that we did with a group of students at USC, Marjorie by Brett Fromson and The Monday Night Boys Club .

See how the bassist is able to stay in one position and clearly make a sonic mark in the song by hitting super low notes to match the kick while being able to do runs up and down the neck without having to get into the more treble-y 12th fret range? That is the advantage of the low B string on the bass.

PRACTICAL USE
For session work, this is necessary. If an artist comes in with a song that is drop-tuned or requires a deeper sound that a typical song, the five-string allows the bassist to be ready to play right away, versus the four-string bassist having to retune.

As any studio should, we have a selection of basses to deal with any need for any song. To make sure that we are ready, we got the Gibson Tobais Growler bass as our five-string. The pick-up controls allow us for quite a few different tone choices as well, though I think the round-low bottom end is really where it is at for this bass.

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Video

@lennonbus Ep.2: Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, G. Love

"The Trap" by The Directory performed at Hangout Music Fest!

"Next" by Hi-Def from Montgomery, Alabama

"Cause and Effect" by the NOCCA Jazz Ensemble from New Orleans, LA

Jay Leno on The John Lennon Bus!

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Schedule

Warped Tour 2012
June 16 2012, Salt Lake City, UT

Warped Tour 2012
June 17 2012, Denver, CO

Warped Tour 2012
June 20 2012, Las Vegas, NV

Warped Tour 2012
June 21 2012, Irvine, CA

Warped Tour 2012
June 22 2012, Pamona, CA

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"Lennon" and "John Lennon" are trademarks of Yoko Ono Lennon.

Q&A: John M. Borack, Author of John Lennon: Life Is What Happens Michael Wright \| 12.08.2010
The Ultimate John Lennon Album Guide Andrew Vaughan \| 10.07.2010
The Making of John Lennon: Eight People Who Profoundly Influenced the Late Beatle as a Songwriter Russell Hall \| 05.21.2010
The Night John Lennon and The Beatles Met Elvis Chuck Crisafulli \| 10.04.2010
Instant Karma: John Lennon’s Top 10 Guitar Moments Ted Drozdowski \| 10.08.2010
10 Things You Might Not Know About John Lennon Russell Hall \| 10.06.2010