reccomend me some books to practice with!

fat flats · #1 07-06-2005, 05:25 PM

I have been playing bass for a while but not really making a serious commitment to daily practice. I am now on track.
But i get bored just practicing scales/arpeggios lately.

Can you reccomend book/cd combos that teach technique in a blues or old school funk(motown/stax/etc) style?

I need help with my groove and technique and need to put together a practice routine.

I am contemplating these.

Funk Bass (Bass Builders Series)
by Jon Liebman

Jump n Blues Bass Book/CD
by Keith Rosier

101 Blues Patterns for Bass Guitar
by Larry McCabe

Building Walking Bass Lines
by Ed Friedland

thanks in advance

seanlava · #2 07-06-2005, 05:31 PM

Standing in the shadows of Motown, book and cd package, from Hal Leonard publishing. One of the best electric bass books out there.

fat flats · #3 07-06-2005, 05:40 PM

is any of the material at the beginner intermediate level?

cirwin · #4 07-06-2005, 10:56 PM

I have found "Ray Brown's Bass Method" to be a great resource. Altho I don't play a lot of jazz, he's got all kinds of scales, arrpegios, lines, etc. I work on one section for a while and then switch to another section when I get bored.

fat flats · #5 07-07-2005, 06:10 AM

does ray brown's method use notation and tab?

**Bryan R. Tyler** · #6 07-07-2005, 07:07 AM

If you follow the guidelines of the book (practicing each exercise chromatically from the first fret to the twelvth and back down, and repeat the same process playing a little faster on your metronome each time, starting at 60bpm eighth notes and ending at 180bpm eighth notes (I go up 15bpm each time)) "Bass Fitness" is a great book to improve your stamina, dexterity and speed.

Pruitt · #7 07-07-2005, 10:03 AM

For just a general instruction book, I'd check out Bass Guitar for Dummies by Patrick Pfeiffer. Don;t be put off by the title. It's the best all around book I've come across in 25 years of checking out bass books.

Good luck and Have Fun!

seanlava · #8 07-07-2005, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fat flats

is any of the material at the beginner intermediate level?

Yes, some of the transcriptions are simple, but basic musical skills are assumed. (basic technique, note reading)

ladros2 · #9 07-07-2005, 01:33 PM

funk bass is good, as is his later book, funk/fusion bass. also check out the bass bible for latin, african styles among others.

DrewBud · #10 07-07-2005, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seanlava

Standing in the shadows of Motown, book and cd package, from Hal Leonard publishing. One of the best electric bass books out there.

+25!!!!

groove100 · #11 07-08-2005, 10:23 PM

its good that you are trying to accomplish certain things in practice. but it seems like you want to hit two birds with one stone here.

my suggestion is to get a book that would cover: reading, walking, arrpegiations, scales, groove.
Another, you can go to your nearest music store that has music school, and ask a local bass teacher what he would recommend.

markus

and to add, if you want to improve your reading. grab some classical trombone pieces, it can sure stir your knowledge about reading.

Jazzin' · #12 07-08-2005, 10:27 PM

Get a real/fake book. I have the WB Jazz Standards one. Pretty good to have for jamming, especially if other people have the same book in their key and clef.

bonscottvocals · #13 07-09-2005, 08:17 AM

Bass Guitar for Dummies or Bass Basics. The Bass Basics series also has two other books: one for Blues Bass and another for Rock Bass as well. The 101 Patterns is a good book as well.

fat flats · #14 07-09-2005, 03:22 PM

I have Bass guitar for dummies. I guess I will go back through and look but the cd is hard to play with since the examples are short and bunched together2-6 per track so they can not be looped.

I would like to find a book/cd that puts things into progressions to practice with or at least is 1 example per track so it can be looped.

I wish I was skilled enough to put together a couple of quality practice book/cds that use good information put into the proper format.

I am leaning towards 101 blues patterns as of yet.
anyone have this one?

EDIT
Aside from that I would like to find a good way to learn the notes of the fretboard, I plan on making flash cards and having my wife quiz me, but it would be cooler to have another way to do myself.

CamMcIntyre · #15 07-09-2005, 03:48 PM

Building Walking Bass Lines
by Ed Friedland

I have that one. Definately a wealth of information that has improved my ability to walk lines.

The trombone book idea-yeah this one doesn't have a CD, but

40 Progressive Etudes for Trombone by Sigmund Hering [Carl Fischer Publisher] is one that i have worked from for awhile now.

Scales, intervals, and arpeggios-the book that my high school band used has been great.

Raymond C. Fussell Exercises for Ensemble Drill-we call it a fussell book. It's one book that all instruments use [it has the different parts and clefs inside].
ISBN number for that one is: 0-7692-6651-7 Definately work the $6.95 that it is marked at. Freshmen year of high school-i spent about 2hrs in a practice room just ramming home thirds until i could play them A. easily, B. from memory.

For the style specific-walking bass comes a lot easier once you know scales, chords [at least dominants], and arpeggios.

Major emphasis here from me is that if you can't read music-LEARN.

You will be glad you did [assuming you're looking to use the wealth of standard notation books out there or perform with standard notation]. Tab can be helpful-i use it if i need to figure out what position to play a particularly difficult passage or song in [read as-the jaco books].

I'm in the never ending process of buying books for bass/music. I saw the music storage spaces of a few of my teachers and it made me realize my stack is nothing compared to their book shelves full.

That's all

edit: the fretboard stuff-either the Hal Leonard Electric Bass Method 1 book or there's a Musician's Institute Book called i think Fretboard Basics [or something similar to it]. Those where very helpful to me also......i really should go back through those again-i've hit a rut in my routine so i'm not playing as much so going back to the basics would be great.

CJK84 · #16 07-09-2005, 06:19 PM

Regarding technique, learn as much as you can from this forum and also find a good teacher who's willing to help you refine your personal physical approach to the bass.

To learn to play any genre of music well, a book can help, but immersing yourself in the music (mostly thru recordings) will help even more.

For every minute you spend with the book (which can be time well spent), spend an hour critically listening / playing along with the music you wish to learn and you'll almost certainly make progress.

Good luck.

fat flats · #17 07-09-2005, 07:42 PM

Maybe I will just stick with "Dummies" book for a while for technique and get some cds for listening.
Would 101 Blues Patterns for bass give me the most standard stuff like endings etc or the classic Mannish Boy riff?
I guess I can just search for tab.

Thanks people!
saved me a few dollars

jonster · #18 01-08-2009, 03:55 PM

If you pick up any of my books, I'll be more than happy to answer any questions and help you all I can. They are:

Funk Bass
Funk/Fusion Bass
Rock Bass
Blues Bass
Bass Grooves: The Ultimate Collection (NEW - January 2009).

Thanks!

Jon Liebman