Bass Aerobics by Jon Liebman

[gmahoog]

Has anyone checked out this book? It's one of the best play along books I've ever owned.

There are 52 "workouts" that are very musical. Jon suggests working through 1 workout a week and after a year you'll be through the book. I'm going at my own pace and I'm currently on workout number 20.

This book really hits chromatics and chord/scales for the first 20 workouts. Great range of styles and he has you playing all over the neck.

There are string crossing workouts from 21-30, some slap excercises from 31-40 with the remainder reviewing concepts from earlier chapters.

I highly reccomend this book.

[MrFrancis]

First book I ordered when I got my bass about 4 months ago, have been doing this weekly and have improved 100x...

the concepts it teaches you are priceless, also I couldn't read a lick of sheet music now I can sight read fairly well.

Working at it once a week is a good schedule to follow, some of the harder excercises take me a bit longer.

[Raw Amateur]

I have this book a well and use it off and on. Some of the excercises I have struggled with because they are a bit fast for me. So I took Audacity and slowed them down just a touch. I want to make sure I am playing them well and slowing it down a bit helps a lot. But I agree, they are fun and my technique has improved quite a bit. I usually use one of the excercises as a warm up.

[jonster]

Wow, thanks for your kind words, folks! The book is still pretty new, but it's in its second printing already and I got Jeff Berlin to write the foreword for the new edition.

I'll be glad to send anyone a signed copy. Here's the link:

http://shop.jonliebman.com/product.s...&categoryId=45

Thanks again!

Jon

[MrFrancis]

Originally Posted by jonster

Wow, thanks for your kind words, folks! The book is still pretty new, but it's in its second printing already and I got Jeff Berlin to write the foreword for the new edition.

I'll be glad to send anyone a signed copy. Here's the link:

http://shop.jonliebman.com/product.s...&categoryId=45

Thanks again!

Jon

Wow the man himself! As I've already said it was one of the books I ordered when I first started. Now my mind and hands work together to do things with bass guitar that I can never imagine. What I like is not only the variety of styles but the fact that these exercises are musical. If you aren't sure what notes are what on the fretboard this book will force you to learn within the first THREE excercises. Thanks again Jon Leibman

I'll tell you this though, the book does say "beginner to advanced" it's not for the lazy or underermined beginner

[INTP]

This is a good book for someone who is motivated. The exercises will definitely improve one's technique, while being musical as well. If you aren't good at reading bass clef, you will definitely improve that skill, too.

The doesn't teach technique however, so you'll need another source for that. But if you have the basics (e.g. you know how to hold the bass, and you are at least familiar with reading music), then these exercises will definitely help you develop your playing skill.

BTW, if you're comparing it to "Bass Fitness", the main thing that I'd say is that this book is much more MUSICAL. It covers a variety of styles and puts technique in context. For example, the exercises in this book cover 48 bars and include chord changes, while the other book has exercises that cover just 4 bars which are played with a high degree of repetition. This is not a criticism of the other book, but I think the comparison is obvious, and I think this book offers much more.

I wish I had this book 20 years ago.

[gmahoog]

I think workout #16 is my favorite so far. I'm tempted to play it in "A" instead of "Bb", but the finger stretch at the end is worth the effort.