Need advice on which jazz book(s) to get

[lexxmexx]

Ok, after playing pop and rock for some time, I think it's time to move on to jazz. I have narrowed down to the 3 books below.

1. Mel Bay's Complete Jazz Bass Book - Earl Gately
2. Building Walking Bass Lines - Ed Friedland
3. Mel Bay Walking Jazz Lines for Bass - Jay Hungerford

Can anyone advice on which is better or I should get all 3?

Thanks again!

[Jim Carr]

Can you describe your goals, interests, who are you listening to, etc.? Might you go to a music store and take a look at the book you list and see what appeals to you? A good music store may have others, too.

[lexxmexx]

I am trying to learn how to formulate walking basslines for jazz standards and I already have a real book. However, my main problem is that I can't seem to work out any logical lines that sound like those you hear from the jazz bassists. In a nutshell, I want to be able to create decent basslines when jamming standards. I won't go into soloing for now though.

The local bookstores do not carry these 3 books and the only way for me to get them is to order them through Amazon.

I don't want to end up getting different books that are telling me the same things, if you know what I mean

[Ed Fuqua]

BigEgoHead says pay attention to ME!

Three reviews from folks here on talkbass

[Microbass]

Can I also recommend Mark Levine's jazz Theory. It's a monster book but it's been great for me!!!

[EADG mx]

I havn't looked at the others but Ed Friedland's worked for me.

[Stumbo]

Here are some Jazz links that may interest you:
Knuckleheaded question of the day Learning
http://www.outsideshore.com/primer/primer/index.html Improvization Primer - Sabatella (Book/Online)
Walking bass "licks" - some help for those new to walking bass lines Walking bass lines examples
Good books to learn walking bass? Walking bass lines books
jazz scales? not played bass in over a year Jazz Scales
http://www.jazzstandards.com/history/index.htm History of Jazz

[slybass3000]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

BigEgoHead says pay attention to ME!

Three reviews from folks here on talkbass

+1
I looked a bit at Ed's book and it is well done like all Sher Music Publications. So if it is good for Sher then it is a good book.

Some books on Walking bass are too sterile and focus too much on how to approach the next chord without going for a melodic approach and give a bad direction to walking bass lines and don't focus enough on Linear approach.

Try some transcription books from Aebersold too.
David Baker has a good section on his Volume 2 of How to play BeBop for bass lines construction too that is worth it.
There is the Mike Richmond book (hard to find I believe) and focus on several forms of Blues.

I suggest that if you buy a book go see a good teacher that will help you out trough it with good advices and how to practice and apply that stuff with Real Book songs.

And don't forget a good walking bass line is like a solo at half-speed so you'll be soloing pretty soon,


Good Luck,

Sly

[paul_wolfe]

+1 for Ed Friedland's book. I found it the best out there at the time.

If you get something like Band in a Box to use as a 'practice band' and take his methods 1 by 1 you can get pretty authentic sounding bass lines VERY quickly.

Only caveat: try and spend at least twice as much time on the exercises where the root note is not the first note of a bar, that way you'll incorporate those into your playing of lines more which will make your lines a bit 'cooler' (though depends on what style of jazz you're playing)

He came up with a follow up too - Expanding Walking Basslines. That's not quite as good, but only by a fraction. Still worth getting.

Ron Carter has written a book too on jazz basslines, sorry don't remember what it's called. But I haven't seen it so I can't tell you how good it is.

Hope that helps.

[lexxmexx]

Thanks to everyone for your useful opinions and special thanks to Stumbo for listing out the great links.