Beginner's Bookshelf

[Rotation]

The business of producing "books on paper" seems likely to fade away sooner than I would prefer.

What should someone totally new to making music, making music with stringed instruments, making music with electric bass, have on their bookshelf?

Based on ten years in adult education, I think a crucial but small part of the bookshelf should target lift-off. A big part should target intermediate to advanced skills and opening the arena (in my case maybe some keyboards, commercial genres, pre-50s jazz, blues, biography, history), and a significant portion should be so advanced as to seem it was delivered by beings from outer space.

My personal thing is jazz/funk/rock/world/outside... Sun Ra, Funkadelic, Bill Laswell, ON-U Sound. And Americana running from old-timey via Austin.

What should be on my bookshelf?

 

[MalcolmAmos]

Yes I also agree paper and cursive hand writing will vanish...... The Internet site Online Bass Lessons at StudyBass.com is a must IMO. The Scott Devine and Carol Kaye Internet sites have proven to have value. Also Index has chord progressions and backing tracks on hundreds of jazz standards. Print off the chord progression then play the backing track and see what you can do. That will point you to where you need to be spending your practice time.

Now the books I have - in no certain order: I did rank them with stars *****

• Bass guitar for dummies. / Patrick Pfeiffer *****
• Building Walking Bass Lines / Ed Friedland *****
• Electric Bass Lines # 3 / Carol Kaye *** Only gets three stars, however, check out her Internet site. Look for 100 tips.
• Bass Guitar for Beginners - Primer. / Bert Casey **
• A Bass Player's Guide to Jamming. / Carl Yaffey **
• The Real Book sixth edition. **** A must when you start playing songs.
• Bass Lines in Minutes. /Kris Berg *** For $10 a good starting place on how to make a bass line. Start with this one then move to Ed Friedland's book for more details and more advanced lines.
• The Bottom Line, The Ultimate Bass Line Book / Todd Coolman **

Theory books - pure theory not specific to the bass:

• 
  
  [*]How to play the piano despite years of lessons / Ward Cannel & Fredd Marx ***** Explains how music thinks.
  [*]Pentatonic KHANcepts. / Steve Khan ***** What can be done with 5 notes.
  [*]Alfred's #'s 1, 2 & 3. ***** Specific for the keyboard. Good solid basic theory plus how to read standard notation.
  ​

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If you are into Jazz you will want the Jamey Aebersold Jazz catalog. Jamey Aebersold Jazz, however most of it is advanced and was/is over my head. The catalog is free give it a try. The play-a-longs and the theory books will be helpful.



Good luck on your journey.

 

[Jhengsman]

I would think one of those overview books like the Idiots/For Dummies/Everything books. A complete method series like Hal Leonards and then various style specific books for what you are interested in. Be it Funk, jazz. Blues, Salsa, Reggae......

But then I grew up before the net where you can get it all for free.

 

[Jmac66]

not sure how they compare with others because they are all I've tried, but I have been using:

for lessons:

Progressive Bass Guitar for beginner to advance students-Gary Turner and Brenton White
Progressive 5- String Bass- Stephen Richter

for technique:

Mel Bay's Rock Bass Technique- Mike Hiland

for theory:

Bass Logic, A Comprehensive Method For Learning Bass- Bill Edwards and Steve Hodson

also use Online Bass Lessons at StudyBass.com

 

[Rotation]

Thanks for contributions! BTW I'm an old fart who was on the Internet before the WWW was invented. Interested in websites but I hope this thread is mostly about books on paper.

So far I've bought a few from fellow TBers.

Serious Electric Bass (I'm relearning how to read music after 40 years, and the B-sharp in the very first exercise has me thinking what is up with this guy)

Bass Grimoire (I've read some of Pacman's stickied thread, suspect he's onto something... also seems worth having for exotica and to see if the first few pages ever make sense to me)

Bass Fitness (great for getting my reading back, rather than reading in key the individual notes are sharped/flatted -- baby steps)

Improvisor's Bass Method (not for beginners, parked in the bathroom for now)

Bass Bible (hasn't arrived yet but should be fun, I've been into "world music" since forever, has CDs & that will be new to me)

On my list for purchase soon:
Hal Leonard Bass Method
Music Theory for Practical People
Building Walking Bass Lines

Deleted in favor of $20 to TalkBass:
Complete Dummies Guide to Idiots

Bit further off:
Standing in the Shadows of Motown
Giants of Bass
Ultimate Slap Bass

Victor Wooten's Groove Workshop DVD seems a must. Other DVDs?

 

[wrench45us]

I have a lot of books. bit of an obsession

general theory
start with Rikky Rooksby songwriting books -- easy peesy practical theory introduction
Mark Levine's 'Jazz Theory'
Marc Sabatella 'The Harmonic Language of Jazz Standards'
Bert Ligon 'Connecting Chords with Linear Harmony'
Berklee Press 'The Chord Scale Theory and Jazz Harmony'

Bass
walking bass
Ed Friedland
Jay Hungerford
Ed Fuqua
Ron Carter (available at jazzbooks.com)

blues bass
Ed Friedland
Jon Liebman
Keith Rosier

 

[WillMurderface]

I'm currently using

Hal Leonard Bass Method - absolutely brilliant
Mel Bay - You Can Teach Yourself Electric Bass - It's okay. Some good exercises but I find it moves a little fast.
Hal Leonard Fast Track Bass - don't like it. It moves way too fast.