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Best beginner/intermediate bass method book?

#23
bassandbeyond said:
Ed is popular around here! What about the enjoyment factor...any votes for the most fun/rewarding book to work out of? How about votes for clearest and easiest to understand explanations?
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I'm an unashamed Ed fan, and he would get my vote for the above as well, but I would have to say that I've found all the Hal Leonard books to be very good in terms of clarity and fun.

The Hal Leonard Funk Bass book is great - and it's not by Ed!!!!! :D

The other books I really, really like are the Anthony Vitti workbooks. These are not for the faint of heart or the beginner, they are there to make you a ninja bass dude - they don't really explain much except what his intent was and what to focus on in playing each of the exercises, but they are so much fun to play and sound really musical, as opposed to just a bunch of riffs or drills.

I have developed so much as a player though mastering (or attempting to!!!) the pieces in these books.
 
#24
bassandbeyond said:
Ed is popular around here! What about the enjoyment factor...any votes for the most fun/rewarding book to work out of? How about votes for clearest and easiest to understand explanations?
Click to expand...


i'm sticking with ed.

enjoyment factor... ed's got it. i am as beginner as it gets. there is nothing that makes this book fun. the fun comes from the desire to learn and the satisfaction that comes from learning.

fun/rewarding...see above statement. plus, regarding fun...there are variations of different styles of music within the exercises, so it can suit anyones taste.

clearest and easiest to understand...ed! ed! ed!! i am familair with the treble clef. bass music is a whole new world to me. this book won me over because i do have the desire to learn to read the bass clef. there are simple, not wordy, explainations in the book. the exercises in the book are...simple, but not so simple it's boring. to sound good, these exercises need to be practiced to the fullest, but the way it's done, even practicing sounds good.

basically, this is an easy to stick with book. i am learning on my own right now because i can't afford a teacher, but when i can, i feel i will have a starting point, and a clear understanding, whereas without the book, i might have felt overwhelmed and completely lost.

i'll leave it with this thought...i get so wrapped up in this, because it is enjoyable, easy to learn, fun, etc. that i forget that i am actually learning something. :)
 
#25
furygirl said:
there is nothing that makes this book fun. the fun comes from the desire to learn and the satisfaction that comes from learning.
Click to expand...

Very true! When it comes right down to it, a lot of plain old repetition and hard work is necessary to learn any instrument.

However, I have found that it doesn't hurt to reward a student's hard work with some little licks and tunes to play just for fun once in a while. This seems especially true for young beginners who aren't advanced enough to be playing in a band yet. I'd like to see an instructional book that incorporates these kinds of elements, to keep it fun and provide "real music" examples of the musical fundamentals in action.
 

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