Classical exercise books for electric bass

[Minus]

The Melodius Etudes for Trombone series is great. Another fun one is Bach's 2-part Inventions. You can either get the Bunny Brunell version written with both parts in bass clef or the standard piano version. They are both pretty close. The two parts are fun to record. I just did #6 the other day if you want to have a listen to see what they sound like:

Invention #6

All the best & good luck!

 

[younggun]

Some people can get sorta hung up on 'correctness' on these older pieces. The truth is that Bach very often borrowed his own pieces and phrases and changed them around to suite whatever his current needs were. There is a pretty good chance too that the cello suites were never meant to be performed but rather were created as etudes for students. Its all good music, enjoy it for all you can.

+1. Bach's pieces can definitely be played "metronomically" or mechanically, but the key to really enjoying and understanding them is making them your own. A great example is to listen to some of the Cello masters playing them. Their phrasing, note emphasis, tempo, and dynamics often vary greatly from performer to performer. Here's some quick examples:


YouTube - ‪Yo-Yo Ma plays the prelude from Bach´s Cello Suite No. 1‬‏

YouTube - ‪Rostropovich plays the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1‬‏

 

[Mayers]

I think the cello suite is a must for every bass player. It will help your reading skill a lot and well I think it is nice to try different tuning like the cello tuning ( make the whole suite so much easier ).

I also think that any classical music is good to learn.

 

[groooooove]

any double bass solo book can be fun..

the cello suites are good for electric bass, but IMO sort of cheesy to play on electric bass.. good reading practice, especially if you get one written in tenor clef.

the dragonetti concertos can be a fun read on electric bass, too.

 

[smeet]

Chord studies for Trombone. I believe there is a Bass-specific edition now.

Yes! Amazon.com: Chord Studies for Electric Bass: Guitar Technique (Workshop (Berklee Press)) (0073999497502): Rich Appleman, Joseph Viola: Books

This is a GREAT book. It will not only work your technique, but your reading and especially your ability to navigate chords will greatly improve. Not an easy book to get through, but very worthwhile.

 

[Audiophage]

True, but there are many places where changing octaves is easy and musically fine. And you can transpose to other keys. For instance the oft-played Prelude to Suite #1 in G really works better for bass in the key of A. You can use the open A string like a cellist would use their open G string. Prelude to Suite #3 in C works better (IMHO) in the key of D for many of the same reasons.

Some people can get sorta hung up on 'correctness' on these older pieces. The truth is that Bach very often borrowed his own pieces and phrases and changed them around to suite whatever his current needs were. There is a pretty good chance too that the cello suites were never meant to be performed but rather were created as etudes for students. Its all good music, enjoy it for all you can.

That is a good point actually, plus Bach wrote for a completely different temperment system than we use today so to hell with playing in the "correct" keys.

Either way though, they're a really good way to get fluent with playing and reading on a 5 string bass.