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Joe Hubbard- Chord Tone Mastery Book

Green1

Green1

Sep 23, 2010
518
289
Phoenix, AZ
#1
I just picked this up and It just might be the best thing I have purchased for my bass studies. It is 400 plus pages covering 9 different chords in every key. Tab and standard notation as well as explanations. I really love Joes teaching style and that he is able to so effectively explain the concepts he is presenting. I am having a blast working through this book and I'm sure most any bass player would find it useful as well. Thanks Joe for all the great material you continue to share with your fellow bass players!!!
 
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#2
Yeah, I love the book, too! Joe may have gone a bit too much into the whole "modern day over the top marketing" approach while announcing the book, but his stuff is absolutely top notch. Having experienced his other products and services before, I had no second thoughts about buying this one.
 
#4
I'm enjoying the material so far, and I'm still basically on the first exercise. Instead of blowing through a book as I've done in the past, I want to make sure every exercise becomes ingrained in my playing.

A couple of his suggested fingerings had me scratching my head, though. At first I figured they were proof-reading errors, but perhaps Joe changed things up a bit, so I just rolled with them. All in all, though, I can see myself signing up for one of his courses down the road if this book works out as I anticipate. I like his teaching style.
 
#6
Kind of pricey and apparently only available through his website. Could one of you take us through what he's doing? If a player can already deal with most standard jazz tunes in lead sheet format, and knows music theory very well, what does it have to offer?
Thanks.
 
#8
I would say it's more of a basic to intermediate book. It's 11 melodic concepts over 9 chord types. It's printed out in the cycle of fourths, but you could take it a step further and play it through any cycle, e.g. cycle of major/minor thirds, seconds, etc. Or, take it even further and play the exercises through every chord in a key. Whatever you want to do really. Only you can know if it's something useful for you.

 
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#9
AMp'D.2play said:
I'm enjoying the material so far, and I'm still basically on the first exercise. Instead of blowing through a book as I've done in the past, I want to make sure every exercise becomes ingrained in my playing.

A couple of his suggested fingerings had me scratching my head, though. At first I figured they were proof-reading errors, but perhaps Joe changed things up a bit, so I just rolled with them. All in all, though, I can see myself signing up for one of his courses down the road if this book works out as I anticipate. I like his teaching style.
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I have been taking a similar approach. I have been sticking to major minor and dominant, those are the most comfortable. Ingraining this stuff in the muscle memory is the time consuming part. Playing through these exercises in the practice room is relatively easy but pulling out some of these concepts in a real time live performance is quite another thing all together. As I always remind myself, have fun and enjoy the process. There is enough here to keep me interested and not get bored for a long time for sure.
 
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#13
How are you guys studying these? I’m at the point where I’m “mechanically” comfortable with the first exercise, and playing it round the circle of 4ths. But of course, just getting comfortable with parroting off the example is easy. Any tips for internalizing this? I’ve started to also play it slowly and be aware of which interval of the chord I’m on but curious to know if anyone has come up with any other study techniques.
 
#14
ThickBassSteaks said:
How are you guys studying these? I’m at the point where I’m “mechanically” comfortable with the first exercise, and playing it round the circle of 4ths. But of course, just getting comfortable with parroting off the example is easy. Any tips for internalizing this? I’ve started to also play it slowly and be aware of which interval of the chord I’m on but curious to know if anyone has come up with any other study techniques.
Click to expand...

I think if you know the intervals, note names, and have it memorized, you're doing it right. One thing to consider is, hearing the exercises in 4 note groupings instead of triplets. You will hear different, and quite useful, sounds that are applicable to playing in real time. Which brings us to the last part, applying what you've learned in a musical situation. Whether with your band, or to backing tracks, or the chord looped through a pedal, whatever you have access to do this. Think about sequencing.
I wouldn't spend a ton of time on each exercise if you get that far with one of them. There are lots more interesting and useful concepts to follow. I'm shooting for two a week myself. That will take me about a year to get through the complete book.
 
#15
jchrisk1 said:
One thing to consider is, hearing the exercises in 4 note groupings instead of triplets. You will hear different, and quite useful, sounds that are applicable to playing in real time.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this was definitely a big step when I stopped playing the individual 3 note segments with a pause between as I got my bearings. Once I played it fluidly it was remarkable how different it sounded.
 
#16
ThickBassSteaks said:
Yeah, this was definitely a big step when I stopped playing the individual 3 note segments with a pause between as I got my bearings. Once I played it fluidly it was remarkable how different it sounded.
Click to expand...

I don't think it is important how you go through the book. As long as you know the intervals, note names, have the exercise memorized, and are applying it in real time, you will do well. Just have to do the work. Whether you choose to do 11 exercises over 1 chord, 1 exercise over 9 chords, or 3 exercises over 3 chords at a time, etc. As long as you do them all, memorise them, and apply them.

If you are on Joe's email list, he sent out a cycles chart that you could go through instead of fourths every time.
 
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#17
ThickBassSteaks said:
How are you guys studying these? I’m at the point where I’m “mechanically” comfortable with the first exercise, and playing it round the circle of 4ths. But of course, just getting comfortable with parroting off the example is easy. Any tips for internalizing this? I’ve started to also play it slowly and be aware of which interval of the chord I’m on but curious to know if anyone has come up with any other study techniques.
Click to expand...

Joe just added this video, maybe it will help with your practices.

 
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#18
Hi everybody, could this book be useful for upright bass players as well? I like very much Hubbard's approach to teaching in his videos, even though I'm not so mad at the idea of purchasing a book that contains so many tablatures.
 
#19
gustinho66 said:
Hi everybody, could this book be useful for upright bass players as well? I like very much Hubbard's approach to teaching in his videos, even though I'm not so mad at the idea of purchasing a book that contains so many tablatures.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. All of the lessons are notationed, but he added a section of tablature for all of the lessons in the last half of the book.
 
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