Ray Brown's "The Art of Playing Bass"

Guys... I noticed that there weren't any reviews of Ray Brown's VHS series here on TBDB. I found out about it by looking at the ISB's site and it's sold only at Lemur as far as I know.

I took the plunge and bought all 4 tapes. I've only watched 2 of them but they're pretty good. The series was intended to help students recall what was being taught at their last lesson with a real teacher and not meant to be a substitute. But if you took good notes or recorded your lesson on tape, why would you forget anything that was taught?

Anyways, I've only been through the 1st two tapes. So far they're pretty good, but kinda geared towards the beginner.

Vol. 1: Milt Hinton. Focuses on his slapping technique and his personal history. Great video. You can figure out his technique pretty easily because they show his right hand at several angles. He discusses a little bit about how he came about it and some of the rhythmic figures he uses.

Vol. 2: Ray Brown & John Clayton in what looks like a teaching seminar. Both Ray and John focus on the importance of bowing as a key to getting a "good sound". For German players, what's nice is that you get to watch John's impeccable RH technique. I got a few great tips which helped eliminate some of my own scratchiness. The end of the tape shows Ray and John playing every scale with pizz and arco respectively. I found this a little too much after the first 3 scales but it was good to watch Ray's pizz technique for a good while.

Vol. 3: Francois Rabbath. Haven't watched this yet but should be good.

Vol. 4: Evening with Triple Thread (Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Monty Alexander).

So far I see the Vol. 1 worth the $20. Vol. 2 not so much but good if you can borrow from someone. I'll expound more once I watch the rest.