@ consect ^ Book Two looks really good. I browsed ahead and there is just a bunch of great stuff we will get to cover in Book 2!
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The Hal Leonard Bass Method thread
- Thread starter HelpImaRock
- Start date
Looking forward and being excited about it is a really great attitude to approach this material to carry you through. I try to stop and smell the roses even if it's a lot of scale work...there is always something to get out of every lesson and appreciate. It's funny some of the ways this can kind of kick your tail. For me, surprisingly, I have had some trouble with repetitive blues patterns--just your standard eight to the bar stuff. I thought I was into repetition, but actually I lose focus and go into auto pilot around the time it's time for a chord change and scuff up. It happened again today, having some trouble playing repeating groove patterns consistently without messing up somewhere. Weird.
I just want to thank tzhon once again for uploading the files for me!
I'm on Track 7. =) Thanks for the advice, vishalicious. I'm already okay by ear, so I have been first trying to read it and play, and then play with the track. It's way harder for me, but I'm actually learning to read the notes!
Thanks again for the recommendation to try these books out in the first place. You can really feel your progress, even in the beginning, and it's so great to be able to sit down to practice and to follow something rather than just practicing songs.. which is what I had been doing!!
I'm on Track 7. =) Thanks for the advice, vishalicious. I'm already okay by ear, so I have been first trying to read it and play, and then play with the track. It's way harder for me, but I'm actually learning to read the notes!
Thanks again for the recommendation to try these books out in the first place. You can really feel your progress, even in the beginning, and it's so great to be able to sit down to practice and to follow something rather than just practicing songs.. which is what I had been doing!!
My book arrived yay. Had a flick through, looks a comprehensive tome.
Some if the stuff further on in the book looks complex. It's Hard to believe that at some point I will be learning it.
Some if the stuff further on in the book looks complex. It's Hard to believe that at some point I will be learning it.
You're welcome! I'm glad you're starting the book. I really love the way Ed Friedland writes and breaks stuff down. I have some of his other books as well, which I'm going to work on after I finish the HLBM. I had already gone through a little bit of his Building Rock Bass Lines book, which takes a different approach, but one which I also really love (he includes scale degrees and other note information, like if a note is chromatic, below the notation in that book, so we learn the *functions* of everything that we play from it - its brilliant!).
Knowing how to play by ear is a fantastic skill. I think you're going to progress rapidly through the book, like others here. That distinction between focusing on reading vs. playing by ear was a revelation to me. I hadn't realized what I had been doing at the time until it was pointed out to me, and I like having an understanding of little nuances like that.
If you can, keep a practice log and use a metronome when you play. I've found it very useful to track the tempo that I practice each exercise at, and see how long it took me to get through each exercise. I've found that what works well for me is to start around 50 or 60 bpm and increment slowly. I usually aim for 92 bpm as my endpoint, only because its the default speed on my metronome. I tend to run exercises for 5 mins at each tempo and increase. When first picking up an exercise, I play w/o the metronome, just to focus on reading and get the notes under my fingers, then I add in the metronome at a slow speed and work my way up.
You must have stronger fretboard familiarity than I do though, so you might find my routine tedious.
You're also very close to ex. 10. That's where reading really started, for me. Ed breaks it all into small chunks, a few notes at a time, one string at a time, so its not overwhelming. I've found that its entirely a matter of focus and repetition. Sharps and flats scared me a little at first, but they're not so bad, if you take them in small bites like this. Its when he starts using multiple strings that I got a real challenge, and also some "shifting" exercises, in which we're asked to use specific fingers to shift. Some of those took me a long time.
Also, I tend to go back and review exercises. I did it a TON in the beginning. I actually played every exercise from 10 and on as a warm-up and review, every practice session for a while. I don't do it quite like that now. I review only from back a few exercises, but I'm going to start picking out older exercises and making a review list again.. right now, its something of a battle in my head about reviewing vs. moving ahead, and at the moment, I've been indulging the "move ahead" side a bit.
Good luck. I'm really looking forward to hearing about your progress!
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I have a question regarding the CD track No.43 (Shift-Crazy Blues). I'm trying to understand if it's me or is it the recorded bass a little bit off beat? I have trouble following timing at 00:41 when the track is repeated in higher tempo. I stopped and listened carefully the track without playing along and I still believe the first G note is behind the beat or something. What do you think, am I nuts saying that Friedland is off beat?
I'm not up to that one yet, but I listened to the track 3 times just now and tried to stay in time, just tapping on my desk. I think you're right. There's a break and then at 00:41, it starts again, but its like 1/2 a second behind where it should have started.
Thanks Vishalicious. Initially I thought there was something wrong with my bass tuning but that was not the problem, so I went back to the metronome for practice again. But with the metronome I didn't do any mistake so when I tried again with the CD I realized I simply cannot play along. I was thinking maybe its the guitar off beat but again it doesn't make any sense. I will take a break and listen to it later.
Maybe we are both wrong, I don't know what else to think, I just can't believe they have done such a mistake.
Maybe we are both wrong, I don't know what else to think, I just can't believe they have done such a mistake.
It might just be an issue when they were tracking the file. I believe Ed played everything on it, so maybe when he was putting the tracks together, something was slightly off? I wonder if anyone has ever asked him about it. I know he's on Talkbass, so its possible to reach out to him and find out. He might be amused that you noticed it.
Hi, folks. We just got through the first week of 2017. How's everyone doing?
I started ex. 57 (F/X) yesterday. I can play the notes, for the most part, but there are some transitions, like the Eb to G in bar 7, that I miss. I've been running it at 50 bpm. There are so many quarter note runs across different strings that I don't know if I'll be able to take it to 92 bpm, which is my usual goal.
I started ex. 57 (F/X) yesterday. I can play the notes, for the most part, but there are some transitions, like the Eb to G in bar 7, that I miss. I've been running it at 50 bpm. There are so many quarter note runs across different strings that I don't know if I'll be able to take it to 92 bpm, which is my usual goal.
You will get used to this shift pretty quickly and actually you will enjoy this particular point the most out of the whole track.
I've been stuck on track 44 and 45 forever. Ed does seem to make it a little harder than necessary by putting flats and sharps in the same exercise. I realize it's probably helping with sight reading but I'll sure be glad to get to book 2. My other problem that I have is that I'm so familiar with the treble cleff that the A still looks like an F to me. But I am getting better at switching back and forth between treble and bass. At least the notes on the fretboard are the same. I don't think I could handle any alternate tunings right now.
I've enjoyed reading about everyone else's progress.
I've enjoyed reading about everyone else's progress.
I am joining in; my book just arrived today! I really like Ed Friedland's teaching style so I'm excited to get working through this method. It's been great reading through this thread and hearing everyone's experiences and progress.
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I've notice that among the baby steps, he will throw in a giant step. It can test my dedication because I think I'm coming along well, then---boom---I'm struggling. It's modulation right now for me.
Also, I've had a bit of a light bulb moment, though I'm sure this is obvious to everyone else: reading every note isn't necessary. For example, chord tones skip every other line. If you know your intervals, you can play the notes without mentally reading the value of each and every one. At first I wondered if this was lazy, but I suspect it's what reading musicians do?
I haven't been playing much out of the book. However, I'm improving by leaps and bounds. Since re-taking up the bass on December 1st my time has gotten better, I'm listening to the drums instead of the guitar, and my picking has gotten more even. Most importantly, I sound more like a bassist instead of a guitarist trying to play bass.
I've got a couple of songs to focus on before our show in 2 weeks, but I'm still going to spend some time working on the book. While yes, there's a lot of focus on sight reading, which probably won't do a lot of us any good; the style and technique lessons are invaluable. I'm still in Book 1, and the most important exercise I've done is the finger roll. It's in every song we play as a band.
Keep on chooglin...
I've got a couple of songs to focus on before our show in 2 weeks, but I'm still going to spend some time working on the book. While yes, there's a lot of focus on sight reading, which probably won't do a lot of us any good; the style and technique lessons are invaluable. I'm still in Book 1, and the most important exercise I've done is the finger roll. It's in every song we play as a band.
Keep on chooglin...
I officially get the book tomorrow. Yay me.
Wahoo!! I finally got STONES-Y down. Not 100% perfect but good enough to move on. I'll come back to it quite a bit because it's fun to play and it feels like I accomplished something getting past it. Now for the last exercise of book one.
Just got through exercise 42. I think this is where I peaced out last time and said thanks for the fish. Time for a pan galactic gargleblaster. 
