which scale book?

The Bass Grimoire has every chord and scale and every possible combination you would ever encounter. My vote is for the BG.

 

The Bass Grimoire is just a ton of information without application or context. It's like reading a dictionary to try and learn to speak English. My vote is for the other book.

 

+100 on this ! without the proper application any scale is just a bunch of notes.The grimoire will not help you understand why you are using xyz scale over a certain passage or chord IMO...

 

where W = whole tone, H = semitone, 3 = a minor third:

The major scale: WWHWWWH
The harmonic minor scale: WHWWH3H
The (ascending) melodic minor scale: WHWWWWH
The half/whole diminished scale: HWHWHWHW
The whole tone scale: WWWWWWW

Learn all of that in all 12 keys, 2 octaves, all the modes of each. I just saved you 20 bucks.

As has been mentioned by others, a book which is just a list of scales is not especially useful, and really doesn't have much more information in it than I just gave you.

 

We need to clarify that a minor 3rd is three semitones. Some people might get confused otherwise.

 

LOL

Watch your back the theory lawyers are sniffing about.

 

I'll tell ya one thing when I look at a book to buy, if its got what I call "profound knowledge" on each page...then I buy it. If its got one thing like the Ionian Scale on every page in different keys, they are selling you fluff. Each page should really teach something new and build. That's all. I agree with the fellow above that saved you twenty bucks.....but I even maintain that you don't really even need the Harmonic and melodic Minors.....unless you are playing jazz. There's a lifetime of practicing and learning with the Major Scale and all its modes. If you're playing from the Great American rock book....especially.

 

As a general rule of thumb, when approaching theory topics I avoid anything that is marketed as directly applicable to any one instrument or group of instruments (especially bass and guitar).

The issue with this sort of education is that it often teaches you fingering patterns upon fingering patterns ad nauseam while neglecting things that really matter: the construction of the scale, the sound, the use and context.

I typically go for RCM and other standardized equivalence texts.