Starting again

[Ross]

Hi,
I haven't played bass in about a year, busy with work and college and whatnot.
Now I've finally found time for it in my life again, today I dusted off my trusty old jazz and gave it a tune up, only when I went to play something it dawned on me. I've forgotten almost every piece of music I've learn and most of what I've written, all the theory, my fretting hand is far from agile and clearly I've lost whatever bit of skill I ever had.
I'm an unemployed student at the moment, until I find a job I can't afford classical training (though I'm a strong believer that it is the way forward) but I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good book I could start again from? Or generally the best way to go about this.
Cheers,
Ross

[bassbora]

Did you find any information? I see no one replied to you and was wandering if you still needed some ideas.

I've been playing for around 20 years and have taught bass as well to a fairly high level. What kind of music are you interested in? Do you read music or is it just tab? What do you want to get out of studying?

The last one question is probably the most important. If you are doing this just for your own entertainment but also to improve but you are not planning to become a virtuoso or professional I would find music that I enjoy and is challenging and therefore will improve me as a player. If you are wanting to take this to a high level then I would work on reading (that skill will enable you to tackle more complicated music and open so many doors) and theory. These are just some quick thoughts but I could recommend books if you tell me what level you are at with reading (tab) or theory.

I'm also sure that most users here have different ideas for you as well.

[Ross]

[quote name='bassbora' post='1022290' date='Nov 13 2010, 11:25 AM']Did you find any information? I see no one replied to you and was wandering if you still needed some ideas.

I've been playing for around 20 years and have taught bass as well to a fairly high level. What kind of music are you interested in? Do you read music or is it just tab? What do you want to get out of studying?

The last one question is probably the most important. If you are doing this just for your own entertainment but also to improve but you are not planning to become a virtuoso or professional I would find music that I enjoy and is challenging and therefore will improve me as a player. If you are wanting to take this to a high level then I would work on reading (that skill will enable you to tackle more complicated music and open so many doors) and theory. These are just some quick thoughts but I could recommend books if you tell me what level you are at with reading (tab) or theory.

I'm also sure that most users here have different ideas for you as well.[/quote]
I've found a bit, started playing a few songs etc.
I'm interested in all sorts of music, mainly rock and funk stuff where bass is concerned. But I listen to a wide variety of music, I'll hear anything out once.
I can read music, I hate tabs. I can't sight read though, progress is always slow, I tend to learn things by ear if I can't get notation but it takes me a long time.
I'd really like to build up to sight reading.

I want to get a high level of musical skill, I live in a house with 3 music students, one of whom thinks he's the sh*t, and theres a bit of competition there. But mostly just to start enjoy playing again, when you aren't very good it's just a bit boring.

I've been playing music I enjoy playing, who songs mainly as I really like Entwhistle's style of playing. But I want to gain a greater understanding of music at the same time if that makes sense?
I can just about read music, I learnt to do a bit on my music tech course in college. As far as theory goes I've forgotten almost everything I learnt about bass theory which is my main challenge at the moment.
Also taken up flute tonight (the joys of living in a house full of instruments) in a hope that will help me with my music reading and theory skills. I'm terrible at the moment but hopefully it'll help me.

Any recommendations you can make would be much appreciated.

Edited November 17, 2010 by Ross

[fatback]

Went back to bass myself after a long layoff and found the most useful thing was to split the job in two.

Firstly putting together a bunch of exercises to get the fingers working (and buying a metronome). Second, getting well on top of harmony, so i could read a chord chart again (much more useful than tabs). Almost all the materials came off the net.

For theory, i found this one good, but the more sources the better the chance of understanding, so i wouldn't just stick to one.

[url="http://ravenspiral.com/rsg2mt/rsg2mt.pdf"]http://ravenspiral.com/rsg2mt/rsg2mt.pdf[/url]

Then just practice, really.

[WILD FROG SHOT]

Start working through the Major's boot camp thread pinned at the top of the Theory and Technique forum.

[bassbora]

Well here are some suggestions and its only something has suited me. I had three different teachers back in the day when I was starting out and they all kind of went for the same approach material wise when teaching. Because this was a Uni level studies I went to separate theory classes (basic theory, ear training, jazz chord progression and improvisation). All these classes did not have books mostly jazz charts and a lot of info provided on black board but if you are wanting this kind of information as well I could also suggest some books which have been very helpful for me.

All teachers had classical music. Bach is very popular in this case and you should be able to find books on Amazon called Bach for bass or something like that. Bach stuff is really good for technique. These are often pieces of music written for other instruments such as cello or trombone so will give you good work out.

One of the guys used Latin rhythms which was great for working on timing. Possibles are Funkifying the Clave: Afro-Cuban Grooves for Bass and Drums but you could look for Latin Bass on Amazon. Also loads of stuff you can find on the Internet (Google is the bassist's best friend).

For theory and jazz I have found the books by Ed Friedland really good and have few of them myself which I have used for my students.

But here are the biggies and remember this is only my personal view and has suited me because I loved the music. Its the three Js.

For rock John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin is brilliant. I love the music you might not but try to nail songs such as Good times, bad times Ramble on and Lemon Song. This will really be good for you reading as well. One of my teachers got these back in the day to get me some more rock and not just all the jazz he was feeding me.

Jaco is the groove and tone monster for me. When I heard him play for the first time I was so blown away and inspired. You might not like him so I would check out stuff on youtube before buying. But here are the books The Essential Jaco Pastorius and Jaco Pastorius: The Greatest Jazz - Fusion Bass Player.

Both JPJ and Jaco have tab which I hate but what I did back in the day was photocopy the song I was playing and cutting the music off and gluing on another page.

But here is the best advise I can give and that is James Jamerson. Standing in the Shadows of Motown: The Life and Music of Legendary Bassist James Jamerson. This book is highly recommended to any serious bassist. No tab here so this is for sight reading. I was not into Motown at all before one of my teachers introduced me to this book. Songs are at all levels here but you should be able to start out with the simpler songs and move on to the more complicated stuff. I still come back to this book when I am trying out stuff and I have used it for teaching and one of my students actually bought the book he liked it so much. The material in this book will stretch you rhythm wise and reading wise. This book along with the JPJ stuff brought me leaps forward as a bass player.

I have also always gone back to Red Hot Chili Peppers and then specially The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik. Flea plays brilliantly on this album and you will actually find similarities with Jamerson in some of the lines.

You might also want to check out Rocco Prestia (I have not looked into that myself so I dont know if those books are good or not)

But you can also find transcriptions online of many great songs. All kinds of material is available here on basschat as well and people are all willing to share their experiences and what has worked for them and what has not. What worked for me might not work for you so these are just my thoughts but I hope it helps you in some way.

[bassbora]

And just after I sent in my reply I see that someone (sorry cant remember the username) has posted ramble on transcription. So I am not the only one suggesting JPJ.

Also I forgot to mention you will find stuff Nate Watts has done with Stevie Wonder. Someone recently had on here Do I Do which is a good start and try to find Master Blaster.

[BobTheBassist]

I ended ended up in a similar possistion after sticking the stem of a wine glass into the palm of my fretting hand. Couldn't play for over a year and when I could it was slowly and painfully. I found this [url="http://www.studybass.com/"]http://www.studybass.com/[/url] very helpful.

[quote name='Ross' post='1026560' date='Nov 17 2010, 12:55 AM']As far as theory goes I've forgotten almost everything I learnt about bass theory which is my main challenge at the moment.[/quote]

As the website I've given says, you don't need to know music theory to play music anymore than you need to know the theory of gravity to stop flying of the face of the earth!