Where to start with jazz? Both theory for bass and understanding of the genre itself?

[bassickman]

Can anyone help? Books or videos? Blogs or anything...

Love jazz but want to understand more...

[louisthebass]

Haven't got it, but the Mark Levein (sp?) book is considered to be a bit of a bible when it comes to jazz theory.

If you're looking to learn jazz bass lines, Scott Devine & Dave Marks have got videos on YT - bookwise, get the Ed Freidland books on the subject.

[Bilbo]

Mark Levine's Jazz Theory is the book louis refers to.

Best place to start is Spotify. Listen to as much Jazz as you can and then get a couple of Jamey Aebersold's play-a-longs and have a go. Or get a teacher who knows Jazz. Any walking bass line book with get you stared (they all contain the same information just laid out differently). Once you get the basic principles, you just do it as much as you can and learn as you go.

[bassfunk]

Another good tool jakebass introduced me to is irealb. It's an app that has loads of backing tracks, and you can create your own. you can play jazz standards with our without the bass, I've been using it to practice arrpeggios over chord changes and ii-v-i etc.

[davey_one_visits]

I was asking the same question a couple of years ago. I recommend the following:

Listen to as much as possible and learn about the history and the different movements over the years like swing, big band, bebop, hardbop, fusion etc. Try Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington. Also check out the bassists Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Charles Mingus, Red Mitchell, Jaco Pasorious.

Books that I've found helpful have been Ed Friedlands building walking basslines and Jazz Bass.

Study some Jazz standards such as Autumn Leaves, All the Things You Are, Blue Bossa. Look for the common chord progressions that pop up such as the blues and the II V I.

Transcribe some basslines from the pros and try to work out how it works against the chords.

Lastly check out Scott Devines website. It has tones of free stuff but also has some packages available with detailed 'how to' videos and backing tracks with real drums. It's by far the best thing I've purchased for learning jazz.

Hope this helps.

[davey_one_visits]

Sorry I've just realised I have repeated some of the advice already given.

[ZMech]

Kinda echoing the previous posts, but thought I'd write this anyway.

[b]Albums[/b]
I'd go with these four to start with as an introduction, they should be easily approachable:

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Bill Evans - Waltz for Debby
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um

Everyone would have their own version of this list, but it's the same four I've suggested to several mates who're all now into jazz so it seems to suffice.

[b]Playing[/b]
So start with just learning walking basslines. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilh4uMAdss8"]Scott's lesson on[/url] this ain't a bad place to start. I've got a pdf copy of the realbook that I can send you if you want, just shoot me a PM. I'd recommend just picking some of the simpler songs to start with, just pick any that look easy, listen through them on youtube and try to play along. A huge amount of the songs are a variation on a 12-bar blues, and so really aren't that scary (trust me on that, I was in your position about two years ago).

Best of luck

Edited May 21, 2012 by ZMech

[bassickman]

Thanks everyone. Much appreciated

[jakenewmanbass]

at the beginning

[lockpicker1969]

ZMech thanks for sharing scotts lessons . i am just starting to learn the double bass is there anything like this for the db around?

[1976fenderhead]

Aebersold.

[ZMech]

[quote name='lockpicker1969' timestamp='1338115524' post='1669710']
ZMech thanks for sharing scotts lessons . i am just starting to learn the double bass is there anything like this for the db around?
[/quote]

Not that I'm aware of I'm afraid. I'd seriously recommend spending the money on some lessons for double bass though, as the forces required from your hands are so much greater than those needed for bass guitar, and so good technique is vital if you want to avoid destroying your hands.

[lockpicker1969]

[quote name='ZMech' timestamp='1338232112' post='1671301']
Not that I'm aware of I'm afraid. I'd seriously recommend spending the money on some lessons for double bass though, as the forces required from your hands are so much greater than those needed for bass guitar, and so good technique is vital if you want to avoid destroying your hands.
[/quote]

i just cant afford the £30 a lesson
[quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1338117825' post='1669754']
Aebersold.
[/quote]

i can only read tab. i have got myself the jazz upright bass DVD by Ed Friedland. only the book that comes with it is music notation

[lockpicker1969]

[i]i have guitar pro 6 does anybody know if there are any lessons on it[/i]

[ZMech]

[quote name='lockpicker1969' timestamp='1338235888' post='1671408']
i just cant afford the £30 a lesson
[/quote]
Can you afford to get carpal tunnel syndrome?

[Hector]

Lockpicker, why not get just one or two lessons to show you the basics of proper technique? It can make a huge difference and help you avoid all sorts of pain (physical and mental). You don't have to have them regularly, but it's worth having check-ups once in a while to see that you're not developing bad habits (which will be tough to unlearn once you get them). Learning upright is difficult at first, so no need to make it harder for the sake of the odd £30! I'd suggest learning to read music as well, but up to you. Not many double bass methods/teachers/players use tab.

Anyway, my advice for learning jazz is firstly to listen to lots of it!

Also to work from my personal favourite books:

Building Walking Basslines - Ed Friedland
Connecting Chords With Linear Harmony - Bert Ligon
Forward Motion - Hal Galper
The Evolving Bassist - Rufus Reid

All of these will provide several years worth of stuff to work on, but the Friedland book in particular will get you up and running (walking, hah!) fairly quickly.Try working on your ears a lot, not only in terms of working out the harmony of a tune, but also in terms of taking down lines you like the sound of and playing them through all 12 keys. Spend a lot of time with the metronome. Most jazzers want simple lines that are harmonically and rhythmically accurate from their bass player. Sure, the fancy stuff comes eventually, but off that initial solid foundation (which will get you the gigs).

I'd also recommend making good use of the internet whenever you have questions about jazz harmony/theory, as there's a ton of fantastic and readily available information out there. This site, for example, is wicked: [url="http://jazzadvice.com/"]http://jazzadvice.com/[/url] There's always the good people of BassChat to help out as well, of course.

Just remember that playing jazz takes a lot of work, and that there's no substitute for putting in the hours, so no need to cast around endlessly for some magic shortcut way to practice etc. Go get shedding and have fun doing it

Edited May 29, 2012 by Hector

[sarah thomas]

You could find a teacher for less than £30, perhaps. All you need is someone a bit better than you. My teacher charges £20/hr and £10/half hour. He's a final year student at the Royal Welsh college doing a jazz degree on double bass and is a lot better than me! As I suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, I wanted to get things right in the first place. It really is a worthwhile investment. Buying a double bass and not having a few lessons is like buying a car and never putting in any oil.

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='sarah thomas' timestamp='1338290321' post='1672110']
Buying a double bass and not having a few lessons is like buying a car and never putting in any oil.
[/quote]

Already guilty of the second, and about to be guilty of the first, might have to rethink it...

[BottomE]

I use Abersold backing tracks. Shifting the whole stereo track one way will remove the original bassline. If you have a DAW, something like Logic, Pro Tools or Cubase you can record right alongside the original. Great stuff. Combine that with Real Books and you have a lifetime of playing and learning. Real Books also do Bass versions where the melodies are written in Bass Clef.

Good luck

[lockpicker1969]

thanks for all the advice. its looking like i should go for a few lessons at least. i know it will be hard work and i will have to learn to read music.

[Faithless]

yeah, you want to learn how to walk a bassline - you'll get better knowledge of harmony too.

Friedland's book is ok, but there's another book, by Joe Hubbard:

http://www.joehubbardbass.com/769/walking-bass-lines-book-is-ready/

I had both books (I already finished the one written by Joe) I can say that Joe's book is slightly better organized.

You want to get a good teacher, in person, or via SKype (there are a few good ones on BC, like Joe Hubbard, Scott Devine, Jake Newman) for at least one or few lessons, just to get you going.

I've seen people advising Levine's book, but I didn't find very helpful for bass knowledge - it has shitload of examples and stuff, but it's not very well organized. In the end, it focuses on piano, and you're bassplayer, so you want to learn your instrument first.

Books Hector mentioned are really good ones - take a look at them!

[Plarry]

[quote name='davey_one_visits' timestamp='1337629120' post='1663201']
Lastly check out Scott Devines website. It has tones of free stuff but also has some packages available with detailed 'how to' videos and backing tracks with real drums. It's by far the best thing I've purchased for learning jazz.
[/quote]

100% agreed! Scott has probably the best bass ressource out there. I bought his backing tracks a couple of weeks ago. The video lessons included are really awesome and really helped me make huge progress over a very short period of time. Really worth every penny!

[url="http://scottsbasslessons.com/backing-tracks-for-bass"]http://scottsbassles...tracks-for-bass[/url]

Edited July 6, 2012 by Plarry

[tinyd]

The Jazz Bass Book by John Goldsby is well worth adding to the list. It has extensive biogs of players, a great CD, and really nice theory/instructional section.

Edited July 8, 2012 by tinyd