Mr Fretbuzz Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Although I posted a bit earlier elsewhere about 3 books I'm looking at, I thought it might be a good idea to start a new thread that would allow some reviews or recommendations matched to users searches for recommended books on specific topics... ( eg hip hop...I've only seen 1 book on that advertised but not had it to read... but 1 book is better than none I guess if you wanted to join a hip hop band ). There are so many blues books to choose from and it would be very costly to get them all If I'm not practising Bass, being taught Bass, listening to Bass, I try to read some... I guess its all practice in different forms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fretbuzz Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 Sitting in a Captain's chair, in front of my iMac , with my Squire P plugged into an Orange Micro Crush playing some really cool blues tracks/examples from Bass Builders Blues Bass The Complete Method by Jon Liebman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigLicks67 Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 Building Walking Bass Lines by Ed Friedland. If like me you are a beginner in the mysterious world of jazz style walking bass lines then this is a good place to start. It comes with a cd and encourages you to write your own bass lines (on paper) to get a better understanding of what you are doing. It's music notation only (no tab) so you will need a basic understanding of music to start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fretbuzz Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 As a newbie to 5 string, 5 String Bass by Stephan Richter is great for technical stuff over all 5 strings. In fact, I'd recommend anything by him. I've got 13 of his books and they are all really useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myke Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 For learning to sight read which I am atm 'Simplified sight reading for bass' by Josquin Des Pres is really good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fretbuzz Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 His book on finger exercises is class. I've just got his funk book too but that seems to be difficult . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakforest5961 Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Title: [b]Reggae Bass[/b] Subtitle: The Complete Guide to Reggae and Jamaican Bass Styles Author: [b]Ed Friedland[/b] Publisher: Hal Leonard Series: Bass Builders ISBN: 978-0-7935-7994-5 Year: 1998 Format: paperback Number of pages (not counting the valueless lead-in ones): 28 CD included: Yes Format of the written music: notation and tab Level: there's nothing too taxing, and with the help of the CD a beginner could use this book Cost: in July 2013 it was selling on amazon.co.uk for £8.99. Does any piece of the written music require you to turn a page over: yes, 1 piece. [u]Executive Summary[/u]: More a fun play-along than instructional. I own a copy of the book and have worked through it from start to finish. The book's subtitle is rubbish. The book is a bit more of a history guide, giving short example basslines from all the eras of reggae in the order, early ska (2 examples), rock steady (16 examples), reggae (12 examples), roots reggae (8 examples), modern ska (2 examples), and dancehall (6 examples). But since the basslines only start on page 11 and finish on page 29, it's very much a race through time rather than a "Complete Guide". The examples range in size from 1 bar to 40 bars. The basslines are all introduced as "in the style of" / "similar to" <well known song name>. The bassline is then pretty much the line used in a well known recording of the <well known song name>. You can use these references as a spring-board into listening to more material by the original artists of the styles you like best. There isn't a great deal of instruction. I felt that I would have benefitted more if there had been more pointing out of the detailed characteristics of the basslines, or bar by bar analysis, or even a 'notice the use of chord progression I-IV in this song'. To know at the end of each section that if you 'play like this' you will sound like you are playing reggae bass or ska bass, or whatever, you need to do most of the analysis/understanding work yourself. This may be the best way to a deeper understanding, but it doesn't help those who need more help generally, and I always worry that I might have missed something. To be fair to the book, it does not claim to be anything other than a "Guide"; but to be fair to the reader, the book should not claim to be "The Complete Guide". I suspect that most people's expectations of the book would not be achieved. The included CD:[list] [*]46 tracks to play along to [*]the tracks are short - the longest is 1 minute 25 seconds [*]the music is real instruments played by real musicians [*]the bass is on the left channel, so can be 'turned off' [*]each track has a drum stick count in [/list] The last three bullet points here are really important characteristics of play-along CDs, so it's good to see them. I felt that the CD was good quality, regardless of the shortness of the tracks. I thoroughly enjoyed playing along and have dipped back in several times to my favourites. If you want to see the man himself play along to some of the tracks on the CD, Ed has a sales pitch video for his book: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-dAZrBlGOY[/media]. (It's not a hard-sell video, so worth a look.) It may not be quite what you'd hope or expect, but if you are just getting into playing reggae bass then I believe that you will not be wasting your time and that you will definitely get your money's worth buying this book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 [quote name='Mr Fretbuzz' timestamp='1363121570' post='2008969'] I've got 13 of his books and they are all really useful. [/quote] Anyone who takes 13 books to explain how to play bass is either struggling to communicate or writing [i]really[/i] short books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrinkleygit Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Hi bilbo, did you ever finish writing your jazz standards book, mike b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fretbuzz Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 ....... Come across a couple of good books on the blues, both by Mel Bay The School of the Blues :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 [quote name='wrinkleygit' timestamp='1373211705' post='2134748'] Hi bilbo, did you ever finish writing your jazz standards book, mike b [/quote] Not sure what you mean. Have published a book on Paul Chambers but that is all I was working on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakforest5961 Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Title: [b]Bass Styles[/b] Subtitle: The Ultimate Guide to Playing Bass in Any Genre Author: [b]Stuart Clayton[/b] Publisher: smt (www.musicsales.com) ISBN: 1-84609-500-X Year: 2006 Format: paperback Number of pages that matter: 119 CD included: Yes Format of the written music: notation and tab Level: Intermediate and above Cost: in October 2013 it was selling on amazon.co.uk for £13.63. Does any piece of the written music require you to turn a page over: yes, two smaller pieces and all of the end of chapter pieces. The latter cannot fit on two facing pages, so it is fair enough for them to require page turning. I own a copy of the book and have worked through a lot of it. The book's subtitle is somewhat grand and over the top, since the book covers the following six styles: Blues, Rock, Disco, Funk, Reggae and Jazz. True, that covers a lot, but still... I suspect that the subtitle is just publisher hype. According to the Introduction, "Bass Styles is aimed at the bassist who is already able to play to a reasonable standard and has become confident enough on the instrument to want to develop a wider vocabulary." The book actually starts with the chapter 'Bass Playing Tips'. This chapter has no audio exercises. The chapter has subsections like Understanding Pitch, Understanding Tablature, The Major Scale and Fingerstyle Playing. I felt that this chapter was out of place in the book: there are plenty of books on these basics; a book on "Bass Styles" could surely assume this knowledge and start from there. That then reduces the number of Bass Styles pages that matter by 18 to 101. Each chapter has subsections called A Brief History of <bass style>, Defining Characteristics of <bass style>, 20 <bass style> Songs You MUST Hear, and Well Known <bass style> Bass Players. I found the 'Defining Characteristics' subsections too short given the title of the book. This, of all things, was what I wanted to really know about, but a much deeper drilling down, analysis, deconstruction and construction would be needed. Each chapter has a number of short example bass lines, with commentary, from that chapter's style, and finishes with a longer piece. The number of example pieces per chapter is:[list] [*]Blues: 18 [*]Rock: 15 [*]Disco: 15 [*]Funk: 15 [*]Reggae: 14 [*]Jazz: 14 [/list] What I really like about the book is that you can work through each chapter and then ask yourself, 'is this a style I really want to play?' Or be honest with yourself and ask, 'is this a style that I have the ability to play?' If it isn't then you can save yourself pursuing that style any further and concentrate on the style(s) for which the answer is 'Yes'. In other words, it can help focus your learning efforts and help you to understand your own preferences if you don't already know them. Alternatively, the book can also be seen as one for someone who wants to be a bit of an all-rounder; if you are good enough, you could work through the sections and figure out what makes bass lines of that style and then be ready to apply yourself fairly widely. I'm not sure that I would say that the book actually teaches you how to play in a certain style; it does give some pointers and examples, but the rest is very much up to you. If you want or need more hand holding, then you will need to look further afield. To give you an idea of where each chapter ends up you can watch the very capable Pornpot Pongsiwasathit on YouTube as he plays the end of chapter playalongs. (Sorry, it appears that only two links to 'media files' are allowed per post; for the rest you can still copy and paste the web addresses into your browser.) Blues: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcL6x3SPpiw[/media] Rock: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQANkzhb828[/media] Disco: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPYxv-gkqyM Funk: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzlyIae8tR0 Reggae: www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9awORIAHVg&NR=1 Jazz: he hasn't done one for this (yet?) The included CD:[list] [*]95 tracks to play along to [*]the chapter example/exercise tracks are short - the longest is 1 minute 12 seconds; the end of chapter playalongs are all between 2 and 3 minutes long. [*]the music is real instruments played by real musicians [*]the bass is on the right channel, so can be 'turned off' [*]each track has a high hat count off [/list] So a definite thumbs up for the CD. I found playing along to most of the exercises was great fun, and I enjoy dipping back into them as and when the mood takes me. This book is a brave attempt at its goal, and might achieve that goal for more able players then me; I need more help than I found here, and some of my comments are coloured by my skill level. A book will never replace a one-to-one with a good teacher, but credit where credit's due, this book is excellent value for money. Although this book is published by smt, Stuart has set up Bassline Publishing ([url="http://www.basslinepublishing.com"]http://www.basslinepublishing.com[/url]) where you can find some of his other works. Stuart is an active member of basschat.co.uk, and if you are reading this Stuart I would like to say thank you for writing this book; I hope you feel that my review is fair and accurate. Of course, my opinion is just my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakforest5961 Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 Title: [b]The Lost Art of Country Bass[/b] Subtitle: An Inside Look at Country Bass for Electric and Upright Players Author: [b]Keith Rosier[/b] (with an acute accent on the e in his surname) Publisher: Hal-Leonard Series: Bass Builders ISBN: 978-0-7935-6992-2 Year: 1997 Format: paperback Number of pages that matter: 51 CD included: Yes Format of the written music: notation and tab Level: Beginner and Intermediate Cost: in March 2014 it was selling on amazon.co.uk for £12.45. Does any piece of the written music require you to turn a page over: Yes, one piece. I own a copy of the book and have worked through it. The Introduction says, "The Lost Art of Country Bass allows bass players to develop a feel for country bass playing. Bass lines are presented in the style of the famous bassists who helped develop this art form." Well, he is correct in that you will develop a feel, though no more than that, and maybe he is famous in the country bass world (I don't know) but two or three of the style pieces appear to be by Rosier himself. The general pattern of the first useful two thirds of this book is sections titled "The Style of <artist's name>", where there are a few paragraphs about the artist followed by one or more bass lines in the style of songs by the said artist. I say "artist" rather than "bassist" because some of the artists are not bassists at all. To be specific, these sections, with the number of bass lines in each, are:[list] [*]The Style of Allen Williams (3) [*]The Style of Lefty Frizzell (3) [*]The Style of Ray Price (4) [*]The Style of Cedric Rainwater (1) [*]The Style of Bob Moore (5) [*]The Style of Glenn Worf (2) [*]The Style of Heather Myles (2) [*]The Style of Rick Shea (1) [*]The Style of Leland Sklar (1) [/list] The other useful third of this book focuses on music style rather than bassist style. A (very) few words are said about each style, followed by a bass line in that style. The styles are:[list] [*]Ballad [*]Waltz [*]Walking Waltz [*]Rockin' Country [*]Ten-Step [*]Latin Bass [*]Country Rock [*]Walk-Up and Walk-Down [/list] Every bass line in the book is, with band, on the included CD. An Essential Listening list is given. Rosier has some clear opinions: "Playing scales, reading music, and playing grooves with a metronome are the key ingredients of a bassist's daily practice schedule. [...] If you find yourself just 'noodling' around on your bass and not interested in playing your best, I recommend you put your bass away until you feel inspired to play some serious bass." (I have to ask why this paragraph was given a whole page to itself; I only omitted two sentences from it here!) There are also some plugs, which rather jarred with me, and are now somewhat dated in their feel: <artist's name>'s albums are available from <name and address of a record shop>! There are 10 pages about gear. Why is this material using up valuable space in such a rarity as a book about country bass? One is working through the book: 'The Style of So And So', 'The Style of Such And Such', and then suddenly 'Know Your Bass' with info on how to set up your bass! Such material belongs in another book, and there are plenty such books already. Thus, unfortunately, this book has unnecessary 'padding', which is why I reckon that only 51 of the 80 pages matter. I think it's there because Rosier has his own opinion to express and he's taking the chance to do so; it's based on his own experience, so one could say it has value, but I feel that the book would have benefitted by replacing all of the padding with analysis of the bass lines: Rosier is very wordy about gear and practicing, and very terse (sometimes saying nothing at all) about the details of the bass line structure and note choice. The included CD:[list] [*]33 tracks to play along to [*]the longest track is 3 minutes 8 seconds; the shortest is 30 seconds [*]the music is real instruments played by real musicians [*]the bass is more on the left channel, so can be 'turned down' [*]the tracks DO NOT have any count in, which is annoying [/list] I'll probably go to Country hell for this, but it was nice to play along to country tunes where there were no vocals. Of course, you can read other reviews of this book on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com. There is a thread on talkbass.com with a lot of praise for this book ([url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f179/country-bass-walk-438411"]http://www.talkbass....ass-walk-438411[/url]). I don't think that this book teaches you country bass; it is just a bunch of examples of the style, the rest is up to you. If you are good enough to learn by example alone, then great, but I think this book is a missed opportunity. Nevertheless, if you are in any way interested in bass for American country music then you won't be wasting your time getting hold of this book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
converse320 Posted December 14, 2016 Share Posted December 14, 2016 I am a novice bass player. I am enjoying using "Alfreds basic bass method". Its very logical and nicely paced - good place to start I think, and not just a load of pieces to play. It actually gets you thinking as well as playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 I think the Hal Leonard Bass Builders are an excellent resource covering lots of different aspects of Bass Playing from Bass Fitness exercises upwards via Pentatonics, Fingerboard Harmony and different styles - praise to Ed Friedland, Jon Liebman and Gary Willis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfred Posted August 15, 2020 Share Posted August 15, 2020 Soul Essentials - 500 Bass Patterns in All Keys https://www.alfredkallfass.de/buch?lang=en New book for everyone who seriously wants to improve their sight reading skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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