Best techniques book?

[TheDisparities]

I've been playing for about a year but would like to progress a bit further. Which is the best book for this job? preferably with tabs Cheers

Edited April 21, 2010 by TheDisparities

[Doddy]

It depends what areas you are looking at improving.

I really like Ed Friedland's books-particularly 'Building...' and 'Expanding Walking Basslines'. 'The Working Bassist's Toolkit' is
also very good. Paul Westwood's 'Bass Bible' has some good stuff in it.
'Improvisor's Bass Method' and 'Concepts in Bass Soloing' are very good aswell.
There are a lot of good books out there,these are just a few that I like.

As you said preferably with tabs,I'm going to suggest looking at 'Simplified Sight-reading for Bass'. If you get some reading
under your belt,you will be able to get the benefit of books like 'Standing in the Shadows of Motown'.
As easy as tab may seem at the moment(i don't think it is personally),you are basically limiting yourself as to what material
you can study out of,as pretty much all of the best material is written in standard notation.

Also as good as books are,they are no substitute for a good teacher. This would be the best way of improving your playing
as you would have someone to point out the mistakes you my let slip on your own,and you will progress quicker.

[thepurpleblob]

[quote name='Doddy' post='814422' date='Apr 21 2010, 10:39 PM']It depends what areas you are looking at improving.

I really like Ed Friedland's books-particularly 'Building...' and 'Expanding Walking Basslines'. 'The Working Bassist's Toolkit' is
also very good. Paul Westwood's 'Bass Bible' has some good stuff in it.
'Improvisor's Bass Method' and 'Concepts in Bass Soloing' are very good aswell.
There are a lot of good books out there,these are just a few that I like.

As you said preferably with tabs,I'm going to suggest looking at 'Simplified Sight-reading for Bass'. If you get some reading
under your belt,you will be able to get the benefit of books like 'Standing in the Shadows of Motown'.
As easy as tab may seem at the moment(i don't think it is personally),you are basically limiting yourself as to what material
you can study out of,as pretty much all of the best material is written in standard notation.

Also as good as books are,they are no substitute for a good teacher. This would be the best way of improving your playing
as you would have someone to point out the mistakes you my let slip on your own,and you will progress quicker.[/quote]

Vote +1 for learning some notation. It's well worth the bother. You'll be surprised how much better your technique gets while you've been distracted by learning "the dots". It's not even particularly difficult to crack the basics and opens up lots of possibilities.

You can't go far wrong with Ed Friedland's stuff. He's very down to earth and his books tend to contain useful stuff rather than the usual mind-numbing, repetitive exercise nonsense.

[Bilbo]

Learn to read. Its more use to you than double thumbing, two handed tapping and playing solo chordal pieces on 42 string basses. After a relatively short time. you will be able to practice things that take you out of your comfort zone and introduce new variables into you playing. It will also make you a cut above most players and very employable. Anything else is just a series of party tricks that will impress a minority and bring you no discernable benefits as a player and/or professional.

[XB26354]

... and get Chord Studies For Electric Bass by Rich Appleman and Joseph Viola. Reading practie, chord tones, chromatic approach notes, low register exercises and jazz tips in one slim volume. Plus it'll kick your butt every day