Product Description

Do you learn faster by seeing and doing than by wading through tedious instructions? Then pick up a bass guitar and start plucking! With Teach Yourself VISUALLY Bass Guitar, you'll quickly progress from playing notes to experimenting with plucking and slap-and-pop techniques. You'll learn about tuning, fretboard fingerings, alternate fingerings, down picking, palm muting, and more. The bass usually sets the tempo, so you'll learn basic note values plus common popular rhythms from straight rock to syncopated reggae. Downloadable MP3 files on wiley.com complement the book and let you hear exactly how things are supposed to sound as you play.

Concise two-page lessons show you all the steps to a skill and are ideal for quick review

• Each skill or technique is defined and described
• Step-by-step instructions accompany each photo
• Detailed color photos demonstrate each step
• Helpful tips provide additional guidance

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67925 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-18
• Released on: 2007-02-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470048504
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Ryan Williams is a bassist based in Indianapolis, Indiana. He’s shared the stage and studio with everybody and everything from Grammy-award-winning hip-hop artists to a full band of bagpipes and drums. He received his master’s degree in music technology from the Indiana University School of Music in 2003. He’s the author of Windows XP Digital Music For Dummies, and has written several articles and tutorials on music and music technology for several publications and websites. He’s a frequent panelist on digital music and home studios at music conferences around the nation.

Technical editor Richard Hammond, originally from New Zealand, is now based in New York City. He started playing electric bass at age 13, and by age 20 he was one of the most in-demand acoustic and electric bassists in Auckland, playing numerous studio, touring, and television dates. He moved to Boston’s Berklee College of Music in 1991, earning a bachelor’s degree in performance, after which followed a master’s degree in jazz from the Manhattan School of Music in 1996. Richard quickly established himself as a musician able to move freely between a vast array of styles with equal depth, fluidity, and sense of groove. As a professional bassist, he has recorded and toured with a diverse array of bands and solo artists, including Jonatha Brooke, Chiara Civello, the East Village Opera Company, Erasure, House of Red, Anjelique Kidjo, and Dar Williams.

Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself VISUALLY Bass Guitar (Teach Yourself Visually)
Exceptional book. Extremely easy to follow and is very methodical in explaining all the facet (to include reading the bass clef staff and scales) of learning to play the bass guitar.

Great for Beginners
I bought this book to teach myself the bass guitar. So far so good! The book is very visual, bright coloured pictures to support the theory and practical exercises. This is very helpful in playing the right way!

My only hang up is that I found the book could have been sorted a bit better, in terms of the topics. But this is not a problem since each chapter can be read alone, due to the way it is seperated by topics. This is very uselful for people who may already have some experience, they can skip to areas they need.

Overall the book is excellent and has helped me a lot as a beginner. I can easily recommend it!

Not very helpful
This book does not systematically teach a person how to play. It includes very little written notes and does not have easy to follow exercises to learn a bit each day. I already read music and wanted simple exercises to help learn technique and locations of the notes on the strings.