Product Description

Shake the earth with deep, sonorous vibrations. Be the force that relentlessly drives the music. Rumble like the ominous thunder of an approaching storm. For you, it's not enough just to be heard; you need to be felt, too. You need to play bass guitar.

Imagine your favorite music without bass. It doesn't work, does it? The bass is the heartbeat of the music, the foundation of the groove, and the glue that holds together all the different instruments. You can feel the vibrations of the low notes – sometimes subtle and caressing, sometimes literally earthshaking – as they propel the song. The bass is the heart. So leave center stage to the other musicians – you have more important work to do. The limelight may be cool, but bassists rule!

You can find everything you need to dominate the bass in Bass Guitar For Dummies – whether you're a beginner picking up a bass for the first time or an experienced player looking for way to improve. And you won't drown in complicated music theory, either; this easy-to-understand reference gives you just enough music theory to get you on your way.

Bass Guitar For Dummies includes the following topics and more:

• Exploring the anatomy of a bass guitar
• Getting started: Holding your bass, positioning your hands, and striking notes
• Reading bass notation and understanding chords, scales, and octaves
• Creating a groove and playing solos and fills
• Examining different bass-playing styles, from rock and funk to blues and reggae
• Caring for your bass: Cleaning, changing strings, and so on
• Buying your own bass and accessories
• Top Ten lists on bassists you should know about

Bass Guitar For Dummies also comes with a CD that includes audio clips of all the examples in the book.

So put away the air bass guitar and get yourself the real thing. With the help of Bass Guitar For Dummies, you'll be groovin' in your own band in no time!

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15054 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 360 pages

From the Back Cover
"Patrick's teaching method showed me how to connect the bits of technique I'd collected into a playing style."
—Adam Clayton, Bass Player, U2

Play rock, blues, jazz, country, new wave, and Latin

Get ready to rock and roll on the bass — even if you can't read music!

Want to play bass? This instrumental guide shows you how, with expert advice in everything from choosing your bass to playing basic scales to improvising lead solos. You'll discover how to tune your bass and keep it in great shape, as well as left- and right-hand techniques, timing tips, and in-depth examples in various musical styles.

All this on the audio CD

• Author demonstrates the rhythms so you can hear how it's done
• Exercises help you master grooves and reproduce the sound
• Hear sample rhythms played with a real drummer
• Put your fretting skills to the test

About the Author
Patrick Pfeiffer has been a professional bassist for more than 25 years. He played with Paul Griffin from Steely Dan and also taught Adam Clayton of U2.

Customer Reviews

Groovy bass book!
I'm a new bass player and this book is great -- I actually sleep with it, hoping to absorb even more through osmosis. I love Patrick's straight-forward approach and sense of humor. While I haven't looked at many other bass guitar books, I like how this one uses music, tabulature and the grid to show what to play. The initial/basic exercises are great for a beginner like myself, and make of lot of sense in the learning process. The CD is helpful, but it keeps playing straight through from one example/track to the next. I might need to change the settings on my computer or CD player, but I think it would be better if it stopped after each track so I could manually play the tracks, one-by-one, and look at the book at the same time to see exactly what is being played. Hopefully, when I become a great bass player, after using this book and practicing a lot, I will be quoted on the cover :) right up there with Adam Clayton.

Learning the bass in a funny way
I simply love the "For Dummies" book series. So, as a beginner in playing the bass, I had to purchase this book immediately and I found out that it's exactly as I expected: an introduction to the world of bass guitar, written in a funny manner, without the usual boring details that a "normal" guide would provide.

GREAT BOOK
BOOK AND CD ARE A GREAT LEARNING TOOL BOTH WERE VERY GOOD.I RECOMEND IT FOR ANYONE JUST STARTING OUT LEARNING BASS GUITAR.