Product Description

The purpose of this book is to provide the aspiring bass player with a wide variety of finger exercises for developing the techniques necessary to succeed in today's music scene. It can also play an important role in a bass player's daily practicing program. The 200 exercises are designed to help increase your speed, improve your dexterity, develop accuracy and promote finger independence. Recommended by world-acclaimed bass players, music schools and music magazines, this is the ultimate bass handbook. The added use of photos makes the lessons complete!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #167368 in Books
• Published on: 1991-05-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 72 pages

Customer Reviews

You will be able to finger anything after going through this book
This is a 4 string bass book but I don't see why you couldn't use it for 6 string guitar - or any other fretted instrument. This book does not contain any songs, scales or music theory. It's just pages of left hand finger exercises. Of course doing them will also exercise your right hand as you pick. This isn't a book that you master from cover to cover before moving onto your next book. Rather it's a book that you can use 15-20 minutes a day every day as a warm up before moving onto the book you use to learn songs or theory from. Unlike song and theory/technique books which don't serve much purpose once you know the material, this book is something you can use every day for years to come.

After just 15 minutes of doing the exercises on the first page I was able to play a middle eastern pattern that I had been struggling with for weeks. If you play with a metronome as the author suggests, much sooner than later you will be physically able to play any song you want. How to read that song, however, is not what this book is about. This book will also help you develop a fluid wrist. The more fluid my left wrist the more solid my tone and the less buzz I get no matter how many frets my fingers are spread across. Between this and the book "Fretboard Roadmaps Bass Guitar" you'll develop great bass skills.

Skills aside, I'm looking forward to trying a book that will help develop the feel of a bass player and get how a bass player fits in and interacts with a band. That's where Ed Friedland's "Bass Grooves: Develop Your Groove and Play Like the Pros in Any Style," comes in. Friedland writes out the drum machine parts for you to program into your drum machine to accompany the bass. Personally I'll just play and record them myself on my kit and then try the bass lesson with the track I will have just recorded. As another reviewer stated, if you have no intention of getting a drum machine (or you don't record your own drum tracks) skip this book. The person the bass player has to interact with the most and the tightest is the drummer. A bass player that can work with any drummer will always be in demand so get these three books and have fun.

Does what it says on the tin.
This book has helped add a much needed dimension to my practice routine. I have improved my strength, speed, and accuracy by applying the techniques in this book. Some people may think it's superfluous, because most of the exercises are pretty common-sense and many are available elsewhere on the internet free of charge. I knew this when I purchased it, because I wanted a hard-copy volume to reference to. This book does exactly what it says on the tin. If you are teaching yourself to play the electric bass, or if you are in need of some supplementary help to surprise your teacher or band mates, then buy this book. It should be noted, however, that this book will only help you if you practice the exercises for 15 minutes on top of your normal hour-a-day practice schedule. I can't fault this book in any way, because if you follow the directions word-for-word, it will do exactly what it advertises.

SHHHH... don't tell anyone
Please keep quiet about this book, now that I have it, no one else needs to know! Okay, yeah, you'll improve a lot in a short time (if you're honest with yourself and practice it), but why bother? I also have other books by Mr. des Pres that have helped, but not as much as this one. This book if followed will only allow you to develop a higher level of dexterity and acuracy. You don't need that! Instead buy something to trick out your axe so you'll look cool without sounding that way. But if you insist on buying this, and practice it consistently, you'll get more gigs, don't say I didn't warn you!