Beginner bass guitar book

duotone

Any recommendations for a complete beginner? Preferably something with a cd, so he can hear how it is supposed to sound.

fretmeister

Stuart Clayton's books are excellent

https://www.basslinepublishing.com/product-category/bass-essentials-series/

Get him reading straight away.

Funkfingers

I have a few surplus tutor books that came bundled with a pre-owned Warwick.

• Bass Fretboard Basics by Paul Farnen, ISBN 0-7935-8195-8
• Slap Bass Essentials by Josquin des Pres & Bunny Brunel, ISBN 0-7935-3743-6 (CD missing)
• One other (if I can find it!) 

Then, there is this. (Jump to 4:00.)

duotone

Cheers @fretmeister ;
Will have a proper look on his website a@ ;

Thanks @Funkfingers ;
I will search those ISBN No’s later on. Really do need something with a cd/audio of some kind though.

stimpsonslostson

It’s not a book, but Scott’s Bass Lessons is an invaluable resource for Bassists from beginner to pro. I used it to get back into playing bass & really enjoy his lessons. 
https://scottsbasslessons.com/courses?level=Beginner&status=All&subject=All&tutor=All

Heres a sample lesson where he talks about basic scales
https://youtu.be/2bvgAbWRdIA

mart

Funkfingers said:

I have a few surplus tutor books that came bundled with a pre-owned Warwick.
....

• Slap Bass Essentials by Josquin des Pres & Bunny Brunel, ISBN 0-7935-3743-6 (CD missing)

...

I sincerely hope that book just consists of blank pages.

duotone

Ordered this Beginners one in the end https://www.basslinepublishing.com/product/play-bass-for-beginners-improvers/

‘Much appreciated @fretmeister ;

fretmeister

Welcome!

Funkfingers

mart said:

I sincerely hope that book just consists of blank pages.

Well, the authors are both white. They probably can’t play slap properly.

Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin).

hollywoodrox

That walking basslines one was good

fretmeister

If he's just starting from scratch then he won't have the usual silly aversion to learning to read proper notation.

Get stuck into that from day 1 and by the time he's got a year under his belt he will have a better understanding of rhythm than 99% of others at his level, and he'll be able to play many non-guitar based pieces where tab is just not available.

I get piano parts all the time and it really forced me to learn the dots and I'm glad it did.

hollywoodrox

Ed Friedland, building walking basslines that’s it.

mart

Funkfingers said:

mart said:

I sincerely hope that book just consists of blank pages.

Well, the authors are both white. They probably can’t play slap properly.

Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin).

Slap bassist. If he does, then you should.

Basher

hollywoodrox said:

Ed Friedland, building walking basslines that’s it.

I've had this on my Amazon wish list for a while. I love Ed's YouTube stuff so might be tempted to get it. Have been really enjoying playing bass for the last couple of months but, other than learning the odd bassline that takes my fancy, I've been pretty directionless in terms of practicing. I'm guessing this will give me some kind of structure and direction?

hollywoodrox

I suppose it tends to what stuff you play but I thought it was good . Looking at tabs and seeing how people handle playing over certain progressions in your fave genre would give you a good idea of popular ways to handle it .

Basher

hollywoodrox said:

I suppose it tends to what stuff you play but I thought it was good . Looking at tabs and seeing how people handle playing over certain progressions in your fave genre would give you a good idea of popular ways to handle it .

Thanks. I'm currently struggling through Norman Watt-Roy's Rhythm Stick baseline. Painfully slow progress and it's taken until now to get from 75 to 90 BPM. That still leaves me about 15 BPM short and I've no idea how people play those 16ths at tempo!

Other than that it's mainly classic rock, pop and funk riffs that I like.

I have however been messing with a II V I in C using roots, fifths and the odd chromatic "approach" note but am lacking any real method. I think this is where Ed's book might help me. Have looked at the online preview and it seems to be in that sort of direction. Only problem is lack of tabs. The dots seem simple enough that I could hopefully follow them with the accompanying audio downloads. 

Anyway, sorry to @duotone for the mini thread hijack and thanks to @hollywoodrox for the advice. Cheers.

hollywoodrox

i could have sworn it had tabs , but looking back I think it is explained quite well so it’s not all reading , a lot is relying on intervals like root ,fifth  etc , it must be simple as I managed to get something out of it. I was able to take the chords and make a walking bassline from the directions .

hollywoodrox

Rhythm stick has got to be the hardest thing ever to start on 

Basher

hollywoodrox said:

Rhythm stick has got to be the hardest thing ever to start on 

I read somewhere that it was a standard thing for low-noters to play so I foolishly assumed it was like the bass version of Smoke on the Water!

To be fair, I have a lot of years behind me playing piss-poor guitar lines so I'm not starting from total scratch. I also love the part so it's been fun. I just can't figure out how I can play it up to tempo. Every extra couple of bpms seems to take me half a lifetime. That said, I'm making progress, albeit slow progress. I've also enjoyed learning stuff like the middle-eight of Sir Duke (another foolish starting point!) so I must enjoy a challenge.

I do however need something with more of a structure to counterbalance my despair at failing to nail Norman Watt-Roy's 16th note technique!