Starting strong...part 2

Continuing the topic of recommended avenues of study for beginning players. For the free resources check the previous post.

PAID RESOURCES

Books have been the main avenue of instrumental instruction methods for more than a century, and with the support of sound files on either CD or online, they still have some advantages over more modern technologies. Namely, I am not alone in liking the ability to have a non-electronic resource at hand, especially for highlighting the text, writing in my comments or notes, reading on the commute without worrying about batteries etc. Here are my top two picks:

Hal Leonard Bass Method is by now pretty much recognized as THE study resource for the modern electric bass beginners. Its author Ed Friedland is a renowned educator and overall bass authority. Just search the ‘Net for “bass whisperer” to see what I mean. It is available either as three separate volumes or a complete edition book (recommended), and covers all the bases needed to become a competent player. The feature that stands out is that the command of the instrument and learning the theory are integrated with reading standard notation in a flawless manner. That way you get to be able to handle yourself in music situation both with and without printed music before you. This book is so outstanding that it has its own long thread on the TalkBass forums, which is the biggest bass community in the virtual world.

Bass Guitar for Dummies is a later date publication, compared to the previous one, but it has garnered excellent reputation. If I may add, rather deservedly so. Namely, the book has already gone through several editions (hence different covers you may find) with appropriate upgrades along the way. The author, Patrick Pfeiffer, does an excellent job of getting beginner player up to speed as quick and efficiently as possible. For that reason, he relies on tablature in his examples, which may not prepare you to dive into the sea of written music out there, but it will get you ready to join a band quicker than many others. Besides the music competencies, he discusses numerous important issues that relate to such goal – choosing and maintaining the instrument, amp, accessories, bass players and rhythm section to know and study etc. What we have here is a great book and the only contender for the position held by the previous one.

Video lesson were the craze of later 1980’s and through 1990’s. The thing is, they don’t require as much time to put together as the books do, so it enabled busy professionals, i.e. name players, to give their contribution to bass education. Another thing is, many of those failed at making any worthwhile impact. The limited duration of such projects certainly played a role, but so did the fact that many of great players are not so great instructors and lack any clear idea of what to teach or how to coherently present their thoughts on the topic they took. On top of that, they were pretty pricey, $30 to $60 for a VHS or DVD that was 30-80 minutes in duration.

Fortunately, the beginner programs are somewhat more specific in terms of what needs to be shown, so there were several good ones. Many of those are still available today, still on DVD or as a streaming/download video.

Teach Me Bass Guitar stands out among other products in this category, thus the decision to review it first. Its author Roy Vogt is both a seasoned professional player and an experienced educator, who decided to make an actual step-by-step video course. Since it couldn’t have been done within the frame of a single DVD, his program stretches of 10 (yes, ten!) discs that methodically cover approximately the first two years of instruction for a beginner player. The learning experience is really pleasant, with animated fretboard used in place of tablature in the video, written instruction on the screen accompanying oral instruction etc. Also included is the PDF book to help with the referencing and overview, but it doesn’t stop there. Vogt really goes the extra step – instead of offering customary practicing sound files as mp3 backing tracks, he assembled an actual band and recorded them on video, playing live in a club, so when you practice with them it is as close as it gets to being on a bandstand in your own room! Naturally, such a product comes at a price that is higher than most other beginner programs, but you can now download it or stream individual levels or even lessons on his website. All in all, this program set the bar so high that it is unlikely to be surpassed any time soon.

If you’d still prefer a more concise introduction to the instrument, here is a selection of really good ones that you can pick from. Each one lays a good foundation, so go for the title that is most readily available for you, without the need to seek the others.

Beaver Felton – Bass Bassics, a two volume video produced in the ‘90s, so the visual appearance is reflective of the fact, but this is probably may favorite among these;

Billy Sheehan – Basic Bass, the newest of the lot, showing a star player do an excellent job of teaching what matters from experience.

Dale Titus – Ultimate Beginner Series Bass Basics, another two volume set produced 25+ years ago, but done so well that it is as good today as it was back then, possibly in the friendliest atmosphere here.

Online courses/portals mentioned here are chosen for their very affordable membership fee AND the quality of material. Both will serve you well beyond the beginning phase, too.

Norm Stockton’s Art of Groove lives up to its name. You will find courses neatly laid out as orderly lessons and focusing on deeply understanding the main role that bass players perform in their bands. The material is presented either in text/diagram/notation/tabs format or in video, and besides the specific courses written for the site (20-week beginner course, basic rock course, 60-week flagship course etc.) the members also have access to the set of instructional Grooving for Heaven videos that Norm did back in the day, along with a lot of bonus material. At under $10 per month, joining it is a no-brainer.

Damian Erskine’s website Bass Education is a very recent offering, and jumped quickly to the top of my favorite resource. First of all, Damian is a monster player with excellent professional record (google him if you haven’t heard), but a brilliant instructor, too. The material on the site is presented in video format, supported by PDF documents and playalong tracks where necessary. The lessons are organized either by topics (technique, bass lines, theory…) or as courses, which themselves are offered either as modules (fundamentals, walking bass, rhythm, chords, slap) or as learning paths (pocket player, jazz bassist, jam confidently, soloing proficiency, freelance pro, sight reading). On top of that, Erskine conducts a monthly live Q&A session and runs a forum for the members to interact even more…whew! What more can you ask for? The price? Incredibly enough, he offers all that for a symbolic membership fee of $7 per month or $75 annually! Yes, you read that correctly. I sincerely believe that for a serious player, regardless of their level, it should be a criminal offense to skip on this opportunity.

NOTE: The aforementioned resources are not mutually exclusive, but in order to get the most benefit from the approaches presented in this post and previous one, pick one of them that sounds like your cup of tea and focus on following the path of instruction offered there; then use BassBuzz or TalkingBass as an additional source of possibly more entertaining and diverse information. 

Have a good time practicing!

Starting strong...part 1

Being a beginner at any given skill building activity is both challenging and exciting, learning to play an instrument is no different. However, with instruments that have been around for centuries and are full-fledged members in symphonic orchestras, performing long-standing pieces of classical music cannon etc, solid teaching and learning methodologies have been developed long ago, with music schools and similar options. But when you wish to play the instrument that has been around for less than 70 years and happens to be used mostly in popular music styles, beginners are not so fortunate when it comes to having a clear path of instruction available.

Most electric bass players, just like electric guitarists and drummers, are largely self-taught, especially if they never get into playing jazz. While only 20 or so years ago the main problem a beginner was facing could have been the lack of information on the subject, nowadays it is quite the opposite – with the spread of Internet it is the overwhelming amount of information that might keep the budding bassist lost and confused. Therefore, the mission of this post is to streamline the process of choosing instructional sources, so you can focus on practicing, instead of hunting for the right lessons. In absence of direct one on one instruction, here are my recommendations for several types of instruction – online courses, books, Youtube channels, and DVD/video lessons.

Having the beginner players in mind, I went for two broad categories: free and paid; but in the latter case I still had price as one of the important criteria.

FREE RESOURCES

Youtube is a major factor in all things tutorial, plus it is the go-to platform for all generations nowadays, hence starting our review with it. For the purposes of this article, I have selected two channels:

Music College TV

Music College TV offers a really nice playlist of excellent videos, presented in an orderly fashion, so it very easy to follow. Pretty much it serves as your lesson plan that starts with fundamentals of tuning and proper playing technique, covers all the necessary theory of scales and modes, and goes into playing over chord progression and developing funk bass lines. The main advantage of this channel is its clear progression that eliminates any guesswork regarding what to practice and in which order. Just supplement it with learning your favorite songs on your own, and there should be plenty of progress before you.

BassBuzz

BassBuzz takes a different slant on the subject.  The videos on this channel are not meant to be seen in any particular order, because that is to be found on their paid website with specific courses. Nonetheless, there is a lot of other important information that the beginners may not even know they need, and that used to be obtained through occasional advice of more experienced musicians along your development path. Considerations about tone, selecting adequate instruments and other gear, and even more importantly avoiding some of it, common mistakes, well or not so well known bassists to know… Just check their own playlists as suggested by the channel.

Online portals that are especially worth your time and attention are again – two:

StudyBass has been around for quite some time and happens to be a favorite resource to many players for a good reason. The lesson page is clear and organized by levels of instructions, each being subdivided into blocks. The content is presented as the combination of text, diagrams and occasional videos. All the important topics are there, technique, getting to know your fretboard, as well as the ever important matter of organizing your practice. A special plus is the early introduction of notation reading. The author of the course strives to put up a distraction free website, without annoying adds, and succeeds brilliantly.

                                       

TalkingBass may be better suited for those who prefer visual approach, i.e. video tutorials. The main portion of the free site consists of the videos that author has on Youtube, but they are organized into categories, so the users have easier time navigating it. You can join the website for free and get access to additional content in the Practice Room section, including drum beats to work with and advice on how to set up your practice. A special advantage of this portal is that the author teaches riffs and basslines from popular songs to incorporate some of the techniques and concepts shown in the lessons, so the experience is that more enjoyable for the learners.

Obviously, the categories such as books and DVDs are not exactly readily available for free, but here is the one that has been out of print for a considerable time now, and actually replaced by the publisher with a newer edition from a different author, to be reviewed below. I still like this version of the Hal Leonard method, because it is comprehensive, methodical and well-done overall.

Dan Dean Electric Bass Vol ... by Paulo Jorge on Scribd

Hopefully, the information presented here can direct you toward some good study right away, so you get to be better sooner.

(Sight) Reader's Digest

I didn't mention it specifically, but there are not any tablatures in any of the books featured in the previous post. To me, it is an advantage, being that without tab, there is more space available for additional content. It means, however, that one needs to be somewhat functional with reading standard bass clef notation, in order to reap the substantiation benefits from studying those resources. And not just those... For some reason, music reading seems to be a kind of "boogeyman" for the grand majority of self-taught musicians, especially in popular modern styles, i.e. pop, rock, funk, hip-hop etc. On top of that, such attitude tends to be prevalent among the guitarists, bassists and drummers. And it's a shame... Be as it may, before pointing some of my arguments, let's lee what the legendary bass groover Rocco Prestia has to say about the subject, in an interview for the Bass Player magazine. 

In the age of home confinement and remote recording, the significance of reading is really highlighted, even for those who do not have studio session player's career. A lot of people will probably say "I play my own music in my own band", but have you ever come up with a cool sounding riff, only to have it forgotten a couple of days later? Well, if you knew how to read and write music, that wouldn't have to happen! After all, I spent most of my most active playing years in a band that played own music, but being able to handle notation contributed to quite a few of ideas that were later incorporated in many of those songs. 

Even when it comes to being called for playing on other people's projects, only two of a dozen required sight reading to some degree. A few of those required reading charts, but my acquaintance with those also stems directly from reading standard notation, in terms of form markings etc. 

Finally, my biggest benefit actually lays in the fact that the ability to read opened so many new doors and avenues when it comes to access to music books, scored and other materials. In other words, with even the basic level of music literacy, you can get a lot of info from classical and jazz music materials, even those aimed at other instruments.

But, it is a lot of hard work, isn't it? Well, yes and no. developing sight reading ability requires consistency  - you have  to do it almost every day, but 10-15 minutes will suffice. As the matter of fact, after a while, it can even be done away from the instrument, if push comes to shove. And, there is even the great side effect of improved understanding of rhythm! 

Where do you start, then? There are plenty of good books or courses to help you with it, most of them good in laying a fair foundation. I will dedicate another post to reviewing some of those, but you may as well start here:

Musicians Institute - Bass ... by Angel Daniel on Scribd

Again, there is nothing to lose from learning to read music! Even the time spent doing it is not lost - it is invested...and the dividends are very much worth it. 

Book heavyweights

Today I am presenting my Top 3 instructional book to learn (more about) bass. There are my favorite go-to resources and I still use them regularly, even after quite a few years. Since it is difficult to rank them (my affinities typically sway one way or another from time to time), let's review them alphabetically, based on authors' last names.

Joel Di Bartolo - Serious Electric Bass

This book was put out in 1997 by Alfred Publishing, to receive rave reviews from such bass heavy hitters as Nathan East, Will Lee, Tony Levin, John Patitucci and Victor Wooten - and quite deservedly so. What we have at hand here is a very thorough and comprehensive approach to understanding and playing music on the electric bass. Michael Manring wrote rather matter-of-factly in his foreword: "I wouldn't recommend planning on blazing through this book in a few weeks [...] Plan on keeping [it] around for many years to refer and re-refer to as your understanding of and fluency in these patterns develops."

That is exactly how I treat my copy!

So, what did Mr. Di Bartolo put in it? Well, at over 270 pages, it is a hefty volume with a lot of material. The beginning is pretty unique, as the first chapter deals with essentials of instrument maintenance and set up, including the string changing, bridge intonations, truss rod adjustments, cleaning the electronics etc. Too many players see even the basic set up as some sort of high magic that is best left to professional luthiers, thus often tolerating unnecessary inconveniences on their instruments or spending time without it while it is being serviced. 

Next, he embarks on a detailed study of the 1st or open position on the instrument, where the proverbial "money notes" are located. It is done by introducing the reader to the notions of chromatic scale and music intervals, and the exercises in those are used to also address the technical development of the fretting hand. 

Following the basic lessons presented thus far, Di Bartolo begins the treatment of the major harmony via the all-encompassing analysis of major scales and its modes and diatonic intervals, as well as chords/arpeggios. His breakdown of major scale in tetrachord shapes has really taken my understanding of the fingerboard to an entirely new level. This segment and the chapter on two-octave shapes and patterns supports the methodical development of positional shifting, parallel with various rhythmic studies. 

Upon the completion of major scale exploration and its harmonic implications, the author applies the same method with harmonic minor, melodic minor and symmetric scale tonal systems, while continually developing and reinforcing one's understanding of rhythmic subdivisions. To accomplish this, he uses fretboard diagrams and standard notation in dozens upon dozens of musical exercises and examples offered. That way, on your way through the book, you are working on all the fundamental ingredients of music (rhythm, melody, harmony) simultaneous with technical facility on the instrument. 

There is a lot of material in the book, so it will take a lot of diligent work to digest it all. Di Bartolo does offer useful advice and encouragement in the section aptly titled The Last Chapter. It gives the reader a view of the bigger picture, i.e. providing context for the required effort, thus hopefully boosting one's motivation to keep working. 

Tony Grey - Tony Grey Bass Academy

As the latest offering of these three (2013, Wise Publications), this book actually comes supported with a DVD that is over 90 minutes long. The video material is used to further illustrate any of the topics that the author found in need of such approach. From the outset, there is one feature that sets this book apart from all the others I have ever seen - in the lower corner of each of its almost 270 pages (yes, just like the previous one!) you will find a listening recommendation, i.e. the name of a bass player and one of his best works/albums. Although subtitled as The Ultimate Jazz Bass Guitar Method, these recommendations feature both upright and electric, traditional and modern exponents of the low frequencies.

Grey opens his work with words of advice regarding creativity and music practice, with emphasis on how to organize a practice schedule. In my opinion, this HOW to practice portion is just as important as WHAT to practice, so this introductory chapter is spot on. As a second part of the opening segment, the reader is introduced to a set of daily purely technical studies/drills meant do develop the stamina and motor facility in both hands, aimed at easier execution of the material in the reminder of the book.

For the main part of the package, we see a similar approach to Di Bartolo's - major, melodic minor and harmonic minor harmonic principles covered in that order. The treatment also uses some of the same tools (intervals, diatonic arpeggios, modes). There are, nonetheless, some marked differences, too. Namely, the author pays special attention to fingering aspect of each of the exercises, and in line with the subtitle on the cover, exercises focused on the development of soloing ability, or linear solo concepts, as he calls them. Such goal demands more study of harmonic devices like extensions and approach tones, so Grey deals with those, and does so very nicely. 

After the aforementioned harmonic domains, there is a chapter dedicated to the Advanced Harmony, which deals with the notions of chord functions, progressions, secondary dominants, substitutions etc. 

The final chapter of Tony Grey Bass Academy covers a systematic presentation of how to play walking bass lines. To my knowledge, this is the only book that is not dedicated entirely to this playing style, which still goes so deeply into it. 

In the end, Grey once again reinforces the importance of well organized practice schedule by giving a suggested format of a practice diary. 

Chuck Sher - The Improviser's Bass Method

This is probably the first book to have taken a truly serious approach to advancing music education specifically for modern bass. It is certainly the oldest in this selection (179, Sher Music), and at "only" 218 pages, it is also the "thinnest" one :-)  More importantly, though, Sher organized his method in a notably different fashion than in the previous two cases.

With that difference in mind, the author uses the foreword to give suggestions on how to use the book, and in particular for the early stage players. Since none of these methods is actually meant for the beginner students/players, this is a good way to avoid frustration among them. 

So, unlike the above books, Sher dedicates  a separate chapter to each of the individual topics that ought to be fused into a skilled command of the instrument in various styles of improvised music. The method identifies twelve such areas: physical aspects of playing; basic theory; scale studies; chord studies; rhythm studies; interval; studies; creating bass lines; chord voicings; analyzing tunes; chord extensions; soloing; developing musicianship.

Quite a broad spectrum, eh? Well, how do you take it in? Obviously, some of those subjects naturally go hand in hand and can be taken together, in the same exercise (I will have a separate post about that manner of practice), while some can also be done away from the instrument. Here is how I have been using the book for years (I was introduced to it by my bass teacher back in 1998 or so)...

First, I need to identify what I need to work on (pay attention - there is difference between need and want) for the next period of 2-8 weeks. Typically it will mean focusing on 4 or 5 of these topics AT MOST! Then, I will simply take one or two exercise from corresponding chapters and work on them during a practice session. Depending on the time available during the day, I may even split the work into two sessions and do them on alternating days. Naturally, there is more detail to it, but this is the crux, especially with a method of this kind. 

I also happen to think that this kind of resource is very convenient for instructors, since it is easy to find ideas or exercise to us with individual students (or even in a class setting), once you have identified their needs and level. 

The Improviser's Bass Method also features two appendices. The first shows a couple dozen traditional Latin bass lines with typical chord progressions, so it may be used as a crash course intro to this style, if you need to take a gig on a short notice. The second is a selection of transcribed bass lines and solos by renowned players, ranging from Ray Brown, Ron Carter and Paul Chambers, to James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius and Marcus Miller. 

Verdict?

Well, there is none, really. Like I mentioned at the beginning, it is impossible to chose one to the exclusion of others. I got those books as they were available to me: Improviser's Bass method first, Serious Electric Bass second; and Tony Grey Bass Academy the last. If possible get them all...but I'll try being a bit more helpful.

Your choice might depend on various factors. If looking for a sequentially ordered progression, go with Di Bartolo or Grey. The former takes precedence if you are more toward early stages of practicing, the latter if having the video explanations makes a difference. 

Want examples of how pros do it? Sher takes care. Systematic focus on soloing of walking bass? Grey leads the way. Need to know your gear, too? Joel hits the goal. 

Availability and price could be decisive, of course...

The bottom line is - all three belong to a serious student's or instructor's library, and you won't go wrong with any of them. 

Critical criteria

What constitutes a good instructional product in my mind? To a degree, it depends on the subject being taught, of course. There are, however, come common criteria that I hope a book or video course would meet. 

First, the instructor has to be able to communicate and demonstrate his lessons in a coherent and understandable manner. Everything else hinges on this one. One of my greatest regrets is seeing promising material in terms of contents, being ruined by plain bad writing or incoherent and unintelligible mumbling. Now, don't get me wrong - I don't insist on Shakespearean penmanship and absolute grammatical or orthographic precision in a book, nor Harvard Law School rhetoric level on video; but what you read or watch needs to make enough sense that it doesn't leave you scratching your head and having no idea what you need to do with the material, how to approach it and why. 

That said, author's personal writing style or spoken accent and prosody don't mean much, as long as they are able to teach in a flowing and engaging fashion.  Naturally, some authors are more comfortable in one of these two formats, and that is perfectly fine. I like both, with some preference for books over videos. 

Second, the product should be presented systematically, following the progression that makes sense. Again, depending on the chosen topic and learner's prior level, there may be some flexibility here, but like any other story, if things are just thrown out randomly it only frustrates those trying to learn something from the material. That is why I ended up seriously disliking some of the "instructional" videos done by big name players back in the 1980's and 1990's - they were nothing but a bunch of loosely collected licks and lines that would fit well with the large majority of flashy Youtube demo clips of this age...with the notable difference of the former being rather costly back then. 

Third, there should be enough practice material for the students to develop solid understanding of the offered concepts and principles, and ideally with enough stimulating ideas for them to come up with their own examples and exercises around the same subject. 

Closely related to the previous one, the lessons ought to have balanced breadth/depth ratio. What does it mean? Essentially, if the product tries to squeeze too many topics in in a single package, it will inevitably lead to many of them, if not all, being just taken glance at, i.e. lacking any substantial understanding. We have all seen the products titled "Ultimate Complete Encyclopedia of Styles" with 500 unrelated two- or four-bar lines, yet with zero explanation about how those lines were built or what are acceptable variations in their music idioms. Unless you are going to use it for sight reading practice, such books are pretty much useless. It is better to have separate volumes on different topics, but treated with adequate commitment to detail and underlying principles. 

Finally, there is the matter of value for the money. This aspect, too, can be subjective as it is affected by one's previous musical background, experience and affinities. Nonetheless, there are quite a few instructional items out there, which have unacceptable amount of filler material. I understand that it may often be the demand of the publisher to have a certain amount of pages or minutes...still, for the same price, I much prefer to have a book with examples done in just a couple of keys, but with larger number of examples, than one with fewer examples transposed to every key. On video, I'd rather see and hear the author show/perform different variation or options of exercises then yet another rendition of their greatest hits, even if done live, just for the package at hand. Or, have a shorter package for a lower price. 

Bottom line...

...is that this blog is about learning and bass education. Well, let's say - music education applied to bass. Therefore, I will not deal much, if at all, with gear (unless it pertains to practicing and learning), album reviews, concerts, great bass players as such etc. 

On the other hand, I intend to dive seriously into educational materials, particularly books and videos, so those will be reviewed. Naturally, I can only review those that I have had owned/tried, and the priority will be on those I believe are especially helpful. If you would like to see something specific mentioned or reviewed, send me a request...I will try to respond to it as soon as possible. 

You can find me on the Talkbass forums as GastonD, where I am mostly active in the Instruction section.