The Jazz Bass Line Book (Advance Music)

This is a fantastic book on walking bass lines. Most other books I've seen have been very similar in their approach, and while this book travels the same ground as many of the other books it does so in a much more complete way, and with a lot more meat thrown in. This also means that this book isn't for the complete beginner.First, It doesn't start you off like most other books that spend a lot of pages teaching how to construct chords and put together scales. It's assumed that you already can do that stuff. Nor does the book start off with having you play the root through the whole progression. Rather, you start right in on chordal bass lines. Also, no tab here. So if you don't know how to read you're going to want to stay away from this one.This book also tackles a lot of stuff I've seen most other books either not cover at all or just gloss over. For example, he covers stuff like over the bar line phrasing, ballad playing, 3/4 walking, and broken bass lines(think Scott LaFaro with Bill Evans). This is also the best treatment of playing in 2 that I've seen in a book. And he doesn't just spend a page on all these topics...they have whole sections.Another awesome thing is the book contains several transcriptions from bass players throughout the years on blues(all in the same key so you can compare the approaches), and on rhythm changes. It's even set up where all the transcriptions are written lined up across several pages. It's hard to explain in words, but basically you can look on the page and see from bar to bar exactly what each bass player was doing. So, for example, I can see how Paul Chambers handled the 4 bar blues turn around as compared to Gary Peacock and Miroslav Vitous..and it's all right there on one page for easy comparison. Fear not though, there are also fully printed out transcriptions for all these parts so you can play them easier as well.So if you really want to study walking bass aside from doing your own transcribing, and you already know some basics of music and how to read I would pick up this book without hesitation. Other walking books I've seen are child's play in comparison to this one. This is the real deal.

Probably the best (walking) bass book I have ever purchased. Packed full of clearly presented approaches for walking bass, along with exercises and transcriptions that can keep you busy for years.I am working with this book for almost 2 years and still haven't explored it all. Recommended to me by my bass teacher, this book upped my game noticeably. One piece of advice - some of the exercises seem easy, don't jump ahead - practice slowly until you master one approach before rushing to the next to see maximum results.

This book is one of a kind! Must have for all Jazz Bass Players!

I have read numerous books and articles on this subject and this is simply the best thing I have come across.The author assumes a basic understanding of how scales are made up and what chord tones are. I think this is an unnecessary omission. There is really no need to know more than the the chromatic and major scale (and their intervals), how it is harmonized, and how modes are made from the major scale. You don't need to even know or practice scales other than the major scale (I know. Blasphemy!), but it would have only taken about 5 more pages to give the reader enough understanding of the subject to start from scratch.It is also assumed that you can read music. There is not tab. I am not the best reader myself and yet I could figure it all out by going slow, but again, a brief primer on bass clef would have been nice for noobs.Lastly, audio would have been great too.This would have got the 5th star from me. So if you understand that much you will be ready for this book. If not, take a lesson with a teacher or spend some time online while it ships. It's easy stuff.The book truly is a complete method after you get past those things, so for teachers it is perfect, but the solo student will need either some background or preliminary studying.The lines start super basic with chord tones and gradually add in all of the other melodic and rhythmic elements so that you basically get an education in the historical development of the bass and bass lines through the different eras and genres of jazz. He doesn't mention any of this specifically, but you learn it by osmosis by paying through the examples in order. Basically your own development will follow the historical development of the bass in jazz.The two places that this method completely outshines pretty much everything else I have come across is that besides the typical 4 quarter notes to the bar in 4/4 walking lines that every book offers, the author gives you instruction on how to play in 2- feel, 3/4 time, latin/bossa rhythms, and modal/sparse chord settings.The other feature is side by side comparisons of some incredible bassists playing through the same songs, so that you can see for yourself the similarities and differences between them. This is a big deal for me because it confirms that the method is legit. Of course the goal is to eventually play totally by ear, but you wouldn't be looking for books if you could do that, so you need to have a degree of imitation in the beginning to learn norms and to train your ears.Lastly, after teaching you all of the different options for creating lines, he outlines a step by step method of working through any chart that will help you memorize the charts as well as get you playing it in a bunch of different styles. this makes the rest of the instruction ten times more useful. Application is where many books fall short.It is unfortunate that this method is not more popular. Like most things, publicity and marketing trumps content and talent, but I am glad that I found this late rather than never and will wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who asks.

Dedicato esclusivamente all'accompagnamento, non è un testo per principianti: si richiede una buona lettura, una discreta tecnica di base (diciamo almeno terzo/quarto anno di conservatorio) e ovviamente una sufficiente conoscenza della lingua inglese. Con queste premesse, è un libro incredibilmente solido e completo per quello che si propone, particolarmente interessanti le trascrizioni comparate dei grandi contrabbassisti sul blues e i rhythm changes. Se avete cominciato a suonare jazz ma siete ancora pieni di dubbi riguardo a cosa fare o non fare (com'è normale) questo libro vi accompagnerà per mano fino a raggiungere una notevole solidità di base. L'unico difetto è la rilegatura, del tutto inadatta ad un libro che deve stare su un leggio, una rilegatura ad anelli sarebbe stata molto più indicata.

No insight. No demonstration of technique.Reallythis book is for people taking his classes at the college.Not for bass players looking to learn about jazz. outdated.Cries out for video to go with each section.Total waste of my money. I'll sell it as soon as I find someone to buy it.

Libro denso di buoni suggerimenti ed esempi validi - Ottimi i casy study- per bassisti di livello almeno medio - sconsigliato a chi non abbia un minimo di dimestichezza con la lingua inglese.

Great book. Lots of valuable info!

Perfect seller, fast and cheap ship, very good deal for the best book I 've ever met to learn (and devellope!) the practice of walking bass lines.