Bass guitar for dummies
Book - 2014
Whether you've never held a bass before or you're looking to improve your skills, this resource is a complete guide to playing bass guitar. Pfeiffer provides fresh, updated practice lessons, teaching techniques, and access to online sample tracks to hone your skills.
Saved in:
- Subjects
- Published
-
Hoboken :
John Wiley & Sons
2014.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Edition
- Third edition
- Item Description
- Previous edition: 2010.
Includes index. - Physical Description
- xii, 390 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- ISBN
- 9781118748800
- pt. I, Getting started with the bass guitar. 1. The very basics of bass. Discovering the differences between the bass and its high-strung cousins ; Understanding the bass player's function in a band ; Dissecting the anatomy of a bass guitar ; On a need-to-know "basses" : gearing up to play bass ; Playing grooves, solos, and fills ; Experimenting with different musical genres ; Stocking up on some bass gear ; Giving your bass some good old TLC
- 2. Gaining the tools and skills to play. Getting a handle on your bass ; Holding your bass ; Placing your hands in the proper position ; Reading a fingerboard diagram ; Tuning your bass guitar ; Playing a song on your bass guitar
- 3. Warming up : getting your hands in shape to play. Understanding the sound your bass makes ; Performing right-hand warm-ups ; Coordinating your left hand with your right hand
- pt. II, The bass-ics of playing. 4. Reading, 'riting, and rhythm. Reading notation : no pain, much gain ; Finding any note in any octave ; Using the metronome : you know, that tick-tock thing ; Dividing music into phrases, measures, and beats ; Discovering how to read music ; Playing your first song while reading music
- 5. Understanding major and minor structures. Building major and minor scales ; Building chords : one note at a time, please ; Inversions : down is up, and up is down ; Spicing up your sound : the seven main modes (scales) ; Using chromatic tones : all the other notes ; Bringing a groove to life with dead notes (weird but true) ; Sampling accompaniments
- pt. III, Making the moves, creating the grooves. 6. Creating the groove. Anatomy of a groove : putting together the necessary elements ; Creating your own groove ; Grooving with a drummer ; Jammin' with other musicians ; Getting creative with existing grooves
- 7. Going solo : playing solos and fills. Soloing : your moment to shine ; Creating fills without any help from your dentist
- pt. IV, Using the correct accompaniment for each genre. 8. Rock on! Getting down with the rock styles. Rock 'n' roll : it's the attitude! ; Hard rock : going at it fast and furious ; Pop rock : supporting the vocals ; Blues rock : doin' what "Duck" does and playing a countermelody ; Country rock : where vocals are king, and you take a back seat ; One rock fits all : applying a standard rock groove to any rock song
- 9. Swing it! Playing styles that rely on the triplet feel. Swing : grooving up-tempo with attitude ; Jazz : going for a walk ; Blues shuffle : walking like Donald Duck (Dunn, that is) ; Funk shuffle : combining funk, blues, and jazz
- 10. Making it funky : playing hardcore bass grooves. R & B : movin' to rhythm and blues ; The Motown sound : grooving with the music of the Funk Brothers ; Fusion : blending two styles into one ; Funk : light fingers, heavy attitude ; Hip-hop : featuring heavy funk with heavy attitude ; Knowing what to do when you just want to funkifize a tune
- 11. Sampling international flavors : bass styles from around the world. Bossa nova : baskin' in a Brazilian beat ; Samba ; speeding up with bossa's fast cousin ; Afro-Cuban : ordering up some salsa (hold the chips, please) ; Reggae : relaxing with offbeat "riddims" ; Calypso party sounds : dancing through the groove ; Combining reggae and rock : the distinct sound of ska ; African grooves : experimenting with exotic downbeat grooves ; Music without borders : grooving to the world beat
- 12. Playing in odd meters : not strange, just not the norm. An odd-meter oldie but goodie : the waltz ; Beyond the waltz : navigating beats in odd meter
- 13. Groovin' in a genre : it's all about style! Playing grooves in each genre : one simple song many genres strong ; To blend or not to blend : knowing how to fit in ; 14. Eight degrees of separation : the Beatles' solution. Playing your rhythm straight or syncopated ; Making harmonic choices
- pt. V, Buying and caring for your bass. 15. Love of a lifetime or one-night stand? Buying the right bass. Assessing your needs before you buy ; Needs are one thing... budget is quite another ; A trip to the bass-mint : where to shop for your bass guitar ; When money is no object : getting a custom-made bass
- 16. Getting the right gear for your bass guitar. Making yourself heard : a primer on amplifiers and speakers ; Needs, wants, and nonessentials : rounding out your equipment
- 17. Changing the strings on your bass guitar. Knowing when it's time to say goodbye ; Off with the old : removing bass strings ; On with the new : restringing your bass ; Ensuring a long life for your strings
- 18. Keeping your bass in shape : maintenance and light repair. Cleaning your bass, part by part ; Making minor repairs to your bass ; Adjusting the bass guitar ; Assembling a cleaning and repair tool bag ; Storing your bass
- pt. VI, The part of tens. 19. Ten innovative bassists you should know. Stanley Clarke ; John Entwistle ; James Jamerson ; Carol Kaye ; Will Lee ; Paul McCartney ; Marcus Miller ; Jaco Pastorius ; Victor Wooten ; X (fill in your own)
- 20. Ten great rhythm sections (bassists and drummers). Bootsy Collins and Jab'o Starks ; Donald "Duck" Dunn and Al Jackson, Jr. ; James Jamerson and Benny Benjamin ; John Paul Jones and John Bonham ; Joe Osborn and Hal Blaine ; Jaco Pastorius and Peter Erskine ; George Porter, Jr. and Zig Modeliste ; Francis Rocco Prestia and David Garibaldi ; Chuck Rainey and Bernard Purdie ; Robbie Shakespeare and Sly Dunbar
- Appendix. Audio tracks and video clips.