You Can Teach Yourself Bass

by Mike Hiland

Book Overview

This method is loaded with information. In the author's words, The electric bass is in a very exciting developmental period. No longer does it just provide'low-end support.' Now entire songs are built... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0871667762
• ISBN13: 9780871667762
• Release Date: April 1990
• Publisher: Mel Bay Publications
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 8.7" x 11.7"

Customer Reviews

Good for switching from guitar to bass

When our bass player quit our little praise band at church I volunteered to play bass for a while until they could find another. Well, I had so much fun playing bass I asked our leader not to find a replacement. Since I already played guitar I started looking for a book to fill in the gaps and this one even showed me how to slap!! I liked the riffs written in tab and notation and picked up a lot of tips and things. I agree with some of the reviews-this is not for the novice and you really do need the cd or video. But for a guitarist who knows how to read tab and wants to pick up some bass stuff fast it is good. It is really not for beginners-unless you have a teacher. And it may take a little explanation in spots -but again, if you are moving from guitar to bass, this is a pretty good book. By the way-as an ex school band director-no method book is complete or works perfectly for everyone. You will always have to supplement instruction or need extra exercises. This is where your friends and teachers come in. No method works completely by itself-as any self taught musician will -or should -admit. A method is a starting point and will not work if you don't read it , practice, and go in sequence. This is a good book for those moving from guitar to bass-if you are willing to work.

Great Survey Book, Easy to Use, Needs a CD

I've been playing bass for 1 1/2 years now and have been an adequate guitar player for 25 years. This was the first bass book I opened and used (I own about 10 now). I would _not_ use this book without a teacher since it has little to no explaination. However, I find myself continually coming back to it because it has such a nice survey of skills with easy-to-recognize-from-the-radio bass patterns from blues/funk/rock. For example, I needed to review basic walking bass last week and 20 basic blues/rockandroll walks with variations were there for me to work on but only enough to keep me busy for a week or two at my current level of playing. This is a good book for learning to read tab and learning _basic_ notation for bass. Another strength is an emphasis on using the entire fretboard through the practice of major and minor modes. The funk section is great but only if you are already very familiar with the genre. A CD would greatly improve this section.