An instant classic, this book provides you with a complete overview of all the elements of music you will need to know to successfully play bass with others - regardless of the style of music you are interested in, or your current level of playing. Applies to acoustic or electric bass equally well.
Are you a beginning bassist?
An amateur bass player looking to improve?
A bass teacher looking for a comprehensive and creative method book to teach
with?
If so, FOUNDATION EXERCISES FOR BASS
by Chuck Sher, author of "The Improvisor's Bass Method", is just
what you've been looking for!
An instant classic, this book provides you with a
complete overview of all the elements of music you will need to know
to successfully play bass with others - regardless of the style
of music you are interested in, or your current level of playing.
Applies to acoustic or electric bass equally well.
While doing that, it will help you really enjoy the process of
learning and practicing. How? By getting you to play things that
sound like music to you, right from the beginning! |
Divided into 33 easy-to-comprehend lessons, the book progresses
from elementary to intermediate lessons on each topic, including:
Learning where the notes on the bass are and how to make them sound
like music right away.
Learning how to hear bars of music and then how to count basic
rhythms of quarter notes and eighth notes.
A painless way to learn to read music, starting with fingerboard
diagrams.
Organizing the notes on the bass into major, minor and mixolydian
scales, with a logical sequence of exercises on each, leading to the
ability to create your own bass lines in each mode.
Learning correct hand positions, fingerings and how to shift between
positions on the bass.
Basic ear training exercises designed to help you progressively
discover your own musical voice on bass.
More rhythm lessons emphasizing improvising around the signposts of
beats 1 and 3, and then learning to hear and play off of "target beats"
so that every eighth note in a bar feels like home to you.
Learning where the arpeggio notes of major, minor and dominant 7th
chords are on the bass, and fun ways to turn them into real music right
away.
An elegant system of learning how to connect the roots of chord
progressions using arpeggios, scale notes and chromatic notes, creating
instant bass lines that will work in any style of music.
A system for learning and practicing "licks" in each of the main
tonalities.
More rhythm studies starting with playing all the eighth notes in a
bar and gradually eliminating more and more of them until you are easily
playing highly syncopated lines.
Creative ways to practice various aspects of one tonality -
including interval studies, scale chords, pentatonics, the blues scales,
chromatic passing notes, etc.
Sample bass grooves in different styles of music, including the
blues.
An overview of how harmony works in popular music so that the chords
of tunes become comprehensible to you.
And much more! 87 pages, $24. (For bass teachers, this is a gold
mine of ready-to-use lessons for all your students.)
Sample Pages (pages below will open in a new window or tab)
Table of Contents
Lesson 5
Lesson 32
Endorsements
Chuck Sher has given us a thorough, comprehensive catalog of rudiments,
presented in a way that makes working on them fun. It offers a clear and
concise compendium of information we can apply directly to our work away
from the practice room, on the bandstand. Congratulations on another fine
piece of work!”
— Steve Swallow (bassist with Gary
Burton, John Scofield, etc.)
Chuck Sher has already made a great contribution to the improvising musician
with his instruction books and songbook anthologies. “Foundation Exercises
for Bass” is another fine example of Chuck's ongoing commitment to music
education. If you are a budding bassist who yearns to get “in there” and
start making your own bass parts, this is a great head start. Everything you
need to get started and continue through to intermediate levels is here for
you. It's a well thought-out foundational approach, as well as a great help
to conceptualize many overlooked aspects of playing, such as time and feel.
A great book for the self-motivated beginning bassist, or as a unique method
book for instructors who are looking for an organized and thoughtful
interactive approach for their students. I highly recommend it.”
— Marc Johnson (bassist with Bill
Evans, Eliane Elias, etc.)
Your new book is great for the beginning bassist in that it encapsulates the
fundamentals of what is going to be expected of them as a bass player, but
it also never loses sight of the “harder to teach” extra musical concepts
that can often be overlooked. The technical side of bass playing is
concisely chronicled in your book, but it is well-balanced by the more
esoteric ideas concerning what makes music a living force. Thanks for this!”
— Larry Grenadier (bassist with Brad
Mehldau, Fly, etc.)
A
great tool with a wide range of material that covers an array of
contemporary styles and great reading examples. This book gives a great
foundation to anybody interested in mastering the Basics of the Bass.”
— Oscar Stagnaro (bassist with
Paquito d'Rivera, and professor at Berklee College of Music)
Chuck Sher's new “Foundation Exercises for Bass” offers students of any age
and any level a musical way to learn all the fundamentals of bass playing.
In just 87 pages, Chuck solves technical questions that would normally take
years to understand. All with a positive and spirited discourse. A “must
have” for players and teachers of the electric or upright bass!”
— Pat Klobas (bass lecturer,
California State University East Bay)
This book has all the information you need to learn bass correctly,
presented with good analogies, perceptive comments and a sense of Taoism,
too. I especially liked the concluding lessons—Chuck saved the best for
last!”
— Chris Amberger (bassist with Art
Blakey, George Shearing, etc.)
If you take the time, this book will open the doors to a new world for you,
and will provide you with a great foundation for learning all the different
elements of music. Thanks, Chuck-I needed that!”
— Bobby Vega (bassist with Sly
Stone, Santana, Billy Preston, etc.)
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