a fun bass method book that will last a beginner well into their journey
I bought this book because Mel Bay’s Deluxe Jazz & Rock Bass Method was such a turn off for me. Mel Bay’s exercises were intentionally not melodic, and the technique Mel Bay recommends (One Fret Per Finger) is painful for my hands — I had to pivot in order to do it at all, and Mel Bay told me not to do that! This Hal Leonard book is miles better — each of the exercises is fun! And in every way their technique suggestions directly address the problems I actually had. And I’m glad I got the 3-volume set…the first volume, I more or less got down in about a month (I have a lot of experience with non-guitar instruments), but the second volume is still giving me loads of challenge. I can tell it will be months before I am ready to even look at the third volume, and even after I’ve “mastered” (hah, right) all of the material, the exercises will be fun for a lifetime. And one other thing I loved is how easy it was to download all of the exercises as one big .ZIP file from the website. For me, I could use the MP3 players I already know and love, and that is a big deal to me. I was worried there would be some sort of DRM nightmare, and it was the exact opposite.