Learn from Ed Friedland
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There are many ways to learn how to play, and while it will take time for you to master the bass, there are methods to get you up and running As Soon As Possible! If you’re a new player and want to learn the basics you need to get functional enough to play with other people, Bass ASAP! is a great choice. It’s all hands on, watching what I do closely, and following my instruction. It’s mostly video-based, but of course all the lessons are written, with audio tracks to play along to. I’ve been teaching beginners for decades, and I wanted to create a program for folks that want to be shown the simplest way to get functional on the bass. There’s an old joke: A student goes to their first bass lesson and learns the notes on the first 5 frets of the E string. Next week, they learn the notes on the first 5 frets of the A string. The third week, they have to skip their bass lesson because they have a gig! Believe it or not, THIS is how I designed this course! If you learn the notes on the first 5 frets of the E and A strings, with their companion octaves found on the D and G strings… You have a great foundation to start playing right away. Of course, there’s more to learn, but Bass ASAP! will get you playing right away, learning the notes, learning the basic elements we use to construct bass lines, and focuses on getting your technique solid so you can keep improving.
10 Early R&B Bass Masters is an expansion of my popular book The R&B Bass Masters, inside you will find chapters on James Jamerson, Chuck Rainey, Duck Dunn, Jerry Jemmott, Tommy Cogbill, David Hood, Willie Weeks, Ronnie Baker, George Porter, and Bootsy Collins. There are detailed biographies, insightful examination of their playing styles, equipment choices, and several classic examples written out and demonstrated with live video, and notation.
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Ed literally wrote some of the most well-known books for Hal Leonard, and he’s one of the most well-respected educators of our time. This course uses the time-tested methodology of my book “Building Walking Bass Lines” and focuses it on one critical progression – Rhythm Changes in Bb, at slower tempos. Each lesson shows you how to apply musical techniques over “nuggets” of the 32-bar form, emphasizing YOUR understanding of the material and the choices you have. Eventually, you will have applied many techniques over the entire song, and have a real grasp on how to improvise a bass line. The slower tempos make a big difference when you’re just learning to improvise, it creates a more relaxed learning environment, and allows your brain to get on board with the process. Walking Bass isn’t about your physical “chops”, it’s about the connection between your brain, your hands, and the bass. This course has received rave reviews for many years at Scott’s Bass Lessons, now, it’s available here!
“Advanced Walking Bass Lines is a challenging set of lines through standard tunes that goes far beyond the theory and concepts presented in Ed Friedland’s previous walking bass line methods. They are transcribed full performances, chorus after chorus of lines that propel the song, outline the harmony, illuminate the root motion—but not be a slave to it, melodic development, reharmonization, and just some good old “whatever happens”. The tempos are in the 200-240bpm range, fast enough to keep you on your toes, but definitely approachable.”
Bass Line Basics is quick start program for creating your own bass lines. Using the most fundamental, and universal concepts, you learn what works, and sounds good right away. There are written examples, audio tracks with full, and no-bass mixes, and examples where you create your own line.
The difference between a bass “player” and a bassist is—anyone can physically “play” a bass. A bassist is someone who IS the bass before they even play. In other words, someone who knows how to think, create, and invent bass parts when they hear a song, or are given a chord chart. All bass players need the ability to come up with a functional bass line, on the spot. Bass Line Basics will get you there.
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So, lets say you can already PLAY the bass. You’ve learned some great riffs, memorized some tabs—you’re a bass “player”. What happens when there’s no tab? When there’s no riff? What do you do when someone says “just play something”? As a bass player, people expect you to know what to play, because most of them don’t know what to tell you. If you want to think like a bass player, you’ve got to start at the bottom. Literally! Bass Line Basics will get you there.