Hal Leonard Electric Bass Composite Method," by Dan Dean. Hal Leonard Publ., 1982, 1996, 144 pages, 3 CD's,
This book is the master volume of the popular series by Hal Leonard, and
contains all of books I, II, and III, from front cover to back. It is geared to
the very beginner, and slowly builds up from exercises on each string, to
playing a few tunes. After you have mastered 8th notes and dotted quarter notes
in the first section, it's off to section 2 for a bit of theory, major scales,
minor scales, 16th notes, slapping, and song play-alongs (check out the Punk
tune!). Going down the home stretch in section 3, you find intervals, octaves,
chord theory, more slap and pop, tips on using effects, and more tunes. The
examples are presented in a very user-friendly manner, and the concepts are
easy to troll through.
Before
you go buy the book just because it has three compact discs, it should be noted
that they each have 14:32, 17:16, and 14:12 minutes of playing time
respectively, all of which would have comfortably fit on one CD. More
importantly, Dean's arranging and production on the CD's are top notch. Some of
the bass lines written in the book appear almost too simple at first, but become instantly
brilliant when they are played with the musical examples. Last Chance, MP3 370k. This factor should make this
book much more fun for the novice player that wants to get their feet wet in a
pseudo-performing situation.
Each
of the volumes are available separately, and it is advisable to teachers to
start with Book 1 with their students. The only downfall is that if you're
trying to teach sightreading, there is plenty of opportunity for the student to
fall back on the tabbed examples. Another reason to start with Book I is that
most beginners are not sure about how serious they are, and $9.95 (book/CD) is
not as bad of a hit if they change their mind. With 48 pages and a CD, it will
be easier for students to prove themselves before they go to bigger and better
things, and you will both have a more reasonable goal. All that aside, if you are a self
learner and want to save a few bucks, go straight for the Composite. 144 pages
later, you'll have a nice foundation to build from.
Pdf : Right Click -> Save As
Audio : Right Click -> Save As
