Customer Reviews

Bass Fitness - An Exercising Handbook (Guitar School)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Aight, here's the thing. This book is boring. yup. boring. And you're thinking, "Well, if it's boring, then why'd you give it 5 stars?". Because as a musician you have some choices to make. Playing exciting material poorely, or... play boring material well so that you can play exciting material well.
When I purchased this book I had recently made the decision to switch to a fluid 4 finger right hand method. And this book, although written for left hand method, has the potential to help you mentally seperate all 8 of your primary usable digits. I wrote out opposable right hand patterns to play the written left hand exercises, and I must tell you it has been a journey. But then again I think I've probly doubled in ability in the last year and I attribute much of that to this text. If you purchase this book and practice one of these a day, starting at 60bpm and working to 180, while using at least 12 positions for 20 or so minutes... I guarentee you, you will be a stronger bassists. But then again thats a lot of commitment. If your looking for simple chop builders this might not be for you. Although these exersices are relativly simple, they still require a strength of will.

I can't guarantee you'll improve your dexterity, accuracy, and speed, but daily practice with this book easily doubled my dexterity and accuracy. If you buy it, you have to use it as part of your ongoing practice routine. When I stopped using it, my technique started to fall off again. It was hard for me at first, especially the exercises later in the book, so I used a pick. I was amazed how fast I improved and was soon doing the exercises fingerstyle. I was trying to see how fast I could go initially, but then realized that much of the benefit from doing the exercises came from doing them accurately, with each note sounding clear and strong. The exercises aren't melodic sounding at all; that can affect your ability to do them if you let it. Josquin des Pres doesn't have a lot of verbal instruction in the book (nor does he in his Slap bass book) which is a shame, because he seems very bright and could offer a lot in the way of hints etc. A must have book for bassists of all styles, especially for those that have hit a plateau and can't seem to move forward.

This is a 4 string bass book but I don't see why you couldn't use it for 6 string guitar - or any other fretted instrument. This book does not contain any songs, scales or music theory. It's just pages of left hand finger exercises. Of course doing them will also exercise your right hand as you pick. This isn't a book that you master from cover to cover before moving onto your next book. Rather it's a book that you can use 15-20 minutes a day every day as a warm up before moving onto the book you use to learn songs or theory from. Unlike song and theory/technique books which don't serve much purpose once you know the material, this book is something you can use every day for years to come.

After just 15 minutes of doing the exercises on the first page I was able to play a middle eastern pattern that I had been struggling with for weeks. If you play with a metronome as the author suggests, much sooner than later you will be physically able to play any song you want. How to read that song, however, is not what this book is about. This book will also help you develop a fluid wrist. The more fluid my left wrist the more solid my tone and the less buzz I get no matter how many frets my fingers are spread across. Between this and the book "Fretboard Roadmaps Bass Guitar" you'll develop great bass skills.

Skills aside, I'm looking forward to trying a book that will help develop the feel of a bass player and get how a bass player fits in and interacts with a band. That's where Ed Friedland's "Bass Grooves: Develop Your Groove and Play Like the Pros in Any Style," comes in. Friedland writes out the drum machine parts for you to program into your drum machine to accompany the bass. Personally I'll just play and record them myself on my kit and then try the bass lesson with the track I will have just recorded. As another reviewer stated, if you have no intention of getting a drum machine (or you don't record your own drum tracks) skip this book. The person the bass player has to interact with the most and the tightest is the drummer. A bass player that can work with any drummer will always be in demand so get these three books and have fun.

I wish this had been out when I started. Great at improving speed, accuracy, tone and endurance. Be warned: this is a hard-work resource for people who are serious about playing bass.

I will add a few notes, for the author's instructions are minimal (though certainly enough to sort it out yourself). If you play one exercise at 60, 120, and 180 bpm, it will take you 12 minutes to complete with no breaks. Absolutely do it to a metronome, as the exercises will double as some good tempo training. Be ruthless about emphasizing the precision and clarity of tone; otherwise, you will sound like those Saturday afternoon guitar store show-offs who blaze away and sound terrible.

When I am done, I also add five minutes on plucking hand only at the fastest speed I can go (with metronome, moving randomly up and down the strings) to get song-length endurace and accuracy at high speed. This seems to even out the workout on both hands in a practical manner.

Set the actual BPM count to end at the highest you can do accurately, which is probably not 180 at first. Then work the numbers up. Do start with the 60 bpm suggested, as it helps teach you how to hold down slow grooves.

This is not musical training, so make it only a small part of your daily routine, no more than a quarter of the total time. Do not shorten your other practice. If you have a limited amount of time for everything (welcome to the real world), then you must work out some abbreviated version.

Do NOT start doing these two days before a gig, because your hands are going to be a bit stiff and sore for a while, and your accuracy and speed will temporarily suffer.

Great resource for the serious bassist. Lousy resource if you want to look at pretty pictures and fantasize about being a rock star.

Please keep quiet about this book, now that I have it, no one else needs to know! Okay, yeah, you'll improve a lot in a short time (if you're honest with yourself and practice it), but why bother? I also have other books by Mr. des Pres that have helped, but not as much as this one. This book if followed will only allow you to develop a higher level of dexterity and acuracy. You don't need that! Instead buy something to trick out your axe so you'll look cool without sounding that way. But if you insist on buying this, and practice it consistently, you'll get more gigs, don't say I didn't warn you!

This book has helped add a much needed dimension to my practice routine. I have improved my strength, speed, and accuracy by applying the techniques in this book. Some people may think it's superfluous, because most of the exercises are pretty common-sense and many are available elsewhere on the internet free of charge. I knew this when I purchased it, because I wanted a hard-copy volume to reference to. This book does exactly what it says on the tin. If you are teaching yourself to play the electric bass, or if you are in need of some supplementary help to surprise your teacher or band mates, then buy this book. It should be noted, however, that this book will only help you if you practice the exercises for 15 minutes on top of your normal hour-a-day practice schedule. I can't fault this book in any way, because if you follow the directions word-for-word, it will do exactly what it advertises.

The stuff in this book is something you'd probably find for free on some blog post. I guess the only benefit is that it is already printed out, and you can write on it. Save yourself 10 bucks and just google "Bass finger exercises".

Every musician knows that they *should* be practicing to improve their skills. The question is, practice what? Noodling around with your favorite bass lines and licks doesn't do much. Basic scales and arpeggios are good but limited.

That's where Des Pres' excellent book comes in. The first exercise is pretty simple, and each later exercise builds on the one before it. Once you get past the first page or so, you'll find that the exercises morph into things you would not have thought to work on by yourself. Des Pres knows what he's doing here!

Don't skip the intro - it explains how to get the most out of the book. (Hints: repeat the same exercise in different hand positions along the fretboard; work on accuracy before speed; play with a metronome to keep your timing solid; don't move on to a new exercise until you've mastered the old one.)

Playing exercises for 15+ minutes a day is no one's idea of fun, but it's time well spent. This book will bore or frustrate you at times, but when you put it aside and play the music you really want to play, you'll sound better, and play with more confidence.

This book is written for 4 string bass, but it works for 5 and 6 string too. These aren't scales, but fingering patterns that will quickly build your strength, speed, and accuracy. I also use these exercises on my guitar. Every string musician should have this book.

Very didactic and, better than that, comprehensive exercises to improve the skill. And cheap. A CD Audio, with lessons, is missed, but OK.