Customer Reviews

101 Blues Patterns for Bass Guitar (Mccabes 101 Series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was very surprised to find out that no one has reviewed this book on Amazon. I have been using this book to teach blues bass for more than 10 years, and I think I'm on my fourth copy. People, this book will get the job done. It's not that these are the only 101 licks; it's the way they are done. These are what we call riffs. (repeated musical phrases). If you can play all the licks in this book, you can cop a lick from any record in the world in one pass. Remember, if you only get your ideas from one source, that's stealing. If you get them from everybody, that's research. Riff blues bass is the most support you can give a soloist or vocalist. It even helps them keep track of where they are. Give this a try.

First I know Larry, so this is somewhat biased-however I know what good teaching material is and what isn't. This is where Larry is successful in that he is a good educator that writes for the beginner and the advanced. This book can be used by both and he will show you how. I am a guitar player that is recently moving over to play bass, so I picked up this book as a reference to some blues bass lines.......Excellent. This gives you more than you'll need and then inspire ideas on top of that. So hey if you need a Blues Bass pattern book and your a beginner or an Advanced player pick it up you will not be sorry. Also comes with a CD. Even better deal. This is like listening to 100 blues songs and writing out ideas.

101 Blues Patterns for Bass Guitar


The book is a collection of 101 standard blues bass lines, and is also a type of workbook. These patterns are the "real" blues patterns heard on thousands of blues recordings.

This handy book will save you a lot of time transcribing the patterns. And it provides a lot of neat ideas.

After you learn a pattern, transpose it to other keys, insert it into a blues chord progression, etc. Great way to explore the fingerboard.

If (again...) there are 27 guitarists at the jam session but no bass player... you better have worked thru this book. Then you can grab your bass guitar and play all night long.

Or if you want to record your riffs and solos with an appropriate bass part to your drum computer...

I was very disappointed with the book. How did they come up with 101 patterns? Listen to the CD and you will find the same notes repeated from one pattern to another with maybe one or two notes changed in the pattern. All done in the same time. No variety of styles. Not what you would expect. They seem generated by a computer. After listening to 40 monotonous licks I decided to ship it back.

I was expecting much more after reading the reviews here. I opened the package and was immediately dismayed with the thin little booklet, and then with the tracks themselves. If you've just picked up a bass guitar for the first time, and had never heard blues music before, then this booklet would be helpful in a clinical sort of way. "101" examples: see RVL's review here (wished it would have been here when I was considering my purchase).

Instead of this booklet, just listen to blues player's bands like Howlin' Wolf's, John Lee Hooker's, or BB King's to get the feel, and to someone like Son House to get the soul of what blues is. It will get you farther.

Very surprised that this book is not #1 on beginning bass player's list.
Excellent blue's riff's that apply to rock as well. Even though written
in C7, can be played in almost any key. Fantastic.

This book does cover patterns for various time signatures/beats. You only get the first bar in C for many of the examples, however some do span 2 bars and you get the whole 2 bars there. I found many patterns really don't sound very bluesy. Many times the patterns span the A/D/G strings for C, so to move to F means moving back to the low side for the IV and transcribing the pattern into that position can take some time depending on the pattern.

Overall I don't see much use for this book - it could have been much more, and frankly I think most bass players would be better served with some of Ed Friedland's books, even if they don't cover 101 patterns. You will get more ideas for practical application from Blues Bass Method than you will with these 101 patterns.

This little book is like a collection of useful drum patterns for a drummer-to-be. Most, if not all of them, are fun to play, especially the way I use them: going through all twelve keys (each pattern is written in C, classical notation *and* TAB), in blues form. So when I play such a pattern in Eb, I play four bars in Eb, two in Ab, two in Eb, one in Bb, one in Ab, and two in Eb again, with a turnaround when I decide to play the form all over again. This way, this book serves multiple ways: learning a heap of useful blues patterns, mastering the (or *a*) blues form, feeling at home all over the fretboard, and... working on my technique! I told you, it's a keeper.

A tiny note on the CD: although you *could* use it as a play-along (the bass is panned hard to one channel), it's rather meant to give you an idea of sound and tempo, since the examples are only four bars long, and in C.

This is a cool book if you're looking for short ostinato (repeated) bass lines and ideas about how to create new ones. As a teacher, I went through it and play a few written examples and then spend a good amount of time combining them and coming up with my own ideas. It' kind of like wood for the fire, if you will. Not to be burned though! Then I'd show my students how to do the same thing.

Most of the examples are in 12/8 so you get that nice shuffle feel. It's kind of weird at first but makes complete sense after about 15 minutes, and actually becomes more natural than 4/4.

If you can already play the blues and you're looking for a fun way to spice things up this is a great book. It doesn't have much of a method though and for a beginner may take a little explanation from a pro. Just a lesson or two is all though.

One of my students brought a copy in for my perusal and I have since added it to my collection of instructional books for my beginning students and those with limited or no exposure to blues bass. For the students who have more experience with rock or jazz it is of limited value but, still a well done resource and very easy for most to follow. The CD is also quite handy for practicing at home I'm told.