Customer Reviews

Building Walking Bass Lines

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I first purchased Building Walking Bass Lines, I knew how to read notes in the lower five frets of the bass, and played bass at a high beginner's level. I'm also a full-time college teacher (business), so I know solid teaching of any kind when I see it.

Unlike other books on walking bass lines I'd tried to learn from, this book got me walking over chord changes quickly and fluidly, and with a minimum amount of pain.

Friedland gives a brief overview of how to read notes on the electric bass, briefly discusses how to construct chords, and then launches into the clearest and most gradual explanation of how to walk over chord changes I've ever seen. He has a lot of "hands-on", play-along exercises at the end of each concept, and they're stripped of unecessary complexity so you can see the concepts clearly.

A major strength of this book is how you see results in your playing immediately, which encourages you to keep practicing. It's important for anyone learning something for the first time to see immediate progress in their ability, and Friedland has written this book to achieve just that.

The exercises get more and more difficult as you go along, but were never out of reach for me. The end of the book gives the chord changes to 10 jazz standards.

After working through this book, I knew enough to hold my own in a gigging fusion band with some ex-music teachers and university graduates in music.

Also, I found the concepts I learned in the this book made me a better rock and folk player, because I understood how to construct interesting bass lines under chords in any style -- all this was an outgrowth of my jazz knowledge gained from the book.

Anyone who writes that this book is "too easy" or "too basic" is actually complementing Friedland, because it takes a master to dissect a complex topic into something everyone can understand.

It's a very interesting book, with lots of good exercices. I particularly liked the way how Ed Friedland introduce the reader in the way how to construct your own bass lines. He gives you space for you to do your own bass line, for you to express your own imagination. If you are a starter in this walking bass business, I recomend you to buy this book, you won't be deceived.

I have been using this book in my teaching practice for the last several years. I have met Ed at a NAMM show and told him I am responsible for the sale of hundreds of these books! I don't use many books, but this one is so well laid out, the chronology of the material is very smart. By the time you get to the end, you should understand how to use all 12 notes for most basic chords. I remind my students that although the reading material is all blues and jazz oriented, this is about note choice. These concepts are applicable to any style of music. Playing a walking line with a different note on every beat is great practice, even some imtermediate players have issues there.

The book is divided into 2 sections. The Root-5th relationship is established and from there he sticks different approach tones in between. Chromatic, Dominant and Scale for 1 note approaches and a double chromatic approach tossed in.
The second half introduces 3rds and 7ths and the diatonic modes, applying them as scale fragments and arpeggios, and even some more advanced harmony - thinking of IIm7-V7 chords as one sound, indirect resolution approaches and longer chromatic tensions. Finally, it has plenty of "blank slate" standard chord progressions in the appendix to apply each technique as it is learned. It is also a good introduction to reading as all the exercises are quarter note values, except #1 - half notes.
All in all, highly recommended if you want to learn to create lines that make sense.

I have been playing bass for about two years and recently bought this book. The book and the CD are extremely well done and have advanced my playing very quickly. My bass teacher was very impressed by the orderly way in which the subject is taught and is recommending it to other students.

Being a musician already, I like this book because it doesn't move to slow through the beginning. It gives a few pages of introduction to music, but it doesn't overkill. The progression through the material is excellent as well. The pace is good, and explanations helps to make these exercises worthwhile.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to expand on their prior bass knowledge, and get into some jazz and blues. I have taken big leaps in my playing, and I haven't had it for very long.

I have only been playing bass for about 6 months, and I wanted to expand my playing ability. I searched inside this book on Amazon, and was primarily convinced to buy it for the CD.

I play by ear so I got anxious when I opened the book...I can't read music and don't really care to. I know what notes the open strings are, as well as a few other scattered notes, but that's about it.

That said, I played the CD and went through a few of the exercises. I found it helpful to look at the book while the CD is playing...just to get a better handle on each progression. The book is really straightforward and isn't diluted by lengthy descriptions/instructions for each segment.

The progressions are taught in jazz (and are slow enough to be accommodating but not so slow that they're insulting). If you're looking to get better at jazz bass, this is a great book. It still can be helpful in other genres, since the basic premise is identifying logical note patterns--it's just handed to you on a jazz plate.

Even without the book, the CD alone is worth it. The piano and drums are on the right channel and the bass is on the left, so you can totally cut out the bass if you want to play undistracted. There are 55 tracks to learn from and build upon.

I'd say this is a must for anyone who is new to the bass, and I would think that even seasoned bass players could come away with a few new ideas from this book and CD.

I have found this book very helpful.
It takes you with the right speed to understand the basics of walking bass.
It does not have tabs so you are forced to read on staff but you will enjoy the way you get it.
I already purchased the follow up: Expanding...

This book breaks down how to develope bass lines to the most essential concepts. Target tones and working from the root and the 5th as a beginning to understanding how to ground yourself harmonically. Execellent for beginner and even those with minimal reading skills. Good Work Mr Friedland, many new or intermediate Bass players (as well as other musicians in general) can benefit from better understanding how a bass line can and should grow out of the progression.

Back in the day when I'd co-founded my first 'wedding' band, or function band (do you call them society bands in the US?), we didn't have a lot of gigs because we were a start up and no-one had heard of us.

To make ends meet my business partner (a keyboard player) and I played 4 or 5 jazz duos in restaurant a week for £20 and a pizza. I'd never played jazz before - fortunately Ed's book had just been released (it was sooooo back in the day that it came with tapes rather than a CD like it does now!).

I locked myself away for a week with Building Walking Basslines and band in a box (in the days when Band in A Box came hand in hand with Atari STs!) and 'shedded for about 8 or 9 hours a day. After that week I was able to play walking basslines well enough to get through those restaurant gigs without any problems.

Ed's book lays out how to play walking basslines in a practical, step-by-step method that's easy to understand and your abilities progress as you apply his teachings until by the end of the book you can play pretty authentic sounding walking basslines. CAVEAT - to really get the most out of this book you need to play through a lot of standard tunes. It's definitely worth getting hold of some of Jamey Aebersold's book/CD packages, or Band In A Box, so that you can take each principle that Ed teaches and apply it to a whole bunch of songs.

Do that, and you'll be walking in no time!

Well, i think this is one of the best books out there that can teach you walkin'... or at least that can put you on the right track, the approach is very progressive and it has also 10 track of 2 minutes each on wich you can practice; it is very well done in the course of the book there are also some track to play along on wich you can practice the lesson you've just learned... the examples are very helpful, there are no flashy things that can distract you,there is just what is explained... with it's number two i think it's all you need to begin to learn how to walk and then you can go your own way