Customer Reviews

The Jazz Bass Book - Technique and Tradition Book/CD (Softcover) (Bass Player Musician's Library)

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This book is essentially an annotated and expanded collection of columns originally published in Bass Player magazine. As such, it's more of a disconnected set of essays than a narrative; the discussion of significant bass players is somewhat spotty, and doesn't go into great detail on their music and style in the way that (for example" Todd Coolman's "The Bass Tradition" does. But it's still both entertaining and educational. The chapters, being mostly self-contained, can be read at random as the reader's interest dictates.

The first section of the book is primarily short snapshots of significant bassists, each being composed of a short biography accompanied by brief musical examples. The latter section- almost an appendix- consists of longer examples of styles and techniques. It's not really a method book, but it does offer some insight into styles and harmonic and rhythmic concepts for the beginning or intermediate jazz bassists. The accompanying CD helps illustrate the musical examples for those whose reading and playing technique are at a more basic stage.

All in all, a very entertaining and useful book for jazz bassists of all abilities, and an excellent choice for bedside reading.

I'll chime in with the previous review. A loose collection of essays with helpful information for aspiring jazz bassists.

The biographical information is almost incidental and a getting a bit dated. And there are some rather unnecssary editorial essays at the end telling us what it means to be a good bass player.

But those are just quibbles. The musical examples and appended information are what make the book worthwhile. I wouldn't want this to be my primary source for learning jazz bass, but it's fun browse, a useful reference and a good book to learn some new lines and pick up some basic tips. It's a book to mine for ideas.

And don't walk away from this one because you play electric. In fact, the information presented and the perspective this book takes makes this valuable for the electric bass player.

Oh and by the way, no tab on the printed music. A good thing IMHO. Read the music, stay off the crutch.

The format of self-contained essays makes the book great for browsing. Someone just getting to know the jazz bass will be hearing a lot of names listed as important bass players (and seeing their names on liner notes), and you can find a nice summary of the context and contribution of each of these guys in this book.

The parts in the book about actually playing make it a good companion to a more methodical bass method book, with transcriptions of great players' solos as well as more exercise-oriented pieces developed by Goldsby to help your technique.

OK, if your're like me (HighSierraBassPlayer), you're desparately seeking books, DVD's and cd's with tons of blues and jazz progressions. The material out there is really pretty thin (or maybe I'm just never satisfied like my chronic case of G.A.S. (gear acquisition syndrome). John Goldby's Jazz Bass Handbook is the best source for jazz theory and an excellent resource for the history of jazz as well. After all, most of the songs we practice and perform on today have their beginnings in jazz and blues from the founding fathers. I have gained so much respect and awe for these pioneers of jazz and the blues, and this book is by far the best jazz compendium on the musical market today. I hope someone produces a blues compendium as concise and full of examples as this book does. The CD is also excellent, although I wish it carried all the examples in the book. But that make me work even harder to, as one of the forefathers of jazz offers in the book, "to imitate, assimilate, and innovate." That pretty much describes how bass players like me strive to be better, and this text works perfect. A higest must have from HighSierraBassPlayer!

I'll make this short and sweet... if you want a well-lead, chronological walk through the history of jazz bassists, complete with tons of musical examples, phenomenal sound clips, and enough recording references to keep you busy listening and copying grooves until rapture, this is the book for you. Buy it!

If you are starting out playing jazz on the double bass and a need broad perspective, history and instruction, this is a book you must have.

Having been a electric bass player for 25+ years I recently purchased an NS double bass. I bought this book to learn some jazz licks but also get a look into why various jazz double bass players use certain progressions and transitions. This book provided all of that and more. Not in tab, so it keeps my up on my sight reading. If your looking to just learn some songs, this may not be for you. But if your wanting to get into the theory of jazz bass playing this is well worth the money. The CD doesn't cover all of the licks, but provides enough to get an idea of the rhythm and progressions.

This is a GREAT book. John Goldsby should be thanked and complimented for his research and his understanding of the role of the bass polayer in jazz. I now have all my students buy this book and anyone interested in the history of jazz should have this nook in their library. At the end of the book, Mr. Goldsby has a sectioon titled "Concepts". Every musician, young and old, should read this part of the book. This section reminded me of why I became a bass player/musician in the first place.

I found this book to be a great resource from a historical and musical standpoint. It's a good reference material for bassists of the past and has some great practice routines, music written out in the style of many different players and lists some essential albums. This book is not intended for beginning bassists(because it doesn't just stick to 1st position) but could be beneficial to both beginning and advanced players alike . This is NOT a method book but could be considered a great resource for any bassist.

This is an excellent book for those wanting to play double bass, and wanting to explore the history of double bass playing in jazz. Transaction trouble free.