Customer Reviews

Mel Bay Presents the Electric Bass, Vol. 1

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

 

 

The beauty of the original Mel Bay book catalog, this book included, is that learning from them without an instructor is like deciphering secret code. The books contain excellent information, but first you must figure out how to understand what they say. I own many Mel Bay titles, and I can honestly say that anything from 1970 or earlier should not be used by a beginner without an instructor to help you understand them. If you're like me though, you'll embrace the challenge and learn about the magic they contain without using an instructor. This is an excellent book for that type adventure!

As for the other reviewers who believe this title to be truly awful, I ask them to give this title another chance. If it seems "cheesy" or "repetitious", try to read more into what is being taught. I think you'll be pleasantly suprised. These books haven't been recommended by music instructors for all these years for nothing. For those who may not comfortable with just learning from the book itself, Mel Bay offers vol.1 and vol. 2 together in another title called, "Complete Electric Bass Method". This "Complete" version includes a CD and DVD which will allow someone to learn from the book along with an audio and visual teaching aid.

Good luck with your studies.

Both of these books by Roger Filiberto are terrible. The exercizes consist of nothing but variations of the same exercize you learn in the beginning of the book. Everything about the book screams "outdated." Good for learning the basics of sight reading and nothing else. This is a book for extreme beginners, particularly people who don't even know what a bass guitar is.

Roger Filiberto's approach to technique, from 1963 (when book #1 was first published) stands the test of time. Sure, some of the studies are "cheesy," but there are plenty of reasons for instruction methods to use cheesy selections. Among those reasons are the developement of playing skills and an ear for music.
Cheesy stuff should motivate the student to move ahead with his studies to the cool stuff.
Mr. Filiberto was a pioneer in the writing books are about electric bass method.
Back in 1963, there were very few books on how to play the elctric bass. At the time, many of the electric bassists were initially trained in guitar or upright bass. Mr.Filiberto and Mel Bay Publishing (which is probably the first publishing company geared to meet the needs of those who wanted to learn how to play guitar) stepped up to meet the early demands of those interested in the electric bass.
(By the way, the 1st commercially available electric bass, which was Leo Fender's Precision Bass, went on the market in 1951. For years, the electric bass, regardless of the maker, was known as a "Fender bass.")
Sure there are better courses that are now available. (This book has a copyright of nearly 48 years ago.) It is still an effective training tool. In the hands of a qualified instructor, the seriously ambitious student is off for an excellent start in the never-ending process of music studies.
If this was 1963, I would have to rate this as 6 stars on a 5 star scale.

My music instructor assign home study using this book, great tool for studing and practicing skills.

The word that one of my new students used was "CHEESY"
It is by far the most uninteresting and uninspiring teaching material for bass EVER