Not Just another Bass tuition Book!

(Click image to purchase-temporary introduction Price!)

Book one

These series of short books aren’t similar to most other Bass tuition books.  They are a small archive of the things and ideas that have helped me become the Bass player I am today.  A little insight into my way of doing things, if you will.

All those people that have asked me how I use the techniques used in my solo bass guitar songs have the information right here. The questions are answered.

Why “Not just another Bass guitar book”?  Well, there are plenty of books out there that teach you how to play music, and a Bass, theoretically.  Although these books are important (and I’d still recommend them!) they are quite lifeless, and seem to lack practical ideas. A lot are just repeated content from another book that was written the year before. Copy and paste tuition.  This is more a book of practical ideas, and therefore not just another Bass guitar book.

So, You might call it a book of notes and ideas.  Hopefully, something positive for everyone of all standards.

The book is aimed at intermediate players, but there is a lot of stuff for beginners in there as well. I didn’t want to just make it at one level, so i’ve tried to mix it up a bit, so everyone can benefit. This is certainly the case with the 61 free bass riffs.

What you are getting with the first book:

61 original Bass riffs to learn. all created by me, in all manners of genres and difficulty levels.  Punked, funked, slapped, tapped, strummed and more!  There are loads of riffs to play with for beginners and upwards!

An extra folder full of beats for you to practice with, in all different BPM’s and time signatures.

An e-book, with original and practical lessons, and video examples. The first book chapters chapters include:

Introduction.

On Technique.

Role of the Bass.

Bad habits you’d do well to avoid.

Playing with three fingers.

Jedi Bass tricks.

Downstrokin’ and upstrokin’.

Finger picking.

Composing simple Basslines.

Some timing and rhythm exercises.

The text files will be as PDF’s. Most modern computers will have a PDF reader. If not, there are plenty on google to choose from.

To view the videos, I’d recommend a free bit of software called VLC. Movie files are mixed between .MOV’s, and .M4V’s. I’m not sure if standard players will play both types of files, but if they don’t, get yourself a copy of VLC:

http://www.videolan.org/

*The files themselves come as four .ZIP files.  I had to do this, because the file was WAY too big by itself.  So, I had to split them, just so it’s easier for you guys to download.

If you have any questions about the book.  Any questions at all, please ask them in the special category I set up in my forums.  If we keep all the questions in one place, other people can benefit from them.  Click HERE to be taken to the forum category (You’ll need to join)

 Here are some quotes from people on my forums who have purchased the book:

And here is part two. That bothersome Bass solo!

The Penthouse project.

A UNIQUE learning opportunity.

My new bands’ songs, broken apart for you to learn composition, writing and musicianship skills.

Learn unique and original riffs from myself, and more importantly, why I write those specific riffs to the music being played.  In some instances I write the main part to the song, and sometimes it comes from jamming.  This will all be explained in the videos!

So, how does it work?

Well, Penthouse is a band that covers many styles and genres of music. So the lessons featured here should interest a wide variety of musicians. Typically, each “Piece of music” is around ten minutes long, with lots of interesting changes. Each piece describes a situation from my cartoon towers block, ‘The Towers’.

We will go through the songs, part by part, and I will teach you what I am playing for that part.  Whilst I’m teaching you, I’m explaining WHY I am playing those parts.

All in all, I’m hoping that this will be a really educational experience for my online (and off!) students. I have been writing music and Bass lines since 1993, and have lots of experience I can share.

Why am I doing this?

Well, I’ve been teaching Bass guitar online for a few years now. Although thousands and thousands of people have benefit from these lessons, I wanted to start teaching something with a more practical matter concerning being in a band, and writing lines.

What shall I play here? Why would I play it? How shall I play it? All these questions will hopefully be answered when I break apart these Bass lines.  I’ll also be covering issues like overplaying, specific techniques for specific genres as well.

Ok, here is the first song you will be learning:

And here is the video how to play it:

Learn this, here!

I hope you enjoy the lesson!

And here is the second part of this lesson.

In it, we cover 1:08 to 3:05 of my Bass composition, ‘Sleep Melody, Sleep’, which is below:

This Lesson is aimed at intermediates to advanced players. It ll be a tough one for beginners to get through I recommend you take a look at my Cool chords videos. IF, you can sustain the chords in those videos, you should be fine to learn this one

In this second part, we cover chords, tapping, pull-offs, finger picking, finger and thumb picking, downstrokes, as well as a small chat about feel and crescendos

Click here to access the product page for Sleep Melody Sleep, 2.

Oh, and here is a link to the first one!

I have finally got round to it! Woot! Here is the explanation vid:

And here is the purchase page link!

Enjoy it, guys!

The Evolution of our free YouTube riffs!

These exercises have been created by me, and have been tried and tested with all my students. A lot of those guys (and Gals!) are now out gigging, and are at a very good standard…

In this lesson are eight exercises to get you slapping and popping like the pro’s! They come as one video file that is about fifty-five minutes long. This package also comes with seven drum tracks that progress in speed.

Here is a brief summary of what we cover:

Exercise one:

Similar to our youtube video, but with a lot more groove, and a little harder. We start with a double slap, and incorperate pops, hammer-ons and mutes later. Also advice on the psychology of practice, featured here.

Exercise two:

An exercise designed to gain finger strength. More slaps and pops but also double popping as well as barring (or bridging) with the fretting hand. More advice on muting and the economy of motion, here.

Exercise three:

A cool line with a nice use of slides. A funky one, which is one of my personal favourites. Has a primus-like feel to it.

Exercise four:

A great exercise that can be changed to the users personal preference. Again, this exercise was created to build strength, but it’s main purpose is to build up speed and efficency!

Exercise five:

An exercise and discussion on the role of the Bass player, and how slap and pop fits into that role. Also, an exercise with a pocket played slap and pop groove, and how it applies to the role.

Exercise six:

Another groove based exercise that we move around onto different frets.

Exercise seven:

A percussive exercise that will speed up your slap and popping! A cool little exercise that also covers timing.

Exercise eight:

Another percussive lesson/exercise.

Here we have the tutorial of my Bass only song, snow…

Snow

This lesson is for intermediate to advanced players. Beginners with good hand strength, and that can play all the chords in my “cool chords” series, may like to have a go at it though.

We cover some rarely used techniques on the Bass in this video. Techniques that I use a lot in my personal playing, and also feature in my song “Mourn his youth”.

Included, are:

Finger picking chords.
Thumb and finger picking.
Down strokes.
Upstrokes.
Finger plucking.
Percusive mutes.

Enjoy!

And if you feel this is something you are interested in pursuing, take a look at this cover version of “Hallelujah”!

Check out the link!