Bass Study Helps
03/16/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is an excellent training aid for anyone with some experience with a bass. It is mainly a demonstration of several playing techniques, with some finger exercises. The exercises would be good for beginners, but the play-along section is better suited to intermediate level players, as it goes by pretty fast, without a lot of explanation. There is also an interesting interview at the end. One fun bit is the use of the Popeye the Sailor song as a practice tool. It turns out to be a very thorough exercise in playing scales, without being boring, and brings a bit of competition into practice, if you play with another bassist. It also gives a very clear demonstration of how to set the intonation, and how to play against (with) a drummer. I have never seen this explained so clearly before. Also, there is a very useful demonstration of how to use harmonics to tune the bass (very good for beginners). Overall, there is something for beginners to intermediate players. As always, it is fun to watch Nathan play."