The Hal Leonard Bass Method thread

#43
The DVD provides a good overall visual to follow the book, but the DVD moves a little fast when the lesson plan starts crossing multiple strings and introduces sharps and flats. I've had to go back over the lessons both by sight and with the play-along tracks several times until I can play them well enough to move on. But overall, the DVD is worth that extra reference source.

I'm on page 25 of book 1 and coincidentally I bought it before I took some lessons with a bass instructor. This was actually the lesson plan he teaches with.

If ya'll don't mid, I'd like to follow along on the thread because I'm learning from this same book.
 
#46
I may have had my last bass lesson tonight. It was really good. we focused on fingerstyle technique and starting to think like a bass player, instead of a guitarist playing bass. We talked a lot about CAGED, modes, and taking away extra notes and string noise that a guitarist would typically add. i'm going to try to get back to him once a month moving forward.

he was really helpful with the fingerstyle stuff. i've been using the tips of my fingers and he encouraged me to use the entire fleshy pad behind the nail. we also started working with a metronome at various speeds, which i've been lax at.

i've got the next week off. so hopefully i'll get to record some clips of the book. but I took a giant step forward today.
 
#48
Memorizing notes can take some time, but if you stick with it, it will become easier.
Using mnemonic devices are VERY helpful, such as:

All the notes on the staff lines (Including the low E) are E, G, B, D, F, A
I was originally taught to use Every Good Boy Does Fine Always

The notes in the spaces are A, C, E, G
All Cows Eat Grass

Of course, you can make up your own mnemonic. It helps a lot as opposed to just rote memorization.

In the future, you can use the same concept for other things. I use it to remember the relative minor scales, for instance.

Further on in the book, book 2 if I remember correctly, introduces the use of tablature.
So, hang in there!
 
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#49
@ mldavis & outsider:

I am finding the sight reading element of the book quite challenging, but am enjoying the challenge; I just got to page 26, where he gets you to summarise all that you have learned about the notes on the top 3 strings, and it was hard work. By my reckoning, however, it can only be a good thing to learn notation, and I comfort myself by thinking about what an achievement it will be to finally do it.

With regard to memorising the notes, this has been helpful to me:

http://classic.musictheory.net/82

Also, I have been getting a bit of extra help from a book called "The Musician's Guide to Reading and Writing Music" by Dave Stewart, which I would recommend. ;)
 
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#50
I have been at this for about 1 year now and presently working on scales in book 2.

To help myself memorize the notes and their positions on the fret board I came across a couple of useful tools on StudyBass.com:

The "bass clef tutor" is a quick little timed quiz that tests your knowledge of the names of the notes on the staff. Whenever I had five minutes to kill I would take the quiz. It took me a while but after using it so many times it starts to "stick". This was very effective for me.

The other tool is the fretboard printer, which lets you print a diagram of the fretboard showing the note names at every position.

I kept my fretboard printout on my music stand next to the book so I could just glance over at it if I forgot a note as I was playing through the exercises.

Whenever a new playing position or string was introduced, I spent a great deal of time playing the first few exercises over and over and saying the note names as I played them. This was very tedious at times, but when I would play along to the accompanying tracks I had few problems remembering the note names and their positions on the fretboard.
 
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#51
SbassmanSpiff said:
I have been at this for about 1 year now and presently working on scales in book 2.

To help myself memorize the notes and their positions on the fret board I came across a couple of useful tools on StudyBass.com:

The "bass clef tutor" is a quick little timed quiz that tests your knowledge of the names of the notes on the staff. Whenever I had five minutes to kill I would take the quiz. It took me a while but after using it so many times it starts to "stick". This was very effective for me.

The other tool is the fretboard printer, which lets you print a diagram of the fretboard showing the note names at every position.

I kept my fretboard printout on my music stand next to the book so I could just glance over at it if I forgot a note as I was playing through the exercises.

Whenever a new playing position or string was introduced, I spent a great deal of time playing the first few exercises over and over and saying the note names as I played them. This was very tedious at times, but when I would play along to the accompanying tracks I had few problems remembering the note names and their positions on the fretboard.
Click to expand...

i found this PDF online and i use it to write the note names in to get a better visual of the fretboard.
 

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#53
MarkH_129 said:
I started out with the the the complete edition, but found out that I need to know more basics. LIke the fretboard notes and scale patterns and shapes. The Bass Fretboard Workbook solves that problem and Im half way through that one now and will start again on sight reading after I finish.
Click to expand...

A great tool for starting both fret board and reading....every chance you get do a few self tests....then do the timed tests. Within a few weeks of daily use you'll be ready for Ed's book 1

http://www.musicopedia.com/training/4_bass.php
 
#54
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#55
Ed Friedland is a TB member -- maybe he'll chime in...

For those struggling with basic reading before getting deep into Friedland's book, consider "Simplified Sight-Reading for Bass" available on Amazon. Also, check out the beginners' lessons at Cyberfretbass.com
 
#56
Don't be intimidated by the standard notation in this series. You can make a lot of progress listening to the CD and playing along. You can learn to read as you go. The notation in the examples starts out very simple. You don't have to be able to sightread to get through it, just be patient and work it out one note at a time. The more you do it, the easier (and faster) it gets.
 
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#57
Neon Scribe said:
Don't be intimidated by the standard notation in this series. You can make a lot of progress listening to the CD and playing along. You can learn to read as you go. The notation in the examples starts out very simple. You don't have to be able to sightread to get through it, just be patient and work it out one note at a time. The more you do it, the easier (and faster) it gets.
Click to expand...

to me, the standard notation in the book a the main reason for picking it up. it goes relatively slow in the beginning and introduces concepts one at a time instead of all at once. IMO, the trick is getting out of the first 45 pages and into position playing. otherwise you might think that everything is on the first five frets, and that's obviously not the case.

where he really picks up is page 68. in the span of 4 pages, you get 10 different major scales, and a closed fingering. i can see how it could be overwhelming for a first timer on their own.
 
#58
HelpImaRock said:
to me, the standard notation in the book a the main reason for picking it up. it goes relatively slow in the beginning and introduces concepts one at a time instead of all at once. IMO, the trick is getting out of the first 45 pages and into position playing. otherwise you might think that everything is on the first five frets, and that's obviously not the case.

where he really picks up is page 68. in the span of 4 pages, you get 10 different major scales, and a closed fingering. i can see how it could be overwhelming for a first timer on their own.
Click to expand...

That's the spirit.

I use this series as a sight reading primer with my students as well, never felt the need to use other method books or texts in conjunction. Not knocking those of you who did need another sight reading primer; indeed, I admire the determination. But this series does a good job.

Reading music is like learning a new language. And that takes patience, time, immersion, and repetition. No way around it. I have mucho respect for Friedland and Hal Leonard for not caving to the trend of TAB'ing out everything and for encouraging users of their method book to learn to read music in standard notation. There's nothing more useless than a method book that pairs a line of standard notation with a line of TAB. Which one is your eye going to gravitate toward? The path of least resistance.

Fortunately, the exercises and examples in this series are just challenging, interesting, and rewarding enough to keep you on your toes and swinging away with the standard notation. Again, well worth the effort, kudos to you brave souls for enriching your academic knowledge of the gift of music.
 
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#59
boristhespider9 said:
Ed Friedland is a TB member -- maybe he'll chime in...

For those struggling with basic reading before getting deep into Friedland's book, consider "Simplified Sight-Reading for Bass" available on Amazon. Also, check out the beginners' lessons at Cyberfretbass.com
Click to expand...

Given that the OP is about Hal Leonard's book, perhaps we should stay on point? It's been getting confusing jumping between Mr. Leonard's book and Mr. Friedland's book.
 
#60
electracoyote's point about tab is certainly true for me; this is why I want to learn notation. I have always found that tabs can be very difficult to read, especially for more complicated arrangements, and give no idea about rhythm.

@GKon, the Leonard book IS the Friedland book?
 
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