That Was Fast

Got through my first book on beginning bass guitar.  It was short.  Not a ton of detail but a nice way to get started.

Unfortunately, most of the pages were devoted to rhythm studies.  This is a good thing for a beginner's book since bass is a rhythm section instrument.  But as a reasonably educated drummer for 25 years (I took lessons for about 4 years), I'm very well versed in rhythm and reading rhythm notation.  So a good part of this book was a waste for me.

But still, the parts on chords, octaves, etc, though short, were extremely useful and helped me get much more comfortable with understanding the fret board better as well as how to easily find notes within a chord structure and the octaves.  When I listen to the radio now, I can very clearly hear that so many bass lines are written very simply based on the structures of the chords played by the rhythm guitar and/or keyboards.

So, on to the next book.  I want to get more into the chord structures and learning fingering patterns around them.  I have a couple other books that are good for beginners (including a "...For Dummies" book) that I'll peruse over the next couple of nights to see which will serve my immediate purpose.

In related news, I should have a practice amp very soon.  Won it on eBay.  Not that I want to play out loud, but I want to be able to clearly hear what it sounds like when I'm playing and plugging headphones directly into the bass just isn't cutting it.  I hope I can get it before leaving for LA (on business) next week.