Book Review: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Bass Guitar by David Hodge

David is just the man to write this book. If you've read his articles on GuitarNoise.com, showing his deep love and understanding of music and his ability and desire to teach, you'll see what I mean.

One notable sign of David's empathy with students is how he responds to requests for help. In his work with GuitarNoise.com, he has answered his emails from players of all levels. You should not depend on a book's author answering your direct emails, but it's at least reassuring to know that David is an ongoing presence on the web.

Here's David's mini bio:

He's on the faculty of Berkshire Music School, where he teaches guitar and bass guitar, and he also teaches at the Berkshire Community College. A contributor to Play Guitar! and Acoustic Guitar Magazines, he is the managing editor of and senior columnists at www.guitarnoise.com, where he has published more than 150 articles.

This book covers a lot of ground -- material valued at well beyond the book's price. We go from the basics of music, buying a bass, up to jazz rhythms, arpeggios, slapping, and other distinctive bass sounds.

I believe players of different skill levels would get a lot from this book, from total beginners to intermediates. There's that much material in the book.

There's a good bit of stuff on soloing. This includes several jam tracks on the CD. But the best part about the bits on soloing is David's approach: he gives you lots of ideas. Use arpeggios here, just root notes there, vary the rhythm, etc.

It's a pretty big book, and it's notated in standard notation and tablature. You should be able to prop it up on a music stand pretty easily.

The sidebars are useful and inspirational. "Don't get down on yourself for not being a prodigy!" And there are bits on celeb bass players from different genres.

Topics include

• Buying
• Tuning
• Reading notation
• Scales
• Arpeggios
• Chords
• Key centers
• Chord progressions
• Modes
• Jamming
• Technique: slurs, hammers, pulls, slides, slaps
• Riffs
• Genres: blues, r&b, jazz, rock
• Adjustments and repairs

Would like to see in a future edition

These additional topics would make a great book even better.

What to practice, how to practice, how often, etc. This feels a bit like an unfair crit. So let's not call it a crit. I just remember working through the Mel Bay book a million years ago, getting to the end of book one, and then realizing I didn't know squat, partly because I didn't realize I needed to review previous material! This is an important type of lesson: *how to practice.*

I'd also like to see a suggestion to transcribe the recordings of other bassists -- and pros of other instruments, too. Not too long ago, you didn't have books with tunes all tabbed out for you, telling you exactly where to put your fingers. If you really wanted to learn how the pros did what they did, you listened deeply to them, and tried to play what they played. Van Halen did this, so did Clapton and Page. Transcription remains an effective and fun way to learn.

As it stands, this book is already a great value, and sure to be a long lasting resource that bassists of all levels will turn to constantly. Not just for the methods used to play bass, but the reasons to play.