Patrick Pfeiffer - Bass Guitar for Dummies

Bass Guitar For Dummies, 3rd Edition

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Copyright 2020 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020939433

ISBN 978-1-119-69557-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-69559-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-69562-2 (ebk)

For bassists or bass wannabes, Bass Guitar For Dummies takes you on a tour of the instrument and explores all avenues of bassdom. Of the myriad tools available for bassists, Bass Guitar For Dummies is at the pinnacle of them all. Never before has such a complete anthology been assembled. Its like having an unlimited ticket for all the rides at BassLand!

Patrick Pfeiffer, great communicator of bass guitar, has laid it all out for you to enjoy. Bass Guitar For Dummies can be read laterally, literally, or loiterily. In other words, cover to cover, in order, or at your leisure; when you have a couple of minutes, just read a page, or a chapter. Its not too deep, not too heavy, but its all good information and a lot of fun. So dig in, and enjoy Bass Guitar For Dummies!

All the Bass,

Will Lee, Grammy-award-winning bassist, Late Show with David Letterman

1. Chapter 3
2. Chapter 5
3. Appendix

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 20

Shake the earth with deep, sonorous vibrations. Let your melodies swoop and soar like swallows over a meadow. Be the force that relentlessly drives the music with percussive, percolating emanations from your speaker. Rumble like the ominous thunder of an approaching storm. Whisper, growl, roar your grooves into the universe. For you, its not enough just to be heard; you will be felt. You are the bass player.

Imagine your favorite music without bass. It doesnt work, does it? The bass is the heartbeat of the music, the foundation for the groove, and the glue that holds together all the different instruments. You can hear the music sing as its carried along by the bass groove. You can sense the music come to life. You can feel the vibrations of those low notes sometimes subtle and caressing, sometimes literally earthshaking as they propel the song. The bass is the heart of it all.

Leave center stage to the other musicians you have more important work to do. The limelight may be cool, but bassists rule!

You can find everything you need to master the bass in Bass Guitar For Dummies, 3rd Edition from the correct way to strike a note to the way to play a funk groove in the style of Jaco Pastorius. Its all here.

Each chapter is independent of the others. You can skip the stuff you already know and go straight to the parts that interest you without feeling lost. To find the subject youre looking for, just check out the table of contents. You also can look up specific topics in the index at the back of the book. Or you can read from front to back and build up your bass-playing skills step by step. Whatever you choose, just remember to enjoy the journey.

I structure this book so you can decide for yourself how far you want to take your skills on the instrument. As I was writing, I checked out the entrance requirements for music schools and conservatories, and I included the information that fulfills those requirements (without getting too theoretical after all, you dont want to spend all your time theorizing you want to play). In fact, this book goes well beyond the minimum requirements and shows you how to actually apply all this information to real-life bass playing. I show you how to play in different styles and how to create your own grooves and solos so you dont have to copy someone elses bass line note-for-note.

No bass guitar? No problem. This book doesnt assume you have your own bass. If you dont, just head over to and find out how to set up your instrument so its easiest to play.