Guitar books

Hi all

There is a great music book shope near me but alas its all for guitars very little Bass.

I am a big fan of the Stranglers and picked up an old Stranglers guitar book. It has the chords along the top for instance A D E...can I play these just as root notes and play along?

Boring I know but I am a newbie looking to start playing along with some of my favourite tunes. Is this a good way to learn?

A good way to learn is any way that makes you a better player.

But yes it is to an extent a good way to learn, i wouldnt say just learning tunes will make you an amazing player though. Why dont you find out what key thew songs are in and improvise a simple line over them, through root notes major/minor scales and pentatonic scales, octaves and 5ths.
I do this with bands i like but basslines are incredibly boring(coughU2cough), and i just improvise what i think is best or even better than the original , but latching in at parts that actually make the song.

In answer to your question, yes learning songs is a good way to learn but don't let it be the only way. Scales are important, learning how to follow chords are very important. But to begin with, yea just learn your favourite songs, and try add in the rest as you progress.

'through root notes major/minor scales and pentatonic scales, octaves and 5ths.' hmm I am new so thought roots a good place to start off and then progress to other basslines... maybe a good less for the Dman there!

To answer the question, there's nothing wrong with playing along to the song using the root notes (or making something up that sounds cool ) based on the guitar book. However, there's only so much you'll get from that - depending on the band, you'll notice that a lot of basslines are more than just root notes/riff based, which you can't learn from a guitar book easily (if the bassline follows the guitar line, you could work on transposing it, but that's a bit much for a beginner ).

Your best bet is to get dedicated bass books - if the local shop doesn't have any, then Amazon normally has great prices on them. From 'nixonuk', I'm guessing your from the UK? If not, then search your local amazon

I'd recommend this book: Bass Guitar White Pages Tab Book (clicky). It's a little expensive, but has a wide variety of bands & songs, covering genres from metal to motown. I've discovered a few new songs/bands I like from it, and if I'm stuck for ideas I just pick it up & browse through it for something to play along to.

You are right Smaz but there are so few 'play along books' for bass but gazilions for guitar....I really love the Stranglers, it was JJ Burnel that got me into the bass in the first place, oh and a certain Mr Kilmister..but there are no dedicated bass books for these bands unfortunately.

I'm not sure if you aware of bass tabs on the internet? Your a beginner so maybe you don't but anyway here is something that may help


http://www.bassmasta.net/s/stranglers,_the/


The problem with tabs on the net is that some are not so good, but others can be pretty close, so check the rating the tab has got. Just play the songs you want to learn along with the tabs.

And if you are unsure how to read tabs here is a thread explaining how.

https://freebasslessons.forumotion.com/all-the-bass-lessons-f1/how-to-read-bass-tabs-written-t65.htm

nixonuk wrote:You are right Smaz but there are so few 'play along books' for bass but gazilions for guitar....I really love the Stranglers, it was JJ Burnel that got me into the bass in the first place, oh and a certain Mr Kilmister..but there are no dedicated bass books for these bands unfortunately.

Indeed, there aren't many

Any songs in particular by either band? Maybe we can help out with you learning them...