Teach Yourself VISUALLY Bass Guitar Book

An Introduction to Bass Guitar
What the Bass Guitar Does     4
Get Started     8
Your Milestones     10
Parts of Your Bass Guitar
Parts of the Bass Guitar     14
The Head     15
The Body     16
The Neck     18
Fretted and Fretless Basses     20
The Bridge     21
Bass Guitar Strings     22
Four Strings or More?     23
Right-handed versus Left-handed Basses     24
Passive and Active Pickups     25
Control Your Bass Guitar     26
Holding Your Bass Guitar
The Guitar Strap     30
Sitting or Standing?     32
Your Fretting Hand     38
Fingerstyle     42
Playing with a Pick     44
Using Your Thumb     46
Tuning Your Bass Guitar
Open-String Notes     52
Relative Tuning     54
Electronic Tuning     56
Basic Fretboard Fingering
Proper Finger Placement     60
Shift Up     66
Shift Down     70
Shift Across Strings     73
Stay Close to the Fingerboard     78
Plucking and Picking
Alternate Fingering     82
Downpicking     88
Alternate Picking     90
Pluck with Your Thumb     93
Mute Your Strings     95
Play Your First Scales
Basic Music Notation     102
Notes on the Fretboard     107
Basic Tablature     111
The C Major Scale     114
The G Major Scale     116
The F Major Scale     118
Playing with Chords
What Makes a Chord?     122
Major Chords and Scales     123
Minor Scales and Chords     130
Seventh Chords     135
Arpeggios     141
Common Chord Progressions
Chord Symbols     146
Charts     150
I-IV-V Progressions     153
I-VI-IV-V Progressions     159
More Chord Progressions     162
Basic Rhythms
The Metronome     166
Quarter Notes     168
Eighth Notes     171
Sixteenth Notes     177
Apply Rhythms to Songs     184
Walking Bass     186
Blues Shuffle     190
Rock     194
R&B     198
Reggae     201
Country      202
Slapping and Popping
Slapping Technique     206
Popping Technique     208
Some Basic Slap Patterns     210
Getting Your Tone
How Should You Play?     218
Playing in a Band     225
Dialing It In on Active and Passive Bass Guitars     228
Buying a Bass Guitar and Amplifier
What to Look for in Your Bass Guitar     234
What to Look for in Your Amplifier     239
What Else You'll Need     243
Effects     248
Care for Your Gear
Before You Play     252
After You Play     254
Change the Strings     256
Intonation     261
String Height     262
Plug It In and Unplug It     263
Some Last Words
Where Do You Go from Here?     266
Learn Songs by Ear     269
Reading Music and Music Theory     270
Some Especially Noteworthy Bassists     272
Index     282