Adam Neely linked to my Ugly blog on his pretty one!
Adam Neely is a bass player and music student from the DC area. He lives in Brooklyn right now, while pursuing a masters degree in music with a concentration in bass. When I first started trying to figure out whether it was better to use my hands or feet with my bass, his videos on ergonomics and his 1-finger-per-fret critique really cleared up a lot of questions for me. There was a point that I watched the same 3 videos every morning while eating breakfast. 
Here’s my initial post with his material. This was the 3rd post I’d written for my blog. It was my first day blogging as well. I almost feel a twinkle in my eye.
Anyhow, in the months that I was away from my bass (which I’m still kicking myself for), Adam came across my homely, unkempt blog… and he thinks its insightful! I recommend checking his blog out, if you’re interested in learning about a much higher level of bass practice than what I’m able to offer. It gives readers information about more than just theory and technique. Its essentially a catalogue of his experiences studying at Berklee and playing different circuits. Its an illuminating window into the life of a musician/music student (and teacher).
Alex Webster – Extreme Metal Bass (book & cd)
Apologies in advance for what turned out to be a lengthy write-up, but I was really excited to receive this book. I’ve been looking forward to it as soon as I heard that it was being written, and it makes me regret more than ever the months that I took off from practicing.
So, I preordered Extreme Metal Bass by Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse from Amazon in July, and today, it arrived! It was supposed to get here in September but was pushed back for some reason. Anyhow, I put off answering some client emails for a bit this morning and read the book (I got back to the emails afterward). I really like what he’s done. Here’s an overview:
Introduction: Some background on why he wrote the book (much of it has to do with a lack of material covering this genre of metal as a whole). He also speaks about how the techniques used in metal bass playing aren’t defined by hard-and-fast rules and encourages experimentation.
Notes: This goes a little into genre and the umbrella term “extreme metal”. It describes extreme metal as originating in thrash and moving on to death and black metal, and even deathcore and metalcore, but also says not to get hung up on any of this – the techniques are applicable to many styles of metal (and I’d hazard to guess other kinds of music as well in varying capacities).
More ergonomics and technique
On the day that I started writing this blog, one of my first posts was about ergonomics. As a beginner, I didn’t know what the safest or most efficient physical techniques and hand positions for playing bass were. I’m still not certain that I do know these things in any absolute terms, but I’ve come across a lot of good information on the internet and from books that support each other.
Earlier tonight, when I should have been sleeping, I read some threads on the Talkbass forums instead. I came across a post in which a member asked how to learn to play the bass. One of the replies brought up the topic of proper technique, and both that reply and another linked to the videos on proper right and left-hand technique from Adam Neely that I posted back when I began blogging. They each also included an additional video, both of which I found interesting. I’m including them here, because they supplement my earlier post well:
Lesson 1: 3/28/2011 (E String)
Sorry. This first post with the new book is going to be lengthy.
So, I started going through the Hal Leonard Bass Method Complete book yesterday. I did the open string exercises and the lesson on the E string. I’m learning to read standard notation as I go (at least as far as bass is concerned, I think the treble side of things is different), so I’m going slowly. I’ll probably do the same lesson over again, to make sure its ingrained in my head. Here’s a breakdown of what was covered so far:
Equipment & Position:
1. I glossed over the pages on parts of the bass, the amp and tuning methods. I’ve seen enough of that in other books, so I think I know how it works well enough to move on.
2. Playing positions covered both sitting and standing. They each get ½ a page with 4 bullets. This is discussed a lot more thoroughly in other books. However, there are differences in things like hand position when sitting vs. standing that I’ll write about later, as it could be helpful to beginners, like me. I’ve grabbed info about left and right hand positioning from the internet and was especially impressed by the videos from Adam Neely which I posted on March 4 (the day I started this blog).
Ergonomics and what to do with your hands
Over the years, I’ve collected a small library of bass method books. Most of them teach the same things, so there are definitely baseline skills that bass players need to have in order to play. Most books go over the parts of the bass and tuning the bass first, and then delve into exercises to acquaint your hands with the instrument.
There’s generally a small section on holding the bass right before exercises begin. I think that this perfunctory note needs to be examined more closely though. For people who have been playing for years, how to hold the instrument is second-nature. Its like wiping front-to-back. For me, it was confusing. It seems obvious that you strap it on, get your fretting and attacking hands into position and just begin, but where exactly to strap on the bass and how to position the hands was really a point of confusion to me.
