Bass Health – An Exercising Handbook: Up to date Version!: Now Together with Bonus 5-String Part! (Guitar Faculty)

It might seem obvious, but…
Alright, so anyone who really sits down and says “What sort of exercises can I do to strengthen my hands?” will probably come up with something similar to the content of this book. Line after line, page after page of simple phrases, forcing you to use each finger in a variety of patterns designed to work your hands, and engaging every finger on your fretting hand. That said, it’s an amazingly comprehensive collection of variations on that theme, and for the fairly low cost of the book, it’s definitely worth picking up.The content itself is pretty boring. Go to a section, repeat that short phrase over and over, rinse and repeat. It’s not meant to be exciting, it’s meant to give you the ability to play the exciting stuff more easily. I’ve only been working with the book a short while, and it’s surprisingly difficult. The lines themselves are simple enough to play, but I don’t recall ever actually “feeling the burn” in my hands like that, before. It will stretch and strengthen your hands, no doubt.The exercises are presented in standard notation and tablature. While I’m often critical of tabs (though, I do use them on occasion), this book is a perfect use case for them. It is not about making music, indeed, the content is pretty much un-musical to all but the most “academic” of musicians, it is about making you more able to make music. The tablature included seems to help reinforce that idea.This is a must buy for anyone beginning on bass, or probably many more advanced players. The exercises really can apply to any stringed instrument, as well – so if you play guitar, banjo, mandolin, sitar, whatever – this book is for you.

Great dexterity, timing and strengthening exercises
To get the most out of this you really need to play along with a metronome (emphasized on page 5, but possibly ignored by some), this way you can gauge your progress. If you don’t I can assure you it will be used for about a month and then find its way to the next yard sale. Reason for four stars: The only thing I found missing was a set of thumb shift exercises, say one in which you would fourth fret the fourth string (with your pinky) to the first fret of the third string followed by a thumb shift so that the first finger now slides to the fourth fret third finger and then follow the progression of 567, and repeating for the next two strings. I realize that it does not reverse as do most of the other exercises, but I think it instills yet another important aspect in bass fingering coordination. I went ahead and wrote in some myself in the blank spaces in back. What would even be better is if he had a website rather than a book (subscription based) where other bassists could share their fingering exercises with a larger community.

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Great product

The MISSING LINK for Mastering the Bass Guitar
Bass Fitness has already proved to me to be the best approach for honing my bass playing abilities and I have only had the book for a month.This book is the MISSING LINK for Mastering the bass guitar.In my 30 + years of bass playing I have never before found such a comprehensive compilation of exercises specifically crafted to build the dexterity, strength and accuracy needed to fully master the potential of the modern bass guitar.This is no song book or collection of riffs, this book is exactly what it says in the title; an exercising handbook. Providing ‘star-jumps’ and ‘push-ups’ for your fingers, only a whole lot more fun to do.Follow the introductory instructions and begin working your way through the exercises. As your fingers get stronger you will more easily be able to advance to the more complicated exercises, all the while increasing your accuracy and dexterity. Practising for 15 – 30 minutes every day is much more beneficial than trying to cram in a couple of hours once a week. I am sure you will be impressed with your progress in no time and equally as impressed as I am in the benefits of these exercises.The book also has some blank ‘Notation with TAB’ music sheets at the back which are very handy for transposing or writing out your own bass lines.Well done Josquin, very well done indeed.

Esta bien el libro

Les exercices sont simples et efficaces. Rien d’élaboré d’un point de vue harmonique (ce n’est d’ailleurs pas le sujet du livre), il s’agit de faire bouger les doigts dans tous les sens et trouver une certaines économie de mouvement. Il y a 200 exercices. Je ne les fais pas dans l’ordre forcément, mais plutôt en fonction de mes “faiblesses”.