What book do you recommend for a newbie?

[no strings]

Or DVD ? I'm guessing the net is an infinite resource, but after a day in the officelooking at a screen is one of the last things on my mind.

I realise nothing will replace lessons with a teacher. I'm working towards that, just got save my lesson money in advance first though.

[foal30]

Serious Electric Bass - Joel di Bartolo

Jazz Theory Book - Marc Levine

Standing in the Shadows of Motown - Allan Slutsky

Aebersold playalong series

The Evolving Bassist - Rufus Reid

all of these books have formative information vital to quality learning.

[BluesBass]

Some of those are a bit tough Foal... especially if you can't read music.
I don't know the OP, so I don't know if he can or not, but I have had a look at a couple of those and I wouldn't class them as 'beginner' level.

[foal30]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Books/Nonficti ... 135002.htm

[martyforrer]

Some of those are a bit tough Foal... especially if you can't read music.
I don't know the OP, so I don't know if he can or not, but I have had a look at a couple of those and I wouldn't class them as 'beginner' level.

Gotta agree.... great stuff but I've got Mark Levine's book and it aint beginner stuff.
Likewise with Standing In The Shadows.
I think he's after a start-up book.

[Jazzbass]

Marty, did you have lessons when you started? Most people of our generation never even considered it - we just taught ourselves and learned on the job.

[Harley]

Hey No Strings, the title is a bit, shall we say, tacky BUT Bass Guitar for Dummies is one of the best bass lesson books you can get;

http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Ba ... 39615.html

Then there're two sites with a whole lot of free stuff, the best being http://www.thelibster.com/. This site will teach you notation reading and you can spend years going through all Libby's stuff.

Next site is Wheat's Bass Book http://wheatsbassbook.com/

[martyforrer]

Marty, did you have lessons when you started? Most people of our generation never even considered it - we just taught ourselves and learned on the job.

Nah, just copied off records.
But when I bought my upright bass in 1990 I went to a long since defunct music school in Auckland, then when that closed went to Kenny Pearson and Andy Brown. Learning to play jazz is fantastic, it prepares you for any other type of music.
I sometimes sub in bands that play stuff I never heard before, with no rehearsal, and I guess I wing it pretty good. All thanks to music education.

[Jazzbass]

I don't know anything about this, but its cheap:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instrume ... 983660.htm

[foal30]

it's endorsed by the BigBeefChief.