EXCERPT 1

When you work on the examples found in this book do not look at your bass to find the pitch. One of the main ideas of this book is to get a student proficient at knowing where a note is by feel and not by looking at the fretboard. I recommend playing these exercises with a major chord drone for each key. i.e. if you are in C major record a repeating C chord and use your ear to help you confirm if you are playing the right pitch.

These exercise should be played quite slow to begin with. When you reach Exercise 5 and begin playing notes on any string take advantage of open strings so you can keep your left hand above the 12th fret as much as possible. This will prepare you for the high ledger line notes that show up more often than you probably would like.

This book contains ledger lines up 5 lines above the staff. It is uncommon to find the bass notated above the 3rd ledger line. If notes are needed above this range it is common to find them notated in the treble clef. With the advent of 5 and even 6 string basses a bassist must prepare themselves for these higher ledger line and also learn to read in the treble clef. Therefore it is suggested that you get a copy of the treble clef version of this book so you can get proficient at reading in the treble clef.