Jazz Resources – Where to Start

The following resources will help you in your jazz bass journey!

Recommended books for developing walking bass lines

• The Low Down: A Guide to Creating Supportive Jazz Bass Lines by Danny Ziemann
• The Low Down Book 2: A Supplemental Resource of Jazz Bass Lines by Danny Ziemann
• Killer Walking Bass: Melodic Lines for the Advanced Jazz Bassist by Teymur Phell
• Building Walking Bass Lines by Ed Friedland

Recommended books for general jazz bass knowledge

• The Jazz Bass Book by John Goldsby
• The Evolving Bassist by Rufus Reid
• Topics in Jazz Bass by Danny Ziemann
• Patterns in Jazz by Jerry Coker – not bass-specific, but a tremendous resource

Online Video Learning Resources

• DiscoverDoubleBass.com – a tremendous resource of jazz and classical courses
• Chris Fitzgerald’s YouTube Channel

Jazz bassists students should check out

• Christian McBride
• John Clayton
• Kristin Korb
• Larry Grenadier
• Esperanza Spalding
• Eddie Gomez
• Linda Oh
• Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen
• John Goldsby
• Dave Holland
• Chuck Israels

Resources for developing fingerboard knowledge

• Simandl New Method for Bass – This is a classic book that really teaches where each note is located across all four strings. I’ve found that Book 1, which takes the student up to the octave harmonic, is sufficient. I use other texts for developing thumb position mapping. – chromatic, ascending half-step approach – each three-note grouping is its own position
• Progressive Repertoire by George Vance – This three-volume series covers the entire fingerboard from the very beginning. It uses a series of short pieces that overlap with the Suzuki sequence of pieces. This series is based around a six-position conception of the fingerboard.