The Bass Player's Companion - by Chris Tarry

Everyone, no matter what level, can benefit from the material presented here. The information in the book is set up to give you the basic starting points and concepts that you'll need to take that next step with your bass playing.

It's only available via download as it became to hard for me to keep up with constantlly printing more copies and running behind on orders while out while on the road. I just updated it for 2007 with a few little changes and fixes. Below is the text from the introduction which explains the book pretty well, the entire book is 56 pages long.

Excerpt from - The Bass Players Companion by Chris Tarry

Most of the students who come through my door can already play their bass.

In fact, it could be said that it's not all that tough to become a competent bass player with a minimum amount of effort. After all, there are only four strings, the root is the going concern, and it's not that difficult to be plucking out a few notes within a couple of minutes of starting.

It's when we want to take it to the next level that things start to get a little harder.

Students usually come to me after being inspired by a great player who makes them think, "I want to play just like that."

They want to know how to become a great player.

This book is targeted at good musicians who want to become great musicians. Everyone, no matter what level, can benefit from the material presented here. The information in the book is set up to give you the basic starting points and concepts that you'll need to take that next step.

The book is a push in the right direction, so to speak. Some of the examples may seem basic and simple but it's up to you to explore their infinite possibilities.

Take what I give you and run with it.

My favorite music books were like carrying around a music teacher. They were my a musical companion that suggested ideas when I was ready and let me figure stuff out for myself.

Use this book to spark creativity in your growth as a musician and to develop concepts that work for you. The only person ultimately responsible for your development as a musician is you.

You will find many great teachers, be inspired by great players, and be moved by beautiful music.

Use these inspirations to become the best that you can be.

Good Luck,

Chris Tarry

All the charts from my latest album "Almost Certainly Dreaming". You can buy them individually over in the "charts" section of the site if you prefer.

You get every tune on the album in PDF format with this download for a few dollars less than buying them individually.

• Bedford Celebrities
• Radio Princess
• Same Clothes, Different Day
• Prettiest Town of Goderich
• In The Beginning
• Almost Certainly Dreaming
• Alien Blueprints

* Please note, "Alien Blueprints" & "Prettiest Town of Goderich" were taken from older compositions that I re-arranged for this recording. When you download this book you'll see extra parts for those two tunes (trombone & trumpet) that don't appear on "Almost Certainly Dreaming". I've included the original full versions here, invite over a trumpet and trombone player, try them out with your band see what ya think.

All the charts from my album "Sorry to be Strange". You can buy them individually over in the "charts" section of the site if you prefer.

You get every tune on the album in PDF format with this download for a few dollars less than buying them individually.

• Then There Was One
• Yeah Guys!
• Vienna in the Spring
• Merry-Go-Round
• P.G.O.A.T (Prettiest Gril of all Time)
• Universal Traveler
• McCann Can Blues
• For the Quiet Heart
• The Coriolis Effect
• Wind-Up-Bird
• Happy For Most
• Here We Go Again

Email me here with any questions about the book.

Q - How long is the Book?

A- The book is 56 pages long.

Q - Hey CT, love the book, one of my favorite bass books ever! You mention in the back that there might be MP3's of the examples from the book for download at your site.

A - Yes, I do, I decided to put the time into some of the video lessons over in the "Lessons" section, they cover a lot of the same material that's in the book. I will get around to it, I have to actually build the functionality of offering the MP3's for free into the site so it's a bit of a big job. For now if you have any questions about the examples in the book email me.

Q - Hey Chris, thanks for the great book! Just wanted to know why there's no hard copy available?

A - Thanks! Well, the truth is that with my touring schedule and the demand of printing up books all the time I fell behind on getting hard copies of the book out to everyone and that didn't seem fair. This is a much easier way to do it, instant gratification. It's better for you, it's better for me, it's better for the trees.

Q - Just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying your book! There's a lot of useful content that will keep me busy for quite some time. And not the usual type of stuff I've seen in other bass books, very unique!

page 11 "Skipping Strings" - You talk about right hand alternation using an even number of notes per string. For example, using RLRL alternation from the E up to the G string. This is no problem going up but I find that it's very tempting to 'rake' going back down from the G to E string.

A - Thanks, glad you enjoy the book! Raking down the strings is a viable technique. What I am trying to get you to do with this exercise is teach your right hand ALL the possible combinations it might be called upon to perform while playing the bass. It doesn't mean that you will play everything you play from now on as laid out in this example. This, like many of the other exercises, is a prepratory thing, getting you ready for the big race so-to-speak. A typical gig might involve raking, string muting, palm muting, slap, quick alternation, etc.

Q - Hey CT, the book is great and really funny! Do you do stand-up comedy on the side?

A - No, maybe, sometimes, I'll never tell.

Q - Is the alternation technique excercise you talk about in the book something that is perhaps more important and prevalent in jazz and fast "fingerstyle funk" 16th note lines?

A: Alternating is a huge part of the 16th note funk thing. In fact, I think it would be impossible to play consistent 16th notes on one string at a quick tempo if you weren't alternating. Again, this alternation practice approach is to teach you right hand all the possibilities it will, at some point, be called upon to perform. You mention that you usually "start with the R". How about practicing usually starting with the L, it will make your right hand twice as good in an instant.

Q - page 12 "Spider Exercise" - Using this technique, we're getting only one left-hand finger moving at a time, and trying not to have the other fingers 'following' it. Normally when you play do you have just 1 finger reaching for and fretting a note? Is this perhaps a technique that you don't use all the time but comes in handy for example complex scalar passages that require a lot of finger independence? Usually for most rock/pop songs I let the other fingers stay close to a note after fretting it and don't worry too much about my other fingers following, keeping my L hand in a generally relaxed position.

A: This exercise is specifically designed to help you control excessive left hand movement when playing the bass. It helps you keep your fingers "Low" over the fingerboard. Sometimes the fingers on the left hand can "Jump" off the fingerboard creating extra unneeded movement there by preventing good economy of motion and good technique. It again is an exercise designed to help you apply this "Low over the fingerboard" concept to the rest of the things you play.

Q - CT, your waffle recipie in the book is to-die-for, how do you keep so thin eating waffles of this kind?

A - I just put the waffles out there, usually on some type of serving tray, I don't nesessarily eat the waffles, waffles are fun, I like the word waffles.

Q- page 25 "Single String Workout" -You said how by doing this exercise properly, the available notes would "light up in your mind's eye like a pinball machine". This makes a lot of sense. In your example on this page you use CMaj7. How do you generally approach this? Do you see your main "pinball lights" as Maj7 on each string and then modify it from there for modes, etc, OR do you memorize each mode separately? Do you for example mentally change your internal "pinball lights" when you use for example melodic minor scale, altered scale, diminished scale, etc.? Any memorization tips would be greatly welcome as this seems like a very time consuming and daunting task!!

A: It is a very daunting task, life long actually. This exercise is designed to solve another typical bass player problem when learning the fingerboard. Most intermediate players tend to go to an area of the neck and play what lies underneath their fingers. For example, they might see a Cmaj7 chord and always gravitate to the same place and play the same scale pattern every time. This exercise helps to over come that problem. When a chord changes or a tonality shifts you have to be able to react. You have to be able to "see" Cmaj7 no matter where you are on the neck at that exact moment. Key's and chords should be able to change in an instant and you should be able to react no matter where you are. In order to do this, this example helps you see the chord tones of all key centers all over the neck. If you can find a chord tone as the music moves by at a fast rate you will never be stuck for a "right note". After that, be sure to do all chord qualities up and down each string. Dom7, MajMin7, Min7, Aug7, Dim7, ect..for all keys. Do the same with all of your scales.

Q- page 35 - You mention that you have to teach your right hand to play ghost notes. Wouldn't it be your left hand as it's the one slightly lifting off the fingerboard thereby creating a dead or "ghost" note?

A: There is a ghost note exercise that's not in the book that will most likely show up in later version. Most of my ghost notes are created in the right hand because I have spent time working on placing them on different strings. True, it's a bit of a combination muting thing with the left hand but the genisis starts with the right hand.

To better explain, take the ghost note exercise in the book which demonstrates all eight notes. Lets play a typical easy walking line that starts on 'D' on the A string and then proceeds in quarter notes on the E string F#, G, G#, A, (move back to the A string here then continue) B, C, C#, D. Now let's do the same thing but fill in the quarter notes with eight note ghost's in between so now you have "note-ghost-note-ghost...ect..." With your right hand play the note and then place the ghost note on the string above that note so you have "note-ghost note on string above-note-ghost note on string above-note...ect." After you get that down, place the ghost notes on the same string... then on the string below. Again you are teaching you right hand all the possibilities in which it may be called upon to play a ghost note.

Q - Hey CT, can I get a lesson with you in real life?

A - Yes, if you're going to be in the New York area just drop me an email and we'll set one up. I'm $80/Hour and teach out of my Brooklyn studio. I also sometimes teach when on the road, check the gigs page and if I'm going to be in your town send me an email and we'll try and set something up. Email Me