Bass Notes: String Bass Book & Online Audio

This book gives students the chance to study bass lines not as abstract exercises but as actual recorded solos they can hear, see, and then replicate. The instruction-plus-transcription format means your students learn the rules of bass line construction through concrete examples rather than theory alone, and the variety of standards ensures they're learning from real working situations.

Purposeful and conversational. These are real bass lines from real recordings, so they have the rhythmic ease and harmonic logic that comes from an experienced player solving problems in real time. The blend of transcription, audio, and analysis creates a practice experience that feels like mentorship.

Intermediate jazz bassists ready to move beyond basic walking patterns and study how actual performers build sophisticated lines over standards. This works equally well for classical bassists exploring jazz idioms and for players who learn better from transcribed models than from descriptive theory.

• Listen to Goldsby's recorded bass lines multiple times before attempting to read the transcription. Your ear should know where the line is going before your fingers find it on the fingerboard.
• Pay attention to the construction principles Goldsby highlights in the analysis. Understanding why a particular note lands where it does will help you make similar choices in tunes not covered in the book.
• Lock the root movement with the harmonic rhythm first, then add the passing tones and approach notes. This layered approach builds security faster than trying to execute the full line immediately.
• Sing the bass lines before playing them. Your voice will reveal the contour and phrasing in ways that reading alone can obscure.

Assign one tune per week to your advanced jazz ensemble or private lesson students, pairing their study with the recorded track so they can check themselves and absorb the sound. These standards are also natural repertoire to learn alongside the pieces your group is performing, giving context to bass line construction across your season.

• Walking bass line construction and note selection over ii-V-I progressions
• Recognizing and executing common bass line devices (enclosures, approach notes, passing tones)
• Listening and transcription skills through recorded models
• Harmonic analysis and understanding chord changes at the bass level
• Time feel and phrasing in jazz contexts
• Interpreting the same tune across different recorded performances