You have to give a lot of credit where credit is due to Alfred Music Publishing. Not only are they putting out great new artist instructional books and reissuing old artist materials that have been out of date for years, but they’re putting out the most practical instructional materials for real world student use.

Alfred’s Basic Bass Scales & Modes is no exception to this. There’s nothing flashy or verbose about this book, it’s simply what you need to begin to see the fingerboard blossom under your hands. Basic Bass Scales & Modes begins by covering all the modes based off the major scale. This, if practiced diligently, should allow you to see the key that you’re playing in “light up” across the fretboard. After you get through the major modes, the book presents pretty much every other scale you need to learn to make you proficient enough on the instrument to work professionally. It leaves out (thankfully!) all of the obscure scales like “Spanish Phrygian” and “Harmonic Minor Dominant” in favor of just learning the music that 95% of us listen to and expect to play. The book does leave out that all of these scales can be rotated into their own sets of modes, but that’s alright, as this is a little more complicated than the “basic” that the book claims to be.

Basic Bass Scales & Modes can make anybody learn their instrument well. It also does a fantastic job of letting you know that just because every example in the book starts on an E, that it’s important to move the scales around to every key for true proficiency. My favorite feature for the novice musician, however, is that the first point for each scale is what style and emotion it goes for, sometimes even including what players favor it!

This book would be the perfect idea for teachers who are teaching students taking their first lessons, or who have only played by ear or with tablature for songs. In addition, Alfred has made this book totally cost effective, retailing for $8.95 USD. This most definitely helps curb the cost of lessons/gear upkeep/instructional materials for the novice players.