Hal Leonard’s, The Worship Bass Book by Norm Stockton, Review by Ty Campbell

Just recently released from Hal Leonard is The Worship Bass Book by Norm Stockton. Chock full of essential material that is beneficial not only to bassists that perform in worship services, but will apply to bassists in the secular realm too. From front to back, this book/DVD release covers everything from getting familiar with the fingerboard, intervals, to adding little things such as dynamics, vibrato, ghosting, all the way to practice tips, amps, effects, all different types of music genres, technique, soloing, all the way down to one of the most important elements of bass performance, grooving.

Norm speaks with some of the most influential individuals. For instance, Bill Bartolini, Steve Rabe of SWR, and Bob Gallien of GK share their thoughts on pickups, amps, and speaker cabinets. Norm also speaks with John Patitucci in an extensive interview and shares his individual thoughts on playing your part, grooving, keeping it simple, and pursuing a career as a bass player.

The DVD that accompanies The Worship Bass Book compliments all the exercises in the book in either mp4 or wav format. The mp4 videos give you close up views on technique such as tapping, slapping, and soloing. The wav’s cover items in the book where video is not necessary, for example, how to play a musical passage.

While all sections in The Bass Worship book cover a  lot of necessary items, I want to break down just one section to give you an example of how each topic is covered. Using the solo bass section as an example, Norm takes a simple well known melody,breaks it down into sections, analyzing each section. He then goes into looking at the chord voicing and how they apply to the melody, from there, putting on the finishing touches for a solo bass arrangement. This methodology applies to all sections of the book.

In closing, The Worship Bass Book/DVD will keep you busy and will quite possibly inspire fresh and new ideas into your musicianship. Norm has a way of making learning new and fresh ideas fun for all.

Hal Leonard’s, The Worship Bass Book by Norm Stockton is available from Music Dispatch and Bass Books.

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About Hal Leonard Corporation
Founded in 1947, Hal Leonard Corporation (www.halleonard.com) is the world’s largest music print publisher and digital content provider, producing songbooks, sheet music, educational publications, reference books, DVDs, tech products, magazines, eBooks, digital sheet music, apps and more. In its more than 200,000 available publications and products, the company represents many of the world’s best known and most respected publishers, artists, songwriters and arrangers. Hal Leonard is headquartered in Milwaukee, WI and also has domestic offices in Winona, MN; New York; and Nashville; and offices abroad in Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.