A list of music books I own

Harmony

• The Jazz harmony book - David Berkman
  N: By far my favourite resource. Entertaining, very clear and very focused. Would recommend to anyone.
• The Jazz Theory book - Mark Levine
• The Jazz Piano Book - Mark Levine
  N: These two are supposed to be classics. I’ve use the Jazz Theory way more than the Jazz Piano one so far.
• Real Book in F

Etudes & pieces

• 60 Melodic Etudes for Acoustic and Electric Bass - Patitucci
• A Trascription book of Victor Wooten lines

Technique

• A harmonic approach to bass guitar - Anthony Muthurajah
• Polymuting - Orlando Fleming
  Notes: Both Muthurajah’s and this book are one of those pdf-only, slightly-overpriced books by music educators from the internet (though I had found Orlando Fleming via his disks). I like them (books and authors) both a lot, nevertheless. Particularly, Anthony Muthurajah’s videos are really to the point and useful, so buying it was also a form of support and acknowledgment. As for the content: Polymuting is great, A harmonic approach… was super useful. This last book has too many positions that are way too uncomfortable for me, but your milleage might vary. It’s still an interesting approach and learning the basic chord shapes in bass has made me overall a better composer and improviser.
• The Jazz musician’s Guide to Creative Practicing - David Berkman
  Notes: Another cheeky, entertaining book. I resort to it from time to time when I’m stuck.
• Método de bajo flamenco - Mariano Martos
  Notes: Nice little introduction. There’s a second volume I’ll get some day.

Cuban music

• Beyond salsa 1, 2 & 6 - Kevin Moore
  Notes: I found the first two volumes ok, but way too focused on beginner content for people not used to cuban music. The books also have lots of empty fluff it in - books 1 and 2 could have been a single book if you ask me. If I had bought the first volume of an instrument I didn’t know maybe I would have enjoyed them better.
  I skipped to book 6 because I’m a fan of Alaín Pérez’s bass technique. It helped a lot conceptualizing his time feel and technique (basically, a natural way of implementing two-handed polymuting). I won’t get the next 3 books thought - too much money for the worth I think.

I own, but haven’t read yet

• Twentieth-century harmony - Vincent Persichetti
  N: One day, Persichetti, one day…
• Armonía del flamenco - Manuel Granados
  N: Very stiff book - I have the feeling most of these flamenco academics come from classical music. Also, I haven’t focused on guitar playing (ouch) so not very useful to me.
• Reharmonization techniques - Randy Felts
  Notes: I’ve skimmed over this but haven’t really devoted time to it.

I want to get

• Slap it and Bass fitness. I’ve gone through both at some point but never consistently. Having a print edition would help.
• Jaco Pastorius transcriptions, to double-check mine as soon as I have some.
• A klezmer/traditional ladino songbook from early XXth century that is supposed to have influenced Avishai Cohen (I can’t find the name! :()

Stop buying books and start playing for real!

I know I know…