Bass Fitness (by Josquin des Pres)

Some things are so simple (or obvious) that you take them for granted.  Like failing to take advantage of best practices in one industry that could help in a different business.



I always swore by technique and hand-strength building tomes when playing the piano (like Czerny's Art of Finger Dexterity, Hanon's The Virtuoso Pianist and others, including one of my favorites from 1912, Macdonald Smith's From Brain to Keyboard).

But outside of the scales and arpeggios I practiced from my Simandl and of course the fabulous and absolutely irreplaceable Ray Brown's Bass Method, I never really thought about hand strength, finger dexterity and the like as it pertained to bass playing.

Until I ran across this book, actually quite accidentally.  And discovered that my fingers really needed a workout, but could only make it (at first) through the first dozen exercises.

I've noticed my playing improve dramatically since using these exercises at least three times a week.  Definitely recommended.