Bassology Recommended Media

Music Books & Movies

Harmony & Theory
by Keith Wyatt & Carl Schroeder

Anthony Wellington recommends that all Bassology students work through this book.  Bassology at Sea students are required to complete it before departing on the cruise.  Many Bassology students start the book again as soon as they finish it!

Buy Harmony & Theory

Edly's Music Theory for Practical People 2nd Edition
by Ed Roseman

The only thing almost as fun as  learning music theory from Anthony Wellington is learning music theory from a piano-playing frog.  Bassology students and Bassology at Sea students are encouraged to use this workbook.

Buy Edly's Music Theory for Practical People

Chord Progressions for Songwriters
by Richard J. Scott

Each chapter provides a comprehensive, self-contained lesson on one of twenty-one popular chord progressions that every songwriter and musician should know inside and out.


Buy Chord Progressions for Songwriters

The Jazz Theory Book
by Mark Levine

Detail-oriented with an emphasis on music theory for jazz musicians, this book lists recordings to reference the “licks” and songs highlighted.

Buy The Jazz Theory Book

Charlie Parker Omnibook for Bass Clef Instruments

Anthony Wellington studied this book to learn how Charlie Parker played over ii-V changes.  Versions are available for other instruments.

Buy Charlie Parker Omnibook for Bass Clef Instruments

Giant Steps: An In-depth Study of John Coltrane's Classic with book & CD
by Joe Diorio

This book lays out a logical and analytical approach to this tune.  It is written in treble clef, so it might challenge your overall musicianship in more ways than one.

Buy Giant steps: An in-depth study

Standing in the the Shadows Motown
by Dr. Licks

The book that was so good it was made in to a movie!  The book details the musically historical life and death of James Jamerson, the innovative bassist who defined the Motown sound.  It features transcripts and includes a CD of some of today’s most renowned bassists covering Jamerson lines. 

Buy Standing in the Shadows of Motown

Standing in the Shadows of Motown DVD

In 1959, Berry Gordy gathers the best musicians in Detroit’s thriving jazz and blues scene for his new record company: Motown. These unheralded musicians play on more Number One hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and The Beetles combined, making them the biggest hit machine in the history of popular music. They call themselves the Funk Brothers. But no one knows their names… this is their story.

BUY STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN DVD

Standing in the Shadows of Motown Amazon Prime Rental

Yes, you are seeing right: I’ve recommended Standing in the Shadows of Motown as a book, a DVD, and a rental.  Most importantly, get the book and study it.  And then put it in even more context by enjoying the movie.  

Rent Standing in the Shadows of Motown on Amazon Prime

20 Feet From Stardom DVD
Darlene Love, Merry Clayton

In this award-winning documentary, director Morgan Neville shines the spotlight on the untold stories of such legendary background singers as Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, Claudia Lennear, Judith Hill and more. These are the triumphs and heartbreaks of music’s greatest unsung talents, featuring rare behind-the-scenes footage, vintage live performances, and interviews with superstars Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder and Bette Midler.

Buy or Rent 20 Feet From Stardom

Hired Gun: Out of the shadows, in to the spotlight DVD

‘Hired Gun’ is the story of the A-list musicians responsible for the most famous instrumental guitar, drum and piano solos in the world.  The ‘hired gun’ community lives and breathes music, and, for the first time, share their incredible stories and exclusive musical performances with the world. ‘Hired Gun’ details the highs and lows of touring life, the demands of session schedules, and the dedication required to play next to some of the world’s most iconic musicians.

Buy Hired Gun DVD

Hired Gun: Out of the shadows, in to the spotlight Amazon Prime Rental

Rarely recognized but always heard, the ‘hired gun’ community lives and breathes music, creating some of the most famous instrumental solos in the world.  Here they share their incredible stories and exclusive musical performances with the world. ‘Hired Gun’ details the highs and lows of touring life, the demands of session schedules, and the dedication required to play next to some of the world’s most iconic musicians.

Rent Hired Gun on Amazon Prime

Psychology Books

This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of Human Obsession
by Daniel J. Levitin

In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain. 

Buy This Is Your Brain on Music

Outliers
by Malcolm Gladwell

The best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful– what makes high-achievers different?  Gladwell answers that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing.

Buy Outliers

Blink
by Malcolm Gladwell

Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-that actually aren’t as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error?

Buy blink

Music, the Brain and Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination
by Robert Jourdain

Lyrically interweaving discoveries from science, psychology, music theory, paleontology, and philosophy, Robert Jourdian brilliantly examines why music speaks to us in ways that words cannot, and why we form such powerful connections to it.

Buy Music, the Brain and Ecstasy

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
by Joshua Foer

Joshua Foer’s yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top “mental athletes.” He draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tricks of the mentalist’s trade to transform our understanding of human memory.

Buy Moonwalking With Einstein

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
by Malcolm Gladwell

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. This widely acclaimed bestseller explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon and is changing the way people think about selling products and disseminating ideas.

Buy The Tipping Point

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
by Daniel H. Pink

Daniel H. Pink examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose-and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

Buy Drive

The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How.
by Daniel Coyle

This revolutionary book shows you how to grow talent by tapping into a newly discovered brain mechanism.  Coyle identifies the three key elements that will allow you to develop your gifts and optimize your performance in sports, art, music, math, or just about anything.

Buy The Talent Code

Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
by Geoff Colvin

Most of us think we know why some people are great at what they do the answer—but we’re almost always wrong. If we’re wrong, then we have zero chance of getting significantly better at anything we care about.

Buy Talent Is Overrated

The Gift of Fear: And Other Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence
by Gavin de Becker

 The threat of violence surrounds us every day. But we can protect ourselves, by learning to trust—and act on—our gut instincts.  Learn how to spot even subtle signs of danger—before it’s too late.

Buy The Gift of Fear

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
by Oliver Sacks

Sacks explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human condition. In Musicophilia, he shows us a variety of what he calls “musical misalignments” that tell us where music “lives” in the brain and how we experience it.  

Buy Musicophilia

Mastery
by Robert Greene

Each one of us has within us the potential to be a Master. Learn the secrets of the field you have chosen, submit to a rigorous apprenticeship, absorb the hidden knowledge possessed by those with years of experience, surge past competitors to surpass them in brilliance, and explode established patterns from within. 

Buy Mastery

Thinking Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman

Psychologist and  the Nobel Prize winner Kahneman explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking.

Buy Thinking Fast and Slow

Why Teach?: In Defense of a Real Education
by Mark Edmundson

Edmundson reminds us that there is more to education than greater productivity. With prose exacting yet expansive, tough-minded yet optimistic, Edmundson argues forcefully that the liberal arts are more important today than ever.

Buy Why Teach?

Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within
by Kenny Werner

A book for any musician who finds themselves having reached a plateau in their development, Effortless Mastery provides practical, detailed ways to move towards greater confidence and proficiency in any endeavor. 

Buy Effortless Mastery

Philosophy Books

Zen Guitar
​by Philip Toshio Sudo

Each of us carries a song inside us, the song that makes us human. Zen Guitar provides the key to unlocking this song—a series of life lessons presented through the metaphor of music.

Buy Zen Guitar

Mutant Message Downunder
by Marlo Morgan

Mutant Message Down Under recounts a unique, timely, and powerful life-enhancing message: it is not too late to save our world from destruction if we realize that all living things are part of the same universal oneness.

Buy Mutant Message Downunder

Surfing in the Himalayas
by Frederick Lenz

This transcendent adventure begins when Lenz accidentally plows into a Buddhist monk named Master Fwap at the base of a mountain. This karmic incident leads him on an adventure to unlock his spiritual destiny.

Buy Surfing the Himalayas

Business Books

Music Law: How to Run Your Band's Business
by Richard Stimulations

Whether you’re recording an album, budgeting a tour, or insuring your vintage guitar, you need solid information to make the right legal and business choices.

Buy Music Law

More books will be added as we discover them.

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