| Foreword | vii |
| Preface: Bass Is Beautiful | ix |
| Intro | xi |
Section 1 | The History | 1 |
Chapter 1 | Walking Through the Years | 3 |
Chapter 2 | It's Got to Be Bop! | 10 |
| I Be Bop, You Be Bop: Learning the Language | 11 |
Chapter 3 | A Matter of Trust: Five Classic Rhythm Sections | 16 |
| It Takes Guts: Playing Acoustic Acoustically | 19 |
Section 2 | The Players | 21 |
Chapter 4 | The Early New Orleans Bassists | 23 |
Chapter 5 | Wellman Braud | 25 |
Chapter 6 | John Kirby | 27 |
Chapter 7 | The Tuba in Jazz | 29 |
Chapter 8 | Walter Page | 31 |
Chapter 9 | The Basie Bassists | 34 |
Chapter 10 | Bob Haggart | 36 |
Chapter 11 | Slam Stewart | 39 |
Chapter 12 | Milt Hinton | 43 |
Chapter 13 | Benny Goodman and the Swing Bassists | 48 |
Chapter 14 | Jimmy Blanton | 49 |
| The Ellington Bassists on Record | 51 |
Chapter 15 | Israel Crosby | 54 |
Chapter 16 | Oscar Pettiford | 56 |
Chapter 17 | The Beboppers: Curly Russell, Gene Ramey, and Tommy Potter | 60 |
Chapter 18 | Eddie Safranski | 62 |
Chapter 19 | Chubby Jackson | 63 |
Chapter 20 | Ray Brown | 64 |
Chapter 21 | Harry Babasin | 68 |
Chapter 22 | Afro-Cuban Bass | 70 |
Chapter 23 | The Cello in Jazz | 72 |
Chapter 24 | Paul Chambers | 74 |
Chapter 25 | Doug Watkins | 79 |
Chapter 26 | Sam Jones | 80 |
Chapter 27 | Percy Heath | 82 |
Chapter 28 | Charles Mingus | 84 |
Chapter 29 | Red Callender | 90 |
Chapter 30 | Wilbur Ware | 91 |
Chapter 31 | The Thelonious Monk Bassists: Ahmed Abdul-Malik, John Ore, and Larry Gales | 94 |
Chapter 32 | Jymie Merritt | 96 |
Chapter 33 | George Morrow | 97 |
Chapter 34 | George Duvivier | 98 |
Chapter 35 | Red Mitchell | 100 |
Chapter 36 | West Coastin': Leroy Vinnegar, Monty Budwig, Monk Montgomery, Joe Mondragon, Curtis Counce, Albert Stinson, and Joe Comfort | 104 |
Chapter 37 | Scott LaFaro | 108 |
Chapter 38 | Jimmy Garrison | 112 |
Chapter 39 | Coltrane and Beyond | 114 |
Chapter 40 | The '60s Mainstays: Bob Cranshaw, Butch Warren, and Larry Ridley | 117 |
Chapter 41 | Charlie Haden | 119 |
Chapter 42 | The Avant-Garde | 123 |
Chapter 43 | Ron Carter | 125 |
Chapter 44 | Richard Davis | 128 |
Chapter 45 | Eugene Wright | 129 |
Chapter 46 | The Bill Evans Bassists: Chuck Israels, Gary Peacock, Eddie Gomez, and Marc Johnson | 130 |
Chapter 47 | Dave Holland | 136 |
Chapter 48 | Peter Ind | 138 |
Chapter 49 | The Europeans | 142 |
Chapter 50 | Wilbur Little | 145 |
Chapter 51 | Rufus Reid | 146 |
Section 3 | Technique | 151 |
Chapter 52 | Practice, Practice, Practice | 152 |
| What's It Called? | 154 |
| How Do You Tune It? | 155 |
Chapter 53 | Play in Tune! | 156 |
Chapter 54 | Chord Symbols and What They Mean | 158 |
| Chord/Scale Chart | 159 |
Chapter 55 | Form, Key Centers, and Compositional Styles | 160 |
Chapter 56 | The IIm-V7 Progression | 168 |
Chapter 57 | Minor Chords and the Minor IIm-V7 Progression | 172 |
Chapter 58 | Melodic Walking Bass Lines | 175 |
Chapter 59 | Adding Rhythmic Interest to Walking Bass Lines | 176 |
Chapter 60 | Dominant 7 Chords and Scales | 179 |
Chapter 61 | Bebop Scales | 180 |
Chapter 62 | The Dominant 7 Etude | 181 |
Chapter 63 | Altered Dominant Sounds | 182 |
Chapter 64 | The Altered Blus Etude | 184 |
Chapter 65 | Arpeggio Exercises | 185 |
Chapter 66 | Major Melodies | 188 |
Chapter 67 | Where Do You Start? | 190 |
Chapter 68 | Mind Your Threes and Twos | 192 |
Chapter 69 | Sight-Reading Tricks and Tips | 194 |
Chapter 70 | Playing Standards | 196 |
Chapter 71 | Etudes Based on Common Jazz Standards | 198 |
| Ode Drip | 199 |
| What Impressions? | 200 |
| The Megafun IIm-V Blues | 201 |
| Rhythm Etude | 202 |
| You Are All the Things | 203 |
| Le Cannet Solo Transcription | 204 |
| What's Up Solo Transcription | 205 |
Chapter 72 | The Coltrane Progression | 206 |
Chapter 73 | Thumb Position | 210 |
Chapter 74 | Bowing Techniques | 214 |
Section 4 | Concepts | 217 |
Chapter 75 | Swing Is the Thing | 218 |
Chapter 76 | Integrity, Dedication, Respect, Competition, and Honesty | 220 |
Chapter 77 | Are You Versatile? | 222 |
Chapter 78 | Are You Creative? | 224 |
| Epilogue/Dedication | 226 |
| On the CD | 227 |