About Stu Hamm: Through his innovative work as a solo artist and his contributions as a sideman to Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, Stuart Hamm has firmly established himself as one of the most influential electric bassists of the past half-century. Extending the non-traditional function of the electric bass previously revolutionized by Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke in the 1970s, Hamm helped to reshape the contemporary concept of the bass guitar as an unaccompanied instrument with the utilization of polyphonic, two-handed tapping, slapping and popping techniques, chords, and harmonics. Hamm has received an extensive list of accolades such as being voted "Best Jazz Bassist" and "Best Rock Bassist" multiple times in magazine polls conducted by several major print publications. In this volume of video bass guitar lessons Stu demonstrates the essential left and right hand techniques developed to build strength and endurance. He teaches you the language of music to help make quick work communicating ideas at jams and auditions. Bass Basics equips you with a solid foundation of techniques, theory, rhythm patterns and bass lines, all of which can be applied in any style of music. Stu even shows you how to read tab and follow a chart as well as teach you the essential theory required to take your playing in any direction you choose. If you"re serious about learning the bass and want to enjoy the journey, let Bass Basics be your guide. You won"t go astray! Guitar Lab"s innovative learning systems employ a hands-on approach where students "play" their way through the curriculum using learning tools such as PIP video, practice rhythm tracks, and interactive tab and notation, which allows the student to play along with the tab and notation, at any tempo, without change in pitch.