Keeping in mind that the general criteria here is "music instructional materials available for free on the internet," bassists may find some items worthy of perusal at the aptly named InstituteOfBass.com, which offers free online lessons from bassists including Michael Manring (who's coming to St. Louis to perform next month), Cliff Engel, Todd Johnson, Ray Riendeau and others.
Also worth a look are the handout materials put together by bassist and jazz educator Lou Fischer for a master class in jazz bass presented as part of a "Music for All Summer Symposium" sponsored by Yamaha. You can download the notes in PDF format here.
And if you've ever wondered how a bunch of local Detroit jazz musicians used their skills and experience to create some of the biggest pop hits of the 20th century, check out "James Jamerson: From Jazz Bassist to Popular Music Icon," a master's thesis by a Texas jazz student that has some interesting info and insights about the bassist who provided the backbone for many of Motown's greatest recordings.
On the video front, we have lessons from two masters of swinging, straight-ahead jazz. The first clip features a short-but-sweet lesson from the late Milt Hinton, who played with many of the major jazz musicians active during his lifetime and did thousands of recording sessions in a career that stretched from the 1930s to the 1990s.
After that, there's an entire master class from Ray Brown (pictured), who was celebrated as one of the top bassists in jazz for his work with Ella Fitzgerald (who also was married to Brown for six years); Oscar Peterson, who employed Brown as his bassist of choice for several decades; and others.
You can see the videos of Milt Hinton and Ray Brown after the jump...
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