Marek Bero Publishes “Bass Gym 101 – Essential Plectrum Grooves”

In his own words, bassist and author Marek Bero used to be in the camp that “real bassists play with fingers.” However, he came to accept and appreciate playing with a pick.

“Playing with a pick was, in my opinion, reserved only to ex-guitarists, metal style players, or worst of them all, fake and lazy aspiring bass players who wanted to cut corners by not working on their ‘proper’ finger techniques,” Bero admits. “On one hand, now I regret my rather limited view, however, on the other hand, this strong opinion brought me a great deal of motivation in an effort to achieve the most consistent finger plucking and slap techniques. Basically, after tens of thousands of hours of practicing, I found out that I was trying to imitate the efficiency and tone of the plectrum. And thanks to this approach, I managed to gain exceptional finger techniques with a precise tone and articulation even at a very fast pace and rhythm divisions.”

Now he is spreading the love and knowledge with the ninth book in his Bass Gym 101 series, called Essential Plectrum Grooves. The instructional method takes you through pick technique in a progressive way, starting with elementary strokes and adding alternating strokes, percussive notes, string skipping, and palm muting.

While picks are most associated with rock and metal, the rhythms in the book also include funk, soul, and fusion grooves with double stops and chords.

Bass Gym 101 – Essential Plectrum Grooves is available now via Amazon.