BASS GUITAR: Total Scales, Techniques and Applications (TSTA) – 25th Anniversary Edition is Mark John Sternal’s complete method for mastering every note, every scale, every position and every key on the entire fretboard. It is written for beginner through professional bassists playing 4, 5 or 6 string bass.

Start with the musical alphabet, fretboard note charts and the natural scale in every position. Then put each scale to work with practical techniques and applications: picking and finger styles, slapping and popping, increment patterns, string skipping, hammer ons and pull offs, slides, bends, pre-bends and ghost notes, plus bass lines built from scale notes and the chords that go with them.

• The natural scale in all positions, scale notes as chords, and key changes through every major and minor key

• Modes and how to use them in different keys

• More than 30 exotic and cultural scales, from Pentatonic, Bop and Diminished to Hungarian, Japanese, Neapolitan, Persian, Spanish Gypsy and Whole Tone

• Every exercise in traditional notation and TAB

Celebrating 25 years of TSTA. Built on the same method as GUITAR: Total Scales, Techniques and Applications and shaped by over 30 years of teaching, this edition has been fully proofread and corrected for 2026, with a brand-new Author’s Note.

Free printable companion: blank TAB pages for 4, 5 and 6 string bass, free to download at https://www.mjsguitarlessons.com/bass-tsta-companion

By Mark John Sternal. PDF, 157 pages, including 7 blank TAB pages for 4, 5 and 6 string bass. Instant download.

Play guitar too? Get the guitar edition, GUITAR: Total Scales, Techniques and Applications – 25th Anniversary eBook: https://www.mjsguitarlessons.com/product-page/tstabook

All TSTA versions: eBook | Video course | Complete Bundle | Bass TSTA eBook