'It had been sometime since I last played the bass guitar due to other committments. However recently I regained the incentive to start playing again, and was looking for a book to allow me to 'pick up where I left off'. Stuart Clayton has done a remarkable job with this book. It is broken down into logical sections which allows any player irrespective of ability to find exactly what they are looking for. Stuart has also included a CD with this book which is an excellent complement to the text.

Within a couple of practice sessions and the help of this book, I was able to increase my fret board knowledge, master left hand muting and ghost notes - something that had in the past always eluded me, but something I desperately wanted to master - and brush up on my slap bass playing technique.

The book and CD promote the development of your own playing style and puts the emphasis on you the player in advancing your level of playing.

In addition, Stuart gives some great additional information, tips on buying a bass, the different sounds different basses make, and some inspiration in his cited artists section.

I do not read bass clef, I am a TAB user. Whilst Stuart advocates a knowledge of music and timing, each exercise is listed with the TAB, and fingering and I've had no problems in making progress through each chapter. This book really has advanced my playing level. Highly recommended.' (Posted on 9/18/09)

'If you only want to buy one bass guitar book, this should be it. There are plenty of books around covering theory, technique or scales in some detail, but you're often left wondering "do I really need to know all that?" Sometimes the mountain of information can be so daunting that it can actually sap your will to learn any of it. In this book Stuart Clayton refines what most bass guitarists will most need/want to know into exercises that are both explained in the book and demonstrated on the accompanying CD.

There are chapters dedicated to things like scales where you are encouraged to practice and familiarise yourself with these as essential pre-requisites to developing your overall knowledge of the instrument, but even these are dealt with in a way that's geared towards increasing your ability relatively quickly by focusing on what's most important.

Other chapters cover various playing techniques and with these you're encouraged to pick out the items that you most want to learn and bypass those that you don't. There's a chapter dedicated to the various techniques used for slap bass which will quickly dispel the myth that slap bass is all about right-hand technique - here you'll discover that both hands play an important part in the sound and the ability to sound like you're playing faster than you really are.

The book isn't overly long either, which also helps avoid the psychological barrier that you've got too much to learn. However, you'll soon realise (if you didn't already) that as good as Stuart Clayton's tuition is, the other ingredient you'll need is plenty of practice...' (Posted on 9/18/09)

'It had been sometime since I last played the bass guitar due to other commitments. However recently I regained the incentive to start playing again, and was looking for a book to allow me to 'pick up where I left off'. Stuart Clayton has done a remarkable job with this book. It is broken down into logical sections which allows any player irrespective of ability to find exactly what they are looking for. Stuart has also included a CD with this book which is an excellent complement to the text. Within a couple of practice sessions and the help of this book, I was able to increase my fret board knowledge, master left hand muting and ghost notes - something that had in the past always eluded me, but something I desperately wanted to master - and brush up on my slap bass playing technique.

The book and CD promote the development of your own playing style and puts the emphasis on you the player in advancing your level of playing. In addition, Stuart gives some great additional information, tips on buying a bass, the different sounds different basses make, and some inspiration in his cited artists section. I do not read bass clef, I am a TAB user. Whilst Stuart advocates a knowledge of music and timing, each exercise is listed with the TAB, and fingering and I've had no problems in making progress through each chapter.

This book really has advanced my playing level. Highly recommended.' (Posted on 9/18/09)

'Whether you're a beginner or more experienced this book should have something to offer. Clayton is an experienced performer, graduate and tutor and this is designed to take your playing to a higher level. Lessons include: tuning, scales, tablature, phrasing, techniques and aural exercises. A great aid to improve those bass skills.' (Posted on 9/18/09)