'This is an absolute goldmine for any student of bass playing AND bass players. Firstly Stuart covers a few basics about notation, scales and the cycle of 5ths etc. and stresses in his unpreachy way (acknowledging they're mundane and a bit of a chore) about their importance. Then he goes through 20 of the world's most famous and influential bass players in a very thorough and original way.

He firstly covers each player with a potted biography, describing where they came from and briefly explaining their influences and motivations and the bands and artists they've played with. He then gets into their distinctive playing style, highlighting what they brought to 'bass playing' and justifying why they made it into the book. Here he has chosen well - picking a blend of different styles of players from jazz, through funk and soul to metal and more esoteric 'niche' styles. Finally, before we get to the music, Stuart explains each artist's setup - the kit they use, how they set up their bass and what effects they might use to achieve their distinctive sound...oh yeah, and he also throws in a short list of CD references as suggested listening for each artist.

What makes this book and CD set stand out however are the tracks. Anyone who owns any of Stuart's transcriptions of Mark King's basslines will know how thorough and dedicated he is and this book is no exception. Rather than use existing basslines from each artist's back catalogue Stuart has gone to the trouble of composing his own original tracks which best showcase the individual style of each bassist. In a way he has created caricatures of each player's style - a kind of amalgam of chops which identify them...his Mark King track sounds more like Mark King than......Mark King. As an instructional tool to teach players about famous bassists' styles this has no equal. '