Stanley Clarke Collection: Bass Recorded Versions (Paperback)

~ Stanley Clarke (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Features authentic, note-for-note transcriptions with tab for 16 super tunes from this eclectic bass master: Bass Folk Song ¥ Christmas in Rio ¥ Dayride ¥ East River Drive ¥ I Wanna Play for You ¥ Life Is Just a Game ¥ Lopsy Lu ¥ The Magician ¥ Rock ÕNÕ Roll Jelly ¥ School Days ¥ Silly Putty ¥ Song to John ¥ Stories to Tell ¥ Time Exposure ¥ Vulcan Worlds ¥ What If I Forget the Champagne. Includes a biography.

Product Details

Sample Music Notation [41kb PDF]

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793544432
• ISBN-13: 978-0793544431
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #225,905 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unexpectedly weak!, July 19, 2005

By	John F. Weeks (Bel Air, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Okay... Stanley Clarke is unquestionably one of the greatest bassists in history, and it's tough to figure out a lot of his lines due to their insane speed, his distinctive Alembic tone, and so forth. So this collection is certainly a great idea. The song selection is pretty good (would've liked to have seen the title track from Romantic Warrior, maybe Medieval Overture, and a few other RTF tracks instead of some of the more obscure solo stuff, but Vulcan Worlds, the Magician, and School Days alone would be worth the price of admission in my book), and the inclusion of tab along with standard staff notation is a great idea.

But the transcriptions are wildly inconsistent in quality. Vulcan Worlds is the only song I'm really familiar with, having recently transcribed most of the parts myself (I got this book primarily to check myself against an "authoritative" source and to eliminate the tedium of writing out the bass solo myself), so I can only really talk about its accuracy. All is basically well until the D minor/C minor pentatonic riff that Clarke plays in unison with Corea's fifth-tuned synthesizer (at like 0:45 I think). This is not a hard part to figure out but the transcription features some very humorous chromatic nonsense that barely resembles the correct part. The solo bass 3-dyad figure (Eb+G, Gb+Bb, F+G are the right notes) is also completely fabricated. And the funky sixteenth-note lines in and around the solos are way off. And so forth.

Other places in this song, probably other songs, seem to be accurate transcriptions of difficult-to-transcribe parts, so it's possible that some other songs I'm less familiar with would redeem this collection. As far as I can tell it's pretty useless though. A valiant attempt at a worthy goal I guess.

4.0 out of 5 stars Lord of the Lower Frequencies, March 15, 2004

By	David C. Tanner (FPO, AP United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wish they had this book when I was trying to learn these songs years ago! Tab definately helps even if you can read notes...( your own fingering isnt always the easiest way to play the parts but sometimes the opposite is true though). I give it four stars cause there were some other songs I would have liked to have included and also there are no tips on how to play the songs ...but this the best book for Stanley's transcriptions I have seen. I recommend it highly.

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Book-Where's the melody?, October 9, 2003

By	L. Rosenbaum "ljrosenbaum" (Fremont, Ca United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This a great book if your a bass player. The chords are included but I actualy bought the book looking for the melodies so I could play some of these music on keyboard since this has the only version of Vulcan Worlds and some other RTF tunes. I was hoping the the publisher would include the molody as well as the bass part and chords.