Customer Reviews

What Duck Done

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book contains transcription of Donald "Duck" Dunn's bass lines for almost three dozen classic Stax and Atlantic R&B recordings. This music is the cornerstone of 60's R&B and Soul and as such the bass lines are fundamental to anyone playing modern R&B, pop, funk, and even country, gospel, and contemporary Christian.

The book is 70 pages long. About a dozen pages are text and pictures. The rest are easy-to-read, carefully written transcriptions in standard musical notation on the bass staff.

The book includes two 60 minute CDs of instrumental covers by the author (Tim Tindall) on bass (left channel) and accompaniment on the right channel. The tracks are well made and fairly true to the originals in terms of tempos and instrumentation. (Though clearly more care has been taken to keep the bass lines "exact" than the other instruments.) The tracks were clearly mixed to maximize their value as teaching tools. Each of the instruments stands out distinctly, even on the "mixed" right channel. Very few effects are used in the mix.

This book does what it does very well, but it has limitations. There is no tab or fingering suggestions. There are no transcriptions for instruments other than bass. The commentary is very terse. (One should really think of this as a sheet music book with CDs.)

The level of these bass lines ranges from early to advanced intermediate. Many passages are suitable for beginners with a good rhythmic feel. (Duck was never about playing a lot of notes.) For those who read standard music notation or work with a teacher who does this book is highly recommended.

I highly recommend this as an excellent reference -- a fine set of transcriptions of Donald "Duck" Dunn's classic bass lines. Many of these lines have become fundamentals for anyone playing modern Bass.

The book is exactly as advertised -- nothing fancy. Only a few pages are used for pictures or comments. The rest is straight-forward transcriptions in standard musical notation (Bass clef, no Tab). This book is not intended for the casual fan of 60's R&B. It's a musicians reference, complete with 2 CD's for learning/practice/play-along.

Tim Tindall has done a nice job pulling this together. But, the real spotlight is on the music itself. Most of these classic Bass lines are not technically difficult. So, beginning and intermediate players will probably get maximum benefit from the book. And, the transcriptions offer an excellent chance to develop rhythmic feel & reading ability.

I kind of hesitate to give it 5 stars, but the transcriptions seem really good to me--though I heard a few of the Pickett's a little differently--and most of the tunes should be familiar to just about anyone who grew up hearing soul music now and then. I like the variety too. Some of the Sam & Dave, Pickett, Otis Redding and Eddie Floyd lines were "must-know" basslines but it was cool to see how Duck handled Albert and Freddie King's songs and some Muddy Waters as well.

It's pretty much just the 33 songs and 2 CDs. There are a few pictures and some notes about style in the back that I wish were embellished on both accounts, but nothing you'd really need. Duck's stuff was typically a little easier to play than Jamerson's so I'd recommend this BEFORE "Standing the Shadows of Motown" if you're still progressing as a player. I didn't do it that way, but as a result I found I could pretty much sight read this stuff with only a few errors here and there. The editing for fingerings is pretty minimal too, whereas the Jamerson has a lot more on that. But the transcriptions were in a much bigger font and that helps a ton. The sound quality of the CD could've been a little better too. Still, a fantastic book, especially for someone who plays guitar and wants to actually sound like a bassist and not a guitar player playing bass. You can't help but understand groove, how to work changes, what notes to accent etc.

A good compilation of the playing style of Duck Dunn. Good selection of songs, decent recording. The separation of the bass to the left channel makes it easy to hear the bass parts. The lack of Tab might be considered a drawback, but I found it good exercise reading music. Muscians not being able to read, or at least know the notes on the bass staff is the real drawback. If someone has an interest in the Stax sound then this is a good way to find out.

If you love Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Booker T. & MG's and other Stax artists, this is the book to get. Accurate transcriptions. One of the most fun bass books I've ever used because the music just pops out. As an added bonus, it also helped my sight reading. The CD is extremely helpful and is actually enjoyable to listen to all by itself. Highly recommended!

This is really well done... all the songs are written out in entirety, (in standard notation, not tab), and the accompanying CDs are really well done. If you want to learn the soulful Memphis grooves of the Stax sound, then this book is your mainline source.

The transcriptions in this book provide a good start to learning the material. They are not completely accurate, so if you want to play it the way Duck did, you still have to listen carefully and make some modifications to what's in this book. The inaccuracy exists in both note choice and in the sense of time written into the notation. Duck syncopates a lot, and the notation doesn't really reflect what he's actually doing. The book and CDs are a good start, but you still have to listen carefully to the original recordings.

-no tab is a little disappointing - considering these days its pretty standard to have both.
-the book is a plastic spiral bound - so its not very durable - another reason it should be about $10 if not $15 less.
-i've found a few mistakes in the transcriptions.
-the discs are okay, but the bass is not all that prominent - and is somewhat drowned out by the other instruments (with that said, i am fully aware that this is the burden a bassist usually faces when trying to figure out basslines - but this book is supposed to be to about bass - i dont need the accompanying drums, guitar etc.- i just want to concentrate on the bass).
-i have bought/studied from a lot of playalong bass guides - this one is nothing special.
-the reason its worth getting is simply that there are no other books (that i'm aware of) transcribing the works of Duck Dunn.

to sum up:
-overpriced
-not tabbed
-not very durable
-no other book like it (hopefully not for long)