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Review by M. Allen Greenbaum:

Tab versus Standard

This mostly excellent compilation of over 4 decades of mostly rock songs shows the bassist's part in both standard and tab notation. (Standard requires reading notes; Tab actually shows the four bass strings and numbers what fret to play next).

Who's in the Book

While certain schools of funk and soul are slightly underrepresented for my tastes (where's James Brown or Sly Stone--were there copyrite issues?), the book includes some Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Martha and the Vandellas ("Dancing in the Street"), and The Four Tops. Mostly, though, this is a collection of what is now deemed "classic" rock (e.g., Cream, Beatles, Santana, Stones, The Who, Led Zep, Hendrix, David Bowie, the Byrds); metal bands (including Black Sabbath, Foo Fighters, Van Halen, Kiss, Metallica, GNR, Ozzy Osbourne); 1950s-1960's oldies (Fats Domino, Elvis, The Crests ["16 candles"], Ricky Nelson, , Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Jerry Lee Lewis), and a smattering of relatively recent (last 20 years) bands (the Black Crows, Goo Goo Dolls, Stone TEmple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine, Sheryl Crow, Slipknot, System of a Down). There are also some bands that are inexplicably included (why are there two songs from "power ballad" band, "Cinderella"), but, hey, to each his or her own.

Only A Few Songs per Group

Each group is represented by one to seven songs (only Stevie Ray Vaughn has that many), and most range from one to three. Therefore, if you're a big fan of a particular genre or band, you might look for a more specialized book. However, there aren't that many books with bass tab!

What I Like About This Book

Strengths of the book include the variety mentioned above, a one-page decoding of tab symbols, the excellent price, and song transcripts that generally show the treble clef, chord accompaniment, and lyrics. Sometimes you're only shown the 2 or 3 bass sections only, and the first few words/notes that accompany the riff without the rest of the song.

Who Will Benefit From this Book?

Moderate to advanced players will get the most from the "White Pages," and here's why: Even with the beginner-friendly tab, it is still very helpful to know how to read music. While tab indicates many of the techniques, it doesn't show you the all-important left hand finger placement that allows bassists to move smoothly over the neck, nor does it easily convey rhythm and the more complex moves. Unfortunately for the novice, many of the songs are at a fast pace and will be too difficult to play. Ideally, you'd have the bucks to get a -device that will play back slowed-down notes from a song without losing their pitch (0 and up). Ideally, in fact, you'd have a guitar teacher! But for those without the time, money, or inclination to go this route, this book can get you playing pieces of some real songs, a rewarding activity that you won't get from too many beginner bass books.

Recommendation

For this reason alone (and, again, I'm speaking to newcomers), the White Pages can be a useful, fun resource, particularly when paired with a really excellent instruction book such as "Bass Guitar for Dummies." You might want to supplement this with bass transcriptions from the internet, sometimes from bass interest groups. (One problem with that, however, is that tab notations are not always the same.) The bottom line is that fairly competent bass players will enjoy a lot of transcriptions at a cheap price, while novices will have fewer songs they can play all the way through. The publisher might have thought to publish 2 or 3 books like this, but differentiated by the difficulty (speed, complexity, etc.) of the bass line.

Review by Carl from Chicago:

I put down the bass for about a decade and recently picked it up again. Bass Tab White Pages was a huge help in learning songs from a wide variety of artists, from Stevie Ray Vaughan to David Bowie to old blues artists like Freddie King (Hideaway). Some of the selections were pretty odd for artists like Metallica and ZZ Top (why not pick "Enter Sandman" or "Tush") but these are minor quibbles.The tabs seem extremely accurate and very thorough. Every note is there including chords, pull offs, and other required parts if you want to play it "right".Finally, what I found very useful is that they recommended tuning for each song. I am constantly tuning my bass up or down depending on whether I am playing old stuff (standard tuning) or modern rock (tune way down) or Stevie Ray Vaughan (generally 1/2 step).There are 200 songs in this book and it will keep you busy for a very long time. It is fun to just sit down with this book and your CD collection and try out random songs. Enjoy!

Review by Sean Miller:

The warm up exercise included in this DVD alone is worth the money. If you follow Tony's advice to practicing you will build the strength in your fingers and coordination to play in a band sooner than later. The DVD includes a password so you can download and print the warm up exercise sheet at the icons of rock site. I keep mine in my case.

Review by Jessie James Jones III:

Great instructional video for new aspiring bass players. Shows the fundamentals in easy to understand language. Just great.

Review by STLguy:

Great guitar for the Wii. Despite what the other reviewer said, this guitar IS COMPATIBLE WITH ROCK BAND 2, and also The Beatles Rock Band. I cannot persoanlly attest to compatiblity with the Beatles Rock Band, but I own both Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2, and it works great with both. You simply need to go to the Guitar Hero and Rock Band websites and they will both tell you this guitar is compatible with virtually all Rock Band and Guitar Hero games.

The only downside to this guitar is that it requires a Wii remote to use.

Review by Marge Simpson:

I bought this guitar for my Beatles Rock Band wii game. It was really easy to set up, works perfectly, and it costs 1/3 - 1/2 the price I've seen for an actual Rock Band guitar.