I got the book I mentioned in my previous post (quoted beneath this mini review) and I wanted to come back and post a mini review of my impressions so far.
I like it a lot; it is almost exactly what I was looking for. It has several songs that are "in the style of" different artists. They are not specific songs (though some certainly sound like an arrangement of one standard or another). This is not a book that will teach you note for note transcriptions of specific songs. It teaches you a bunch of different blues bass lines. The music is recorded with a full band. There are no vocals, but a lot of good blues guitar solos. There are no bass solos; it is about providing bass rhythm for a blues band. The bass is in the left stereo channel and the rest of the band is in the right, so you can adjust the mix to hear it all, just the bass or just the rest for play along. An interesting note about that - since I am in the US, the left front seat in my car is the driver's seat, so when I listen to the CD in the car, I really feel those bass lines. The songs are only a couple of minutes or less each; they go through the full progression and turnaround a couple of times.
I know a bit about keys and locating the root of the current chord and paying attention to where I am relative to that root so I can transpose the lines pretty freely. That is very important, because there really isn't much about that in the book and it probably would not be near as valuable if I couldn't do that. For example, the song that is in the style of Duck Dunn is in A and it starts on an A. I know to take the shape of the line and move it to other starting points to get other keys. If I didn't know that, then all I would have learned is an A blues line.
There are 19 different bass lines, though some are not that different from each other (but those little differences are important). There is some additional info on set up, recording, tuning, etc, but it is pretty brief. Mostly it has music.
I think it can take me pretty far toward being a solid bassist for a blues band, with the caveat that I know how to transpose and I am not concerned with soloing right now.
Invalid Link Removed are pretty good. I just ordered
JUMP 'N' BLUES BASS which has a CD with bass through a different channel than the rest of the band so you can turn it off to play along. Here is their description:
Essential jump/swing and modern blues bass lines for electric and upright players. Includes lessons and music in the style of Willie Dixon, Larry Taylor, Edgar Willis, Duck Dunn, Tommy Shannon, and more! The CD includes a lives blues band with over 20 play-along tracks.
