I had just finished reading Jerry Scheffs book, “Way Down” Playing Bass with Elvis, Dylan, The Doors and More by Jerry Scheff when I decided to order this book. Jerry Scheff and Donald “Duck” Dunn have been heroes of mine since I was a teenager. That was uncommon in my day and age of Metal music, but it was what it was. I have chased Duck’s sound since the very beginning of my bass awakening. I am still chasing that sound, but I always end of settling. I am going to try not to reveal anything in book, but instead outline what each part of the book meant to me.

Forward

The forward was written by Dan Aykroyd and could not be a more elegant tribute to Donald “Duck” Dunn’s contribution to the Blues Brothers and Mr. Aykroyd’s endearment of Mr. Dunn. This Forward alone made me even more interested in what was to be in the coming pages.

Introduction

The Introduction was written by the books author, Nick Rosaci. I had to look him up only to find various social media pages and credits to authoring this book. He talks about his inspiration for writing “Soul Fingers” and the reaction he got when investigating for the following pages. Once again I didn’t want to stop reading, but I had to get ready for a gig. It was so hard to put the book down at that point.

Body

I have to say that the first couple chapters were hard to get through. They were mostly point of fact statements and dates. Once I got through the first couple chapters, I could really start getting to know who Donald “Duck” Dunn really was.

Duck’s Gear

As a bass guitarist and chaser of Duck’s signature sound, this was the highlight of the book for me. A layout of all the gear he used to get his sound along with a breakdown of things that made up his style.

Music

More than half this book is transcriptions of song’s that Duck recorded. They are written in both musical notation and tablature. There is even a link to play and/or download the backing tracks to play along with.

Summary

All-in-all, I wasn’t impressed with the writing in this book. That being said, the knowledge of Duck’s equipment and style coupled with the accuracy of the musical transcriptions and the availability of the backing tracks make this book all worth while. It is a book about a legendary bassist written specifically for bassists.