Staind charted a new direction with 14 Shades of Grey, described by El Entertainment as "like a crisp Xerox of the band's multi-platinum Break the Cycle, with everything sounding bigger, brighter and tighter." This matching folio, edited by the band's guitarist Mike Mushok, incorporates Mushok's actual tunings and fingerings exactly as he plays them, without which many of the guitar parts would not be playable.