Series: Complete Guitar Player
Paperback: 172 pages
Publisher: Music Sales America; Omnibus Edition edition (January 1, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 082562536X
ISBN-13: 978-0825625367
Product Dimensions: 9 x 0.4 x 12 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #184,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #304 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Songbooks > Guitars & Fretted Instruments > Guitars #382 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Performing Arts > Music #458 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Sheet Music & Scores > Forms & Genres > Popular
It is hard to find a book that has a good assortment of songs to play through. Most songbooks tend to be compilations of one style or genre of music. Unless you feel like playing through a book of Pop Hits of the 90's or Broadway Love songs, this book will keep you happy for years to come. The Complete Guitar Player Songbook includes songs of the Beatles, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Simon & Garfunkel as well as folk standards and a number of classical selections. The book includes chord diagrams, suggested strum and picking patterns and is in standard notation as well as tablature.
The good thing about this book--and about this songbook series in general-- is that it includes many popular songs that are good for a guitar player to learn, both to learn basic chord technique and build repertoire. The bad thing is that they are rife with errors, including unconventional and sometimes frankly incorrect music notation, some incorrect chord changes, and even some wrongly transcribed melodies (and it includes far too many of Shipton's own compostions, which are of minimal value). If you can find another songbook or songbooks that include most of the songs you want to learn, it is probably a more faithful and useful reproduction than this book. However, it does give good practice in basic chord changes, and has a good amount of good (and bad) songs, mostly folk and pop from the 60s and 70s, with some traditional tunes.
This book has some great songs that are easy to play. I have been playing the guitar for less than a year and can play alot of the songs in this book. My only complaint is the page numbering. It's hard to find the songs in the book. I marked my favorites with sticky notes so I could find them again. Happy picking!
Being a new player, I find I am on the lookout for instruction books with songs I know and love. Full of lots of hits up to the early eigties, The Complete Guitar Player Songbook suits a geriatric like me.I think however to use the book well, you have to understand that it is a 'companion' book to four others, which provide a more basic intro to the songs included in this one.I purchased this book from because I already had the companion Book 1 in the Complete Guitar player series by Shipton, which presents a simplified chordal / strum style aproach to teach the same songs as in the songbook. I have found Book 1 to be the best intro to guitar, and particularly singing with the guitar, of the several that I have used.You see, after a while it seemed to me that unless I was willing to have a go at the lyrics, I'd be missing out on a main part of playing guitar. Shipton in the companion books eases even bad vocalists like me into the idea that they might try singing, by talking about using a capo to help you keep in key, and how to play simpler versions of some songs to find your way to singing and strumming at the same time.I am sure I will eventually buy the whole series.If you have the companion books, the page organisation in the songbook makes a little more sense than it does on its own - but it still could do with a complete index for each song.Information in Book 1 indicates there are CD's available where Shipton has recorded all of the pieces - a great help for the songs with which you are not familiar.So even if you were born in 1981, and Elton John is just this guy in an Eminem clip, you should give it a look.
I thought this book would be chalk full of guitar songs. Instead, it's full of lead sheets for a bunch of old classics. While these are great songs, it's not what I expected when I purchased the book. There are a handful of classical guitar studies thrown in there for good measure, but they are super simple and almost seem to be an afterthought. If this book was titled, "great classics lead sheets" then it would get five stars, because that's what it is.
I am 71 years old and learning to play the guitar was on my "bucket list"..... Since I have had no professional training and what I am learning is from "you tube", "books", etc., this book has a lot of songs I like and are easy to play! I am sure you will not be disappointed when you purchase it!!!
This book has songs by the Beatles, Cat Stevens, James Taylor, Paul Simon, John Denver, the Eagles, Buddy Holly. I bought a guitar and with a couple of strumming sessions with my cousin (also an amateur) I taught myself (sort of, I'm still working on it!) by playing the songs in this book. They are written in box tablature, which I think all books should be -- it's just a simple visual notation that makes learning easy. It also includes strumming suggestions, but since you'll know most of the songs in this book, you have a good idea how they should sound. Also, each song is on a single page, perhaps this is because of simplified song notation, but it saves the interuptions for page turning. The only drawback is the few songs of the authors that are included. Perhaps they are good songs, but since I've never heard them, it would be difficult for me to figure them out! That is easily overlooked with this wonderful collection of songs -- Happy strumming!
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