Customer Reviews

The Best of James Taylor

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been a JT fan since that day way back in the fall of 1970 when i purchased the original Apple album and Sweet Baby James at EJ Korvette in NYC - (for $2.69 each).

JT is a great player - his style is highlighted by a moving bass, unusual chords, and rhythmic syncopation - it's a difficult style to replicate. Not to mention those classic JT licks!

I've checked all the JT tab books out there. Both James Taylor Greatest Hits and James Taylor Classic Guitar Tab are accurate - but - they do something very strange. As many of you know, JT capos his guitar. These two volumes correctly identify the capo position but the tab reflects the actual fret rather than the relative fret. Now I read music and Tab well enough to figure out what's happening - but these two books just make you work far to hard. Thumbs down for those guys.

Anyway - this volume - The Best of James Taylor - does it correctly. Tab reflects the relative position. No matter where you capo, it's easy to figure out.

As for accuracy - the Tab is very accurate. For those wishing to truly get that JT sound - this is it (until Homespun Tapes finally gets JT to make an instructional DVD - what about it Happy?). This book really does a great job of getting the chords and picking style correct. Thank you.

Finally, song selection - there are so many great JT tunes - no single volume is going to make everyone happy. Personally, I wish this included Something in the Ways She Moves and You've Got a Friend - however, there are enough great tunes here to keep you busy.

Nice to have - it would have been nice if the publisher had included instructional CDs.

Thanks Colgan Bryan for doing such a great job!

I wish this book was available years ago. When I started playing guitar 20 years ago, my goal was to learn to play like JT. This book features guitar tablature arrangements that are very faithful to what you hear on JT's records. The only reason I don't give the book 5 stars is that it lacks some of the songs most of us would expect given the title. However, the book DOES contain the all-important "Fire and Rain", "Carolina in My Mind", "Sweet Baby James", and my personal favorite, "You Can Close Your Eyes"

First of all, you can't be too disappointed about whether You've Got A Friend is included in this book or not. It was originally written by Carol King. JT also is a songwriter/singer. It makes sense that the Best of James Taylor should include his own compositions. If you want You've Got A Friend, you should look at this book called Acoustic Guitar Bible. It has a great collection of acoustic songs(recorded version) that are accurate and the book is relatively cheap.

I'm an intermediate guitarist and this book is just perfect for me, not playable by sight, but not an excessive amount of work is going to be required ahead to get each song, either. Maybe four to six weeks per song of work will get me there, so the book is going to give me a year of pleasure learning and years beyond that. It's a relief not to only play a limited version of these song based on just chords...on the other hand, if that's all you wanted to do, the chords are named above the staff, too, so you could do just that with this book and have the right chords, not the sometimes mistaken ones you find on-line. These fingerstyle songs are all played in open position, sometimes with a capo.

The tabs are complete, as far as I can see (I have MP3s of all these songs and followed along each one before digging in to learning), and if there's anything missing it's unimportant. (This book also offers a second electric guitar part once and a second acoustic track a couple times, typically in the coda.)

What I'm finding enjoyable, playing my way through early on, is that already I'm getting JT's signature fills--seeing them written out and playing them is giving me an "aha" moment there--and something to do in my own arrangements of other songs and my own songs.

This is the second as-recorded book I've used (the other, the general Clapton, also offered me a bunch of "aha" moments. (As in "aha, there are four guitars playing at once? No wonder it sounds so difficult!")

Kudos to these transcribers (this one is Colgan Bryan) who do a great job and must earn their salaries for this time-consuming work.

A couple of the negative comments here are "huh?" producers for me. No shock that a song written by someone else wouldn't be in here--it's a rights issue. They got rights from Taylor for his own songs. Neither is "Up on the Roof" in here--another Carole King penned song nor is Handy Man (Jones and Blackwell). What's in here is terrific. As for the review saying there are no tabs in this--that's just plain wrong. There are, tabs and standard notation for both the guitar part(s) and standard notations for the vocals. Someone must have ordered the wrong book.

If I could wish for just one more thing in this book, it would be one-paragraph intros by the transcriber about technique. For instance, JT's using his first finger to strum at points, and there's specific info in the tabs about up and down strokes, and I'd like to know without going to youtube if he's using his finger, his fingernail, or a fingerpick. I'll figure out my own way, but it'd be interesting and useful to know how JT did it.

If you play fingerstyle steel acoustic and fancy JT - this is the best tab book out there. I have owned this fine book for almost a year and have worn out such greats as "Long ago and Far Away". If you really practice and don't quit you will sound just like JT. (Singing is another matter) It's just magic! Tab is correctly "Capo-relative".

(Warning!!! Those other JT song books tab actual frets as if the capo were invisible and are not worth the trouble! Imagine having to play hundreds of notes tabbed "3" for example. But like most of JT's compositions, he uses the capo. So if a particular song requires the Capo 3rd fret, every time you see a tab "3", you will have to make the mental subtraction (3 minus 3 = 0) It's only natural to want to play an open string when you see the "0". But when you see "3", you instinctively want to finger the 3rd fret. Very confusing. I have no idea why they would make such a huge error in such a large music publishing company. I have dozens and dozens of tab books, Beatles to Led Zep and trust me, they are all done correctly in Capo-Relative.)

Again, this book is absolutely correct and a joy to play. I highly recommend it.

There are some songs in here that we couldn't find in other books which is why we purchased it. It's a strange collection of songs but can't complain. I'm not a guitar player, but my husband is. I've been told that almost all popular guitar music is not written correctly. I know that JT has free videos on how to play some of his music so maybe that's a better place to start. i know that he capos so may of his songs so maybe that's why these songs seem to be slightly off at times. We're happy for some of the songs but wish they were a bit more accurate.

If you buy this book for the song "You've got a friend", don't buy it. The song is not in this book which they called the best of James Taylor. This title is incorrect because his greatest hit "You've got a friend" is not in it. I was very disappointed when I finally received this book.

The songs are ok but don't call a book the best of when the greatest hit is not in it.

The songs are by JT, the transcribing is by Colgan Bryan, and the book is a Hal Leonard. Can't find Kr Schonberg anywhere in the book. Anyway, whether these songs are JT's best is debateable, but they are good ones. Chords used in each song are diagrammed clearly, the tablature is found beneath the standard music notation, and each song is several pages. I am unable to read standard music notation. Unfortunately, there is nothing in the tablature to indicate beat/timing/rhythm of the songs: just numbers on lines. There's no CD with this book. The standard music notation probably shows how this song is supposed to be played, but again, unfortunately, I cannot read standard music notation.