Customer Reviews

Bob Dylan: The 6 Chord Songbook, Easy Guitar Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Advanced players stay away, but this is as good a beginning guitar book to learn to play and strum that there is. The chords are simple, so spending time with this book will really teach you to comfortably play G and C chord songs.

Many of the songs are "dumbed down" or have had the key moved. Purists will be unhappy, as the songs lose a lot of that Bob Dylan funk, but, nonetheless, virtually every song in the book sounds good when played and is recognizable. Plus, for beginners, almost every song can be played with either a Carter-Style strum or a simple 1 2 3+ 4+ strum pattern.

Within weeks, you'll be able to play Dylan songs recognizably and, if you have even been playing for 6 months, you'll be able to play many of these songs on the first run-through.

I bought this for my father, a Dylan fanatic, and he was very pleased. It includes recognizable songs and comprehensible notation. He said it was easy for his beginner level and he had a lot of fun playing through it the first time. He still breaks it out 6 months later because he loves the music, so it's useful for learning and just playing even once one has progressed. He has vision problems and thankfully can read everything in the book with little trouble.

This book has the lyrics and chord changes for the songs--all stuff you can get from the internet, but it is nice to have them all together in a nice little book.
It is basically set up with a verse and the chord symbol (like G or Dm) above the word where the chord changes. So you will need the song handy to get the strumming down and hear how the vocals should be sung. Other than that these are some great songs to learn. Everyone knows the words so it is great for sing-a-longs.

I am not very familiar with Dylan's works but I bought this book anyway because I thought the 6 chords used would be simple. This turned out to be true. The chords are simple and if you forget some, there is a chart of all chords used at the beginning of the song. Since I have never heard of some these songs, I had to improvise on how it is played. Compared to other guitar related books, this one is fairly simple. There are no tablatures or written notes, just the lyrics with the corresponding chords. If there was a CD as a reference, this book would be good for a beginning guitar player.

Do Not Buy This Songbook. Here's why:

1. The book contains lyrics and six chords. You can look these up online. Google is your friend.

2. There are only 21 songs; total page 40. You are paying about 50 cents per song and what you receive for your money is junk. It won't show you the correct chords, just the easy approximations. If you are good, you just might be able to make it sound good. If you're a beginner like me, it will sound HORRIBLE.

3. Avoid Hal Leonard's books like the plague. There are FAR better books on learning to play guitar and there are also FAR better books on playing Dylan songs on your guitar.

I bought this book hoping to strum some Bob Dylan songs and sorely disappointed at the lack of details. I could've saved my money. Well, the book gave me a few minutes of warmth because I threw it in the fireplace 10 minutes after I received it.