The Cars: Authentic Guitar-Tab Edition (Guitar Anthology Series) [Paperback]

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1997 | Series: Guitar Anthology Series

Their first Authentic Guitar-Tab edition. Titles are: Bye Bye Love * Cruiser * Drive * Good Times Roll * It's All I Can Do * Just What I Needed * Let's Go * Magic * My Best Friend's Girl * Shake It Up * Since You're Gone * Tonight She Comes * Touch and Go * You're All I've Got Tonight * You Might Think.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Warner Bros Pubns (December 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0769212271
• ISBN-13: 978-0769212272
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,373,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Layout, Seems Accurate, Vocal Harmonies Included., June 29, 2006

By 

tonyscam "tonyscam" (Fort Worth, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cars: Authentic Guitar-Tab Edition (Guitar Anthology Series) (Paperback)

Since no one's reviewed this yet, I might as well tell you everything I know about the book, which I've had for six years.

If you have any of the regular sheet-music books for The Cars's albums, you know most of them are terribly minimal (except for the Panorama book, which for some reason is much better than the rest.) Having this "Guitar Anthology Series" book added much greater depth to my understanding of the transcribed songs.

Aside from the fact that it doesn't include bass lines, this book is everything I want in a transcription. Guitar parts are notated in both staff and tablature, lead vocals are transcribed very accurately (even when, in "Since You're Gone", Ric Ocasek sings "I can't help it" a half-step sharp!) and the vocal harmonies (The Cars's strong suit, at least in the studio) are included whenever possible. The harmony parts aren't 100% accurate -- they're sometimes altered to avoid doubling with the lead vocal, which is foolish -- but they're close enough to learn from.

Of course, it's the guitar parts we really want to know about. Care is taken to include all audible guitar tracks. "You're All I've Got Tonight", for example, runs for 15 pages! In some cases, this book noted parts I hadn't really heard. A great example is "Since You're Gone": I hadn't realized Ric Ocasek's signature muted clicking rhythm maintained a C pedal throughout most of the song (even on the intro, seemingly in conflict with a "big" E5 chord.)

Elliot Easton's solos, of course, are melodic, precise -- and much harder to play than you'd think. Solo-wise, "Touch And Go" and "Tonight She Comes" were great choices for inclusion. (I'm still searching on my Strat for that "screaming" pinch harmonic in "Touch And Go"!) The transcription of "You Might Think" is priceless -- but I'm still scratching my head over whether that solo is *really* one guitar or two!

I do suspect, however, some inaccuracy about the positions used. The book might say, for example, that there's a C on the 8th fret of the high E string, when to my ears it sounds "fatter", like the 13th fret of the B string. But I haven't found any obvious wrong NOTES, and that's what matters.

The book's worst error is "My Best Friend's Girl", which is in F Major -- but the band played in E Major on up-tuned guitars, and the book fails to note that. This makes a HUGE difference, as the E Major arrangement is far more convenient! My second complaint is that "Touch And Go" neglects to mention that the bass and drums are playing in a different time signature (5/4) from the guitar, synth, and vocal (4/4). If you don't already know this, it makes this tricky song infinitely harder to learn. Third complaint: Though "Drive" was a major hit, its inclusion here is wasteful. There are no real guitars in the song. I would rather have seen the guitar-heavy "Nightspots" or "Candy-O" (which both feature some right-hand fret-tapping!) For these reasons I remove one star.

Much of Greg Hawkes's synth parts are arranged for guitar. As always, this yields mixed results in terms of playability, but definitely aids understanding.

Sadly, there is nothing from Door To Door here. I can't blame the book's editors for that, though, when the band members themselves seem to have disowned that lovely album. *sigh*

SUMMARY: If you're a guitarist who likes The Cars, you can't go wrong with this book. Keyboardists and vocalists should also appreciate it. Excellent, excellent value!