Customer Reviews

The Complete Guitar Player Songbook (The Complete Guitar Player Series)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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!

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 Amazon 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.

Overall, this is a good not great book. The bigest problem I have is that I'm not familier with most of the songs. It's difficult to tell if songs sound as they should. A cd to go along with the book would be nice. People should not expect anything later than the Eagles or other late 70s bands when buying.

I agree completely with the previous two reviews: the book has a really good variety of songs. (I, too, have been playing less than a year, and am happily working my way through the book.) But the page numbering system is...incomprehensible. There is no way to make any sense of the table of contents. It's hard to believe that they published it this way. I've re-numbered all the pages in the book myself, and am compiling my own table of contents.

Nonetheless, I definitely recommend this book, and am thinking that I want to buy Russ Shipton's instruction books.

If you're a beginner and looking for some great songs to play while you learn, this book is probably the best investment you can make. It might single-handedly keep you going past the point when a lot of people lose interest and give up. This book is filled with classic songs of the '60's and '70's that most beginners will be able to play after learning their first chords. Be aware, however, that there are no lessons in this book - it's strictly songs with chord charts and melody lines- but it will make learning a lot more fun when you find you can play songs like "Me & Bobby McGee" and "Imagine" almost immediately. Use this as a supplement to your lessons and it will make them a lot more interesting. This book is also highly recommended for beginning songwriters who will learn a lot from these simple yet classic songs. There's also enough here that's not simple and basic, to keep you going through the intermediate stage. Obviously, this book is not recommended for those who won't appreciate the songs - i.e., metal heads or teens who think "classic rock" is Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Don't buy this for your 16 year old son, unless he happens to be into the same music you grew up with. Buy it for yourself and pick up his guitar when he's at school!

Briefly: Contents good, clear, playable by most people.
Organisation: Terrible. Contents,index, and page numbering would frustrate even a librarian. KISS!
Binding: OK for a novel...but a music book needs to be able to lie flat for ease of use. A plastic spiral binding would be
a simple and vast improvement.

I'm 46 and starting to learn to play guitar with my 11-year old daughter. It can be intimidating, given the work and frustration you have to go through up front. I was looking for a collection of music that was easy to play and fun for both of us. This book gives you a good selection of songs you'd want to be able to play, in a simplified version, with the words, melody and chords all presented in an easy format. Most of these books don't have the melody notes - so it's hard to sing along if you don't already know the song. Even if you do, having the notes helps us stay on key. It's the best I've seen. It would be perfect if it was bound like it used to be - spiral bound - so it stays open on the music stand. It would also be nice if it came with a CD with each song on it. Finally, an updated version with songs my daughter wants to play - like "Complicated" or "Some Day" would be nice. I've been able to find these in sheet music - but not as simply laid at as in this book. Russ - how do I get the new stuff?