Customer Reviews

Dream Theater -- Images and Words: Authentic Guitar Tab

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

 

 

I absolutely love Dream Theater, in any shape or form, and their books are one of the forms that I especially appreciate. Any Dream Theater book is a good buy, since they help to teach John Petrucci's technique and style to any budding young guitarists out there. I am very disappointed though, that there are many errors in the Images And Words: Guitar Tab book that other people may not have noticed. For example, the lyrics to the majority of the songs are shockingly incorrect, and there are a number (at least 3 or 4 that I can think of) places where the fret numbers have been put on the wrong string (which is easily seen by checking the standard notation), and some of the tab just doesn't quite sound right. Overall, however, I was pleased with this book since despite its downfalls, it helps to teach students a better way of playing, performing, and even writing/composing music. I give this book 4 stars, the errors counting for 2 stars lost, and the excellence of the band giving 1 star back. Buy this book, along with Awake and Falling Into Infinity!! By the way, if anyone has any queries about certain areas of this book they are stuck on, or needs assistance with some of JP's techniques, I can play the entire IAW, Awake, and FII books, and will gladly help.

An excellent tab book; easy to read and understand. Besides a few errors in the tab itself (fret numbers on the wrong string etc.) and some mistakes with the lyrics (its really quite funny how wrong they are in some places) I can't see anything wrong with this book. A must for anyone who just can't seem to get Metropolis, or any other song off this album to sound right on their own.

This tab book is a MUST have for any talented guitar player out there. Petrucci has a style that will humble the most learned of players, and you will learn some of the greatest licks and phrasings that I, personaly, have ever seen.

I bought this book for several reasons - exercise, learning some potential covers for my band, and to qualify for free shipping.

Overall, the book is of decent quality. Unlike some reviewers, I don't see a problem with the print itself - everything is quite legible, and comparable to what you find in other books. My only complaint might be that certain sections, particularly technically-challenging passages, span pages which makes them difficult to study (without making photocopies or someone flipping the page for you). Of course, this is nearly impossible to avoid in all instances, so understandable. The book does justice to song structure and overall presentation of the different guitar parts.

My biggest complain is the large number of small inaccuracies. The scores are written in standard notation and tablature, and often these do not correspond. The discrepancies are often subtle, and inconsistent with each other. For example: there are sections where the tablature will list portions of a measure on the wrong string; in other sections, the standard notation will be off by one note (i.e. it will read E-F#-D-E instead of F#-G-E-F#). Yet in other sections, the tablature will be off by one fret - one example of this is in Pull Me Under, where there is an F# in the key signature, therefore not listed next to each note; the tablature shows the note on the 10th fret of the G string (F natural) rather than the correct 11th fret. The insidious part about it is, you don't have a reference point: for any given part, either the tab or the standard could be right or wrong. After even the first several pages of the book, I quickly lost trust in the accuracy of the transcriptions.

If you're an experienced player, and able to read both standard and tab, you will have no problem figuring out what should be correct 99% of the time, although for me this was a frustrating process. It might take listening to the actual song to figure out the correct notes. But for something allegedly endorsed by John Petrucci himself, I find the quantity of these errors unacceptable; that is the reason for my 3 out of 5 rating.

Excelente Libro
Aunque es el segundo album de Dream Theater muchos lo consideramos como el primero
El que tiene muchas notas dificiles en Guitarra
Metal Progresivo
Y esta transcrito por John Petrucci directamente
Es decir CERO Errores
Se los recomiendo
Pronto pudiera estar fuera de venta ya que es viejo album

MaRtYn
MTY-MEX

This books is excellant. All the pieces in all the songs are transcribed in great detail, with no errors that I have been able to notice (I've owned this book for 4 years.)

Very small print with bad print quality. The transcriptions
seem to be good but it doesn't matter if parts are unreadable.

The greatness of the best band to play this album is undeniable. I notice that the arppegiation in measure 25-30 in metropolis part one is a little off. Can you listen to the licks and riffs that Petrucci hammers out without wetting your pants? I know i can't. This book is a must have, a guide to prog metal on the guitar. And the cover is surrealistic and schweet.