Dream Theater Keyboard Anthology [Paperback]

Dream Theater (Author)

Book Description

Series: Keyboard Anthology | Publication Date: August 2004

Exact transcriptions for all the keyboard parts to 15 Dream Theater songs. Titles are: Learning to Live * Metropolis Pt. 1 * Wait for Sleep * 6:00 * Scarred * Scene Two: I. Overture 1928 * Scene Three: I. Through My Words * Scene Three: II. Fatal Tragedy * Scene Four: Beyond This Life * Scene Nine: Finally Free * The Great Debate * Selections from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: About to Crash, War Inside My Head, The Test That Stumped Them All, Goodnight Kiss, Solitary Shell * Endless Sacrifice * Stream of Consciousness * Vacant.

Product Details

• Paperback: 173 pages
• Publisher: Warner Bros. Publications (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075792008X
• ISBN-13: 978-0757920080
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #602,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty damn accurate, but tough to read nonetheless, August 5, 2005

By 

John E. Emmel "Sean Emmel" (Miami, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dream Theater Keyboard Anthology (Paperback)

So, if any of you are purchasing this transcription book, I presume you to be a rather skilled pianist (probably classically trained) with a keen fascination for Dream Theater and lust for complex rhythmic structures. Thus, this is an essential book for any such trained DT enthusiast. Nothing is wrong with this book. It is wonderful, and I have yet to come across any obvious mistakes (though, the lead on Learning to Live seems questionable at some parts...). However, I must warn you, this is NOT a book for the student who lacks a confident ability to read rhythms. Aside from the vast array of complex time signatures Dream Theater employs, many of the keyboard parts are solos... TOUGH solos. When you get down to transcribing so accurately every little detail of a rapid fire Jordan Rudess solo, you get some insanely hard to read rhythmic notation and notes. For instance, one large group of notes will be written with a bracket reading "17:12" meaning to play the 17 notes as if they were a twelve-tuplet (or however you say that). Also, all of the chord "comping" is written out exactly to the most intricate detail, so what may seem like natural rhythmic jazz comping to Jordan becomes an incredibly difficult passage of music for the student to read. Most notably, if you don't have a Kurzweill K2600xs, you're not going to be able to get a lot of the sounds Jordan uses. The book does not describe the exact sounds either, but instead uses notations like "saw lead" or "percussive attack." This is beneficial if you have a different keyboard, but slightly annoying if you DO have the Kurzweil (which I do) where you want to be able to construct the EXACT sounds used. But either way, the sounds Jordan uses could be another novel in itself, so I don't detract any stars from this book because of that. Anyways, I guess to say that if you don't know what 13/16 means (the time signature), you may be better off getting a theory book and reading through that first before tackling any of the material in this book. You're definitely also going to want to have an audio sample of the song you're trying to learn at hand to help out with the rhythms. So, if you have a strong foundation in music theory and lust for challenging material with the technical skill of a classical pianist and the theoretical knowledge of a jazz pianist, this is the book for you. I would recommend actually starting out with some of the songs by Kevin Moore (Metropolis, Learning to Live, Wait for Sleep, etc.). They are quite tough to read through, but not as tough as Rudess's stuff. If you can tackle Moore's stuff in this book, you're ready to hit the number of Rudess hits contained in this musical masterpiece. Good luck!

---Sean

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!!!, October 5, 2008

By 

Bruce Wayne "Billionaire Philanthropist" (Miami FL) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Dream Theater Keyboard Anthology (Paperback)

This book is for advanced users. If you want to be challenged, this book is for you. Some songs are completely transcribed whereas others are excerpts with the relevant time stamps noted in the title of the piece. Being a fan of Dream Theater for many years and listening to Jordan's input in their many songs, it was really hard for me to keep up with his leads. This book solves that problem as the notes are there in front of you with the proper fingering to boot. This book will make you a better keyboard player.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Accurate Sheets, June 26, 2008

By 

Chocojoe (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dream Theater Keyboard Anthology (Paperback)

This is a must have for any DT fan that plays keyboards! Even if you just have a piano, you can play stuff like "Wait for Sleep" or "Through my Words." The music is extremely accurate even telling you when to bend notes and how to make different effects i.e. holding a higher G while trilling with a lower G and bending the note while doing so. Some of the music is pretty challenging though, so I wouldn't reccomend it for beginners. If you're at a moderate level, you can probably play most of Kevin Moore's stuff, but maybe not all of Jordan Rudess's.