Customer Reviews

Eric Clapton - From the Album Eric Clapton Unplugged

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

 

 

This version of the book is the "fake book" version, as opposed to the actual transcriptions in the "from the album" version. While it is a perfectly adequate guide to the general structure of the tunes, the actual chord inversions, lead lines, picking patterns and fills are not even suggested here. If you want to play what's on the album, get the transcribed version.

First of all, I gave this book 5 stars because I think that Eric Clapton: Unplugged earned it. If you're like me though, you might be looking for the tab book that has every song, note for note, including solos. After reading all the other reviews I got tired of the same complaint, but nobody mentioned where you could get it. So if you want the real deal go to musiciansfriend.com

Provides accurate transcriptions of the awesome unplugged performance. Each nuance of the Clapton's exhibition is retained, which makes learning it all the more enjoyable. The accompanying CD is very well done and helped me to pare out the vocals and other performers and focus on the rhythm guitar. Highly recommended for those who love this album, the book will get you sounding like the original!

You will read several reviews complaining about this or that version of the book at Amazon. What you will not see is are satisfying answers to the questions "which version is the one I'm looking for?" (clearly, because this depends on your particular "what") or "which is the version that transcribes accurately what's in the album?" In the attempt to find the authoritative answer to the second question, and to answer somewhat obliquely the first, here's some data that I have found helpful.

A visit to [...], which is the publisher of these books. shows that there exist FOUR versions and possibly, they are all different, though I can't be 100% sure of that.

1) Eric Clapton - Unplugged, Series: Guitar Recorded Version TAB
Artist: Eric Clapton
ISBN: 9780793520848
112 pages
List price: $22.95
-> "Matching folio to his best-selling acoustic album."

2) Eric Clapton - From the Album Unplugged, Series: Signature Licks Guitar, Softcover with CD - TAB
Artist: Eric Clapton, Author: Wolf Marshall
ISBN: 9780793587926
72 pages
List price: $24.95
-> "Learn the techniques Clapton used on his best-selling acoustic album"

3) Eric Clapton - Unplugged, Series: Piano/ Vocal/ Guitar Artist Songbook
Artist: Eric Clapton
ISBN: 9780793527151
72 pages
List price: 15.95
-> "Matching folio to his best-selling acoustic album."

4) Eric Clapton - From the Album Eric Clapton Unplugged, Series: Easy Guitar
Artist: Eric Clapton
40 pages
ISBN: 9780793536160
List price: $10.95
-> "Matching folio to his best-selling acoustic album."

It seems to me that only one of these will be the note by note transcription of the album and that it should be (1). It seems also that it's less than honest of Hal Leonard publishers to state that (1), (3), and (4) are the "matching folio". Since the physical dimensions of the books are all identical, if they were to have the same content at 112, 72, and 40 pages, the font sizes would have to be increasingly smaller from (1) to (4). If you are to trust the names of the series of each of these books and the description in the Hal Leonard web pages, it stands to reason that:

(1) has the music as it appears on the Clapton CD

(2) doesn't have the note-by-note transcriptions of full songs, but rather focuses on teaching techniques (note that it's authored by Wolf Marshall, who deconstructed the music so that you can learn how it is played, more than just what is played for each song

(3) has more than just the music for guitar, possibly including the melodies for vocal and piano

(4) has simplified versions more suitable to a beginner

It may very well be that (1) and (2) are complementary books and that, if you're a beginner guitar player, (4) is the way to go.

The book is a true helper to get the Unplugged tunes under your fingers.

Want to play like Clapton? Buy it!

This music book is fine for most beginners and mid level guitarists. Advanced musicans might find parts of it more helpful than others as they can probably pick out most of EC's tunes without a book. Many of the instrumental passages are missing. None the less most of the chords are fairly on the money. Know your level and make the call.

This is a very complete and accurate songbook with the exact same notes played by Clapton and each song has a text explaining the song's structure.

For the solo parts, it has the tablature for the solo guitar and the rhythm one too. For the beginners, the accompaining CD really helps to get the song.

This book is tabbed just like the recording. If you are a clapton fan you won't be disappointed

This is a great book and will work for guitarists of any level. The content is well presented and easy to follow. If you want to learn EC unplugged tunes accurately, this is the quickest way.

I'll strongly recomend this book for all the guitar players out there. If you are trying to get in blues, this book will give you a good start. In this book, eric covers different pieces by the blues masters including Maddy Waters, Robert Johnson, etc, and many good eric's original pieces such as Tears in Heaven and Layla. No matter which genre you are in, this book will boost up your technique, knowlege and enjoyment with your guitar.