Customer Reviews

Eric Clapton - From the Album Eric Clapton Unplugged (Catalog No. 702086)

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

 

 

Naturally, the title tells it all. Well, not naturally, but in this case it just so happens to be so. Although, as you can tell, I gave it 3 stars, it really can be made 5 stars if you're for the most part a beginner. The book includes all of the unplugged songs, and they are even in TAB form. The only catch is that these TAB's aren't the actual TAB's Clapton plays. Thus, although you'll be playing a more complex version of the songs then just chords, it still won't have the same fingering as Claptons. Although there is another version that actually has the exact fingering as Clapton (besides the solos, unfortunately), I haven't seen it on Amazon. There is one more version of the book on Amazon, but I'm pretty sure that it is the chords only verison, or sheet music version. Personally speeking, I've only played for around 1 1/2 years, and I have found the real version (the one with Claptons actual fingering in TAB form, which isn't available on Amazon) to be rather easy, and rewarding. Although some songs you might just rather learn the chords for, others loose much of thier style when played in only chords. Thus, I recommend going down to your local Guitar Center and seeing if they have the real version in stock. As far as the content, it's what you expect from slowhand. Perfection. The album consists of many blues classics, and the book is true to it. In my opinion, nearly every song on this album is worth knowing how to play if you wish to enhance your mastery of the blues. Get one version or another soon, though.

If you think this book will teach you the songs on "Unplugged", it won't. This is just a simplified version of the song transcriptions and is pretty much useless.

There's another version out there that contains the note-for-note transcrptions. That's the version I bought several years ago when "Unplugged" first came out, and that's the one you should buy...

This book is USELESS if you want to learn how to play this album. The tablature is only for the melody not the actual guitar parts, thus if you buy this book because you want to play like Clapton it won't help you at all. ~guy

As the title states, this book is the easy guitar version. If that's what your looking for then this is the book for you. If you are looking for the note for note (as recorded on the album) version then go to musiciansfriend.com

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.

If you are a beginner I would advise you not to purchase this book, as it is so wrong it is past being rubbish.

You do not get the songs that you are promised, but a very cut down version of them, and mostly in the wrong key, or alternate key from the original.

I have been playing these songs for years but lost my copy of the unplugged book. I purchased this thinking it was the larger 112 page version (the real one), and was saddened by the lack of tab in this book and by the fact that it is factually incorrect.

It states that "Tears In Heaven" is in G, when it is so obviously in E!

All the songs in this book are wrong!!!

This is not a good book, and all you get is melody lines! This may be good for an accompanying guitar but that is all.

An absolute waste!

so, as everyone else has already said this book really sucks.
the only thing that is useful is chord chart at the top of the page.
the chords are correct but are shown in the wrong order continuously on the manuscript.
the genius who wrote this book has attempted some sort of classical version of claptons
songs trying to incorporate the vocal melody and chords together.
he however has no understanding of how to do this has simply created a far more complex version
that does not resemble the songs in any way.
do not buy this book

No where does it say (save for the picture of the book) that this is the EZ version of the songs. All this is really good for is knowing the chord changes and keys of the songs, not fills, solos or runs. This book is great if you are just looking to strum along and sing, but not much else. I wish it would have been stated some place else what this was...

There are two versions (at least) of this book. This is NOT the one I had hoped it would be, but still works ok.

It's a really very good book, I don't know if it is like that becaus eof th ebook or Eric Clapton, but it's really chill.