Customer Reviews

Fingerpicking Beatles and Expanded Edition: 30 Songs Arranged for Solo Guitar in Standard Notation and Tab (Finger Style Guitar)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

* A Day In The Life * Across The Universe * All You Need Is Love
* And I Love Her * Blackbird * Can't Buy Me Love * Dear Prudence
* Eleanor Rigby * Free As A Bird * Here, There And Everywhere
* Hey Jude * In My Life * Lady Madonna * Let It Be * Love Me Do
* Michelle * Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) * Nowhere Man
* Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da * Octopus's Garden * Penny Lane
* Please Please Me * Something * The Long And Winding Road
* Ticket To Ride * We Can Work It Out * When I'm Sixty-Four
* Yellow Submarine * Yesterday * You've Got To Hide Your LoveAway

I've been playing guitar for about 18 months. (43 year old late starter.) Gravitate toward fingerstyle play. My progress is slow, but I enjoy it. No hurry. I'm still a biginner, really.

This book is just the right level for me. The songs are difficult at first, but playable with persistance and practice. The arrangements don't require any more than a three fret stretch, and picking is mostly either one or two strings, or full chords. Some are harder than others, so it will keep me busy for awhile.

Oh, yes, the songs are really beautiful as well!

I agree with the other reviewers. This book offers a great way to practice fingerstyle guitar and to enjoy what you are playing. This book would be especially helpful to those who have a bit of fingerstyle knowledge already, but might not yet call themselves "intermediates". The tab is big and easy to read (however there are none of those little boxes above that show finger placement for the chords---sorry I forgot what those are called!--You can tell I am self taught!) It is not an instruction book, so one would have to have some very basic knowledge of guitar playing. If you are interested in a great Fingerstyle Guitar book to complement this one, or even for those who haven't yet tried Fingerstyle guitar--I would whole-heartedly suggest Mark Galbo and Arnie Berle's "Beginning Fingerstyle Blues Guitar". One other thing I'd like to add is that if you are mainly looking for a book which shows how the Beatles played the songs--exactly--note for note--this would not be it. If you are looking for some fun fingerstyle arrangements that will stretch you from advanced beginner to maybe early intermediate, and you want to enjoy the journey, this book is a good bet.

This book is fine, but I wish I had known in advance what the the author was trying to accomplish. With the exception of "Blackbird", the book does not help you to play the guitar parts you might be familiar with from recordings. Instead, the music in the book transcribes the vocal melodies we are all familiar with on top of simple finger picked chord arpeggios. The end result is music that might be closely associated with elevators and weddings. Depending on your audience this can be OK, but it can also sound very cheesy. Also, note that the keys of many songs have been changed in order to allow playing the music in this manner.

Brilliant! Leonard has done it again, as "FINGERPICKING BEATLES" is another great compilation. The notation and tablature in the book are both of excellent quality, they are easy to read and are marked well. The difficulty level of the music is very consistent, any intermediate player will be able to play through the songs after a few tries if they are not able to site read them right off the bat. The sacrifice of difficulty in the music playing does not effect the sound however. Both bass lines and melody are included in every single song, which is a major plus. It should be mentioned that "Blackbird" is not a transcription of the lead melody, rather it is of the original guitar part.
For those who may be wondering, while the guitar "sings" for the player in every single song, there is certainly enough of a "Bass" sound to the songs to allow the player to sing along if they wish to. This is a must have for Beatles fans, I highly recommend it for every guitar player.

In short:
~ Clear Notation
~ Very consistent
~ Great Quality
~ Very pleasing to the ear
~ Sounds beyond its actual difficulty level
~ A must buy!

The arrangements in this book are complex enough to be good sounding. They are also easy enough for an intermediate to play thru the songs without too much difficulty.

I taught myself how to fingerpick by using the Mark Hanson books (which are excellent). These tunes are not as complex as the arrangements in his books or Fingerstyle Guitar magazine. The tunes are challenging enough not to be boring but you won't have to work on them for days to get them sounding right.

One of the surprises I've had while learning guitar and tackling Beatles songs is that many of the songs really do rely on ensemble playing. Playing one or another guitar part without the others doesn't always make a song that you can play all the way through for others to listen to--the interplay between John and George as well as Paul and Ringo creates a composite which is the magic of the Beatles.

As soon as I saw this book, I knew I wanted to try it out--it's tabbed out arrangements of many Fab Four favorites that you can play and have others join in singing or humming along. The guitar breaks and solos have been skipped in many cases. But you get more that just chord lists and a strumming pattern -- it is a fingerstyle approach. If there's a signature bass line or melodic line--those are included. All the lyrics are there too. Overall, I'm very happy with this book. I can even add back in the solos I've learned from the Recorded Transcriptions versions.

Guitarists and people moving up from beginner status will be delighted with this book. The songs include melody and harmony and finger picking techniques. Another nice feature is the inclusion of finger picking styles. The book has 30 Beatle songs that will inspire and delight players every time.

I'm a 56 year old who grew up listening to The Beatles. Their music inspired me to pick up a guitar back then and learn some of their songs. My inability to play half decently resulted in my losing interest in continuing to play.

A few years ago I decided to pick up the guitar again on a whim. I found myself enjoying ther experience and my wife encouraged me to take lessons. After resisting her urgings for a few years I started lessons a few months back.

One of the first things my instructor asked was what kind of music I enjoyed. After replying I was always a big Beatles fan he pulled out this book and began showing me a few of the tunes. I enjoyed listening to him play them so much I figured I'd buy the book and try them on my own.

The arrangements are geared for the "intermediate" player but anyone will quickly pick up the songs. By starting off slowly and getting an idea of the way each song is laid out I've actually been able to make a few songs sound like they're supposed to sound.

If you ever loved the music of The Beatles this book is something I think you might enjoy whatever your skill level may be.

I've been playing guitar for a couple of years now, and am not very good. I bought this book because I wanted something more advanced than the simple beginner books, and less advanced than the real thing. This book fits the bill exactly. The songs are faithful to the originals and add a nice depth missing from the beginner books. Many of the songs are in standards tuning which is nice. While I can't play everything I'd say at least half are readily accessible to the advanced-beginner. I heartily recommend this book. Everyone should find something they can play, and there is enough variation to make this a good learning tool.