Customer Reviews

The Big Book of Hymns (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook)

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

 

 

I just started playing piano again after a 20-year break, and this book was way too difficult for me. I used to play many hymns, but the music in this book is much more difficult, requiring you to play a great deal of sharps and flats. I used to play "Just As I Am," for example, with almost no sharps and flats, but this book requires you to play them continuously with this song. This could be a great book for experienced musicians, but if you're still getting up-to-speed -- like me -- you might want to try another hymn book.

they had included registration suggestions. The arraingements are pianistic--some more than others--but most of them would work on organ, and there are plenty of amateur/semiprofessional church organists out there that might use them.

The arraingements are at a higher level than JOY JOY JOY and at a lower level than THE BEST OF SACRED MUSIC (2 VOLS.). An interesting feature is that many of the longer hymns have different arraingements for different verses, getting more complex as it goes along. This makes things more interesting for both the player and the listner/singer.

The selections are tilted towards Baptist/Methodist/Pentacostal favorites. One would like to see a companion volume with Anglican/Lutheran/Catholic type hymns--perhaps including some easy-play LITURGICAL music as well.

I play the piano and organ on the intermediate level and found this book very playable for my abilities. I play duets with a friend, me on the organ and she on my 'new'piano. Our day together is most enjoyable. She is 70 years of age and I am only 91. We make a good pair.

On the positive side, this book provides a good list of hymns for guitar application. The majority of the songs are familiar to any congregation that still is hymn-based rather than praise chorus oriented. Some of the hymns, however, are almost unusable for the musicians due to the format---one song in particular that we were considering stretched over five pages. The Hymn Book, published by Elderly Instruments is vastly superior when it comes to being user friendly, although its selection isn't as large as The Big Book. Overall, I would recommend the book. Most guitar oriented books for worship have a ton of praise choruses with a few token hymns. The Big Book gives you a lot of selections and options that most of the others don't

As a piano player, I was looking for more interesting arrangements. I have several hymnals and found these arrangements to be similar or inferior. Plus,there is less of a selection here than in most hymnals. However, if you do not have a hymnal, and are at an early intermediate skill level this book would be very useful. As for the usefulness for vocals and guitar, I couldn't say.

I received my order promptly; it was packaged securely; and the book was in excellent shape. Thank you.