Customer Reviews

PINK FLOYD VOLUME 68 BK/CD DARK SIDE OF THE MOON (Hal Leonard Guitar Play-Along)

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

 

 

Discover the world of a Masterpiece: The Dark Side of the Moon. This edition is a must have for those who want to play and learn Pink Floyd's music from one of their all-time classics. Chords, chord progressions, and scales are applied to songs of the album that was released 30 years ago in 1973. Each song includes a one-page explanation on the lesson. Great format! Standard music notation and guitar tab, lyrics and notation legend, it's all there to make it easy. Print quality is one of the best I have ever seen. Many guitar tabs have really sloppy prints. The other edition of The dark side is one of them. This one on the contrary is absolutely immaculate. I simply love it!

Please look at the dates of the other reviews of this book. If a review is dated before June 2007 it is a review of different book.
When making a book and CD package like this editors must make compromises in order for it to be useful for the lone guitarist. Many songs on this album contain multiple guitars overdubbed, this tab is supposed to be compromise that blends all the guitar parts together so the lone guitarist can play along. Unfortunately the editors chose not to transcribe the dominate riff in, "Money" instead the rhythm guitar is notated, a BIG MISTAKE. Other than that the tabulate is incredibly accurate and will replace the other DSOTM tab books you may own.
Now here are the specifics: "Speak to Me" and "Breath" are both transcribed under the title, "Breath." The transcription of, "Time" includes the breath reprise. "On the Run" and "TGGITS" are not transcribed, as there is no guitar on these tracks. The CD contains a demonstration of each track with guitar and then a backing track with the guitar removed. The CD track order is listed incorrectly in the table of contents. There is no information about music theory, scales, or equipment.
This play along would have received 5 stars if the main riff for, "Money" had been transcribed.

I'm a big fan of the Hal Leonard "as-recorded" transcription books. They are, in my opinion, very accurate despite what other reviewers have stated. I've read reviews complaining that the fingerings were wrong and that there are easier fingerings to play the music. I have found that these "difficult" fingerings do indeed sound better (more correct) and aren't really that difficult once I've practiced them a bit.

I have several books from the series including the corresponding guitar transcription book of DSOTM. I bought this so my bass player could pick this stuff up quickly (he's an excellent sight reader so he can read/play about anything instantly). The music immediately tightened up and sounded spot-on...everybody was amazed! My bass player is now scouring for more bass books from the same series.

I am a big fan of PF and David Gilmour, and picked up this item with the intention of learning some of the guitar parts to the songs on this classic album. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with the way this book is done. Unlike most other guitar tab books I have, it provides minimal information: just basic chords and the main guitar parts, but without the detail and additional guitar parts that one would might want to know. Also, "The Great Gig in the Sky" -- probably my favourite track on the whole album -- is completely missing!!!

There is a play-along CD, with a recorded version of the music without the guitar parts, so you can play along. That's hardly a big selling point, I think. Although this might be suitable for guitarists who are just beginning to play, I would recommend that everyone take a look instead at the version by Music Sales Corporation, also available at Amazon, entitled "Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon: Guitar Tablature Edition." I have their version of "Wish You Were Here" and it is much, much better. It comes with photos, an interview, and all the guitar parts (multiple tab when more than 1 guitar is playing) and just more musical detail. I'm very happy with their versions, but not with this. Even if you're a beginner, eventually you're going to want more, and you'll end up getting the better edition anyway. So unless you really want the play along CD (and who wouldn't rather just play along to the actual CD?) go for that one.

Happy guitar playing!

Beware that for some reason, music book reviews seldom pertain to the book being reviewed. There are more than a half dozen different music books for The Dark Side of the Moon: The guitar tab book, the full score book, the bass tab book, the playalong CD/book, the piano/vocal/guitar book, and so on.

But for some reason, all the reviews get mixed in together. It is not like these are different editions of Jane Eyre -- where the text is the same so the reviews pertain. These are completely different documents, loosely or tightly based on the Pink Floyd album. It would be like considering every book interpreting Moby Dick to be the same book. They are not, and neither are all these books related to the Dark Side of the Moon.

So caveat emptor, ignore most of the reviews, and buy whichever one you need.

I purchased this book thinking it was for guitar, only the whole book is bass tab. You would think it would say so SOMEWHERE on the page...