Customer Reviews

Pantera -- Selections from Vulgar Display of Power and Cowboys from Hell: Authentic Guitar Tab

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

 

 

i've been playing guitar for about ten years and have owned many tab books in that time of which this is certainly the worst.
to start with the tab is actually different to previous published copies which i own, and in places just appears to be wrong. some of the solos for example have been tabed to run over several strings when it is just played on one, making the actual music more difficult to play and disjointed, this difference in positioning appears frequently throughout the book.
it is also written in a non standard format with different notations and fonts unlike anything i have experienced before and this makes it confusing in places and occasionally difficult to distinguish which strings the notes are supposed to be played on. the bass and drum tabs are also mixed in which doesn't make it any clearer, but at least you get more value for money which i can say is the only redeaming feature.
the forewords at the start of each song are usually increadably obvious (the use of palm muting and distortion, like you dont know that already if your in to pantera!) and in places uninformative.
the songs are in alphabetical order not as they are arranged on the respective albums so you have to look up the page number to find the song you want.
the book leaves out some of the best and most difficult songs on both albums (regular people, medicine man, rise, etc)and retains simplistic songs like ... hostile.
pantera are one of my favourite bands and this book is far inferior to previous publications, its more like its been written by a 15 year old for his school project than someone who actually knows what they're doing. at its price its only worth it if you are really desperate and cant get hold of the proper tab anywhere else. i found the standard of this tab to be poor and unacceptable and i sent it back for a refund, which i have not regretted.
a waste of money and an injustice to the music.

I agree with the guy from the UK when he says this was the worst he ever owned. I'm sorry, but the numerical displacement on even the simplest chords was hard enough to decipher. Instead of trying to read the tab, i almost always had to rewrite the tab using a word processor before the tablature became clear enough for me to read. I really can't say that it is wrong, because when i did rewrite/decipher/copy some tab, it was correct. The solo for "This Love", on the other hand, was hardly worth printing. As the author explains, "unlike other songs, intricate fast licks are not presented here. However, play it with emotion while making good use of the wah-wah pedal." This quote, straight from the book, shows that apparently, "good use of the wah-wah" can make up for a lot that was simply not shown. You want to at least not waste time figuring out stuff like that when you spend 25 bucks on a official tab book. (I know it's much cheaper here, but it's what i payed). And, on a good note, this book has some of the most awesome pictures of PanterA in it i've ever seen. the pictures are pretty cool. And finally, this book got the three stars because of it's transcription of "Mouth For War", possibly worth the price of the book itself. A necessity for PanterA fans out there and those like them.

If your a collector than this tab book is good for you. If you wanna learn how to play some Dime tunes than DON'T GET THIS BOOK! It has the wrong tabs for "Walk". Common now. I'm really dissapointed. The band Pictures are cool though. What I'm saying is... I should have read the reviews!

A very well explained book, includes transcription of guitar, plus drums, bass vocal and some other sounds that may appear. Includes comments on every song about the rhytms, weird sounds, vocals, all!

Serious music to listen and play, this book gets all the power in Pantera which sound is best explained by a description they share with no other band: Power Groove (heavy, riff-oriented feel).

You won't regret getting this!