Phil Vassar - Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (Piano/Vocal/Guitar Artist Songbook) (Paperback)

~ Phil Vassar (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This songbook features 15 songs from this contemporary country singer: American Child * I'm Alright * Just Another Day in Paradise * Last Day of My Life * Little Red Rodeo * Six-Pack Summer * That's When I Love You * The Woman in My Life * and more. Includes foreword by Phil Vassar and six pages of BandW photos.

Product Details

• Paperback: 114 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423416805
• ISBN-13: 978-1423416807
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,151,270 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Terribly disappointing, December 16, 2008

By	Doc Stew (Schaumburg, IL) - See all my reviews

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This is one of the best albums I own. I've been playing piano most of my life, and desperately crave accurate transcriptions to Phil's songs. When I saw this book, I jumped on it. I thought finally, I can play like Phil!

Wrong. In typical Hal Lenoard fashion, these are transcriptions of the chords of every song, and the melody line. You don't see what Phil actually plays on the piano, you just see chords and melody. There are only a few of his solos and very few of his intros. To make matters worse, the intros that are included are NOTHING like what's on his album (My Next 30 Years isn't even close!).

There are a few salvageable songs on here. "The Last Day of my Life", "The Woman in my Life", "Twenty-One", and "Love is a Beautiful Thing" are all pretty accurately transcribed as far as the chords go. You'll have to fill in your own improvisation if you'd like it to sound like Phil's playing, but at least you get some decent intro transcription.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore that these Hal Leonard transcriptions continue to disappoint me. I want to play what the piano player plays, and he wants us to play the Musak version of our favorite songs. This may be acceptable for some, but I want the real transcriptions.

In case anyone wanted to know, the best transcription books I own are:

The Billy Joel Keyboard book (seriously note-for-note of his most popular songs - outstanding!) ISBN 0793514428

The Elton John Keyboard book (same idea here, except I find Elton's music much more challenging to play - like he's got 12 fingers or something) ISBN 0793514789

Josh Groban "Closer" - excellent note-for-note transcriptions of his amazing album (the Remember When it Rained solo is my favorite!) ISBN 1423424778

Any of Enya's books are pretty spot on as well.