Customer Reviews

Robert Johnson: The New Transcriptions

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, everyone can finally forget all the other transcriptions of Robert Johnson's recordings. Once and for all, this book gives his work the nuance and attention to detail it deserves, with both (full length) standard notation and tablature utilised in order to properly represent the complexity of Johnson's work. Some may quibble over the suggested tunings and capo placements, but the authors make clear that the different Johnson album releases can vary as much as a whole tone - given speed settings and mastering. This has often caused a degree of confusion in previous Johnson transcription books, compelling transcribers to render Johnson's work in Open G and 'standard' tuning, in order to cover all the bases...

In contrast, these transcriptions are based upon the 1998 CD 'The King of the Delta Blues Singers', which utilises high quality 78s by Johnson (and advanced audio technology) to offer exceptionally high sound clarity. This allows for a degree of accuracy in transcription never before available, and the authors pull out all the stops in an attempt to recreate Johnson on paper. Indeed, some might argue that the songs appear somewhat 'over-transcribed', but these transcriptions eclipse those presented by Woody Mann (whose 'Complete Robert Johnson' - previously the key Johnson songbook - is nothing of the kind). The attention here to precisely detailing muting, tunings, trills with (and without) slide and other Johnson techniques is very impressive. The authors make convincing transcription cases for the use of Open A, Open E and (important) capo placements in a way that will allow any guitar player to reproduce Johnson 'from the record'. There is, however, ONE element missing: up/down strumming notation, which the Mann book includes and, frankly, is an important component of Johnson's technique. But then, as can be seen on Eric Clapton's recent 'Sessions for Robert J.' DVD release, even seasoned players can disagree on Johnson's strumming technique. Was it a variation upon flamenco technique? Did he use a thumbpick on every song? Well - perhaps some secrets were destined to die with poor Bob...

You'll often find yourself thumbing through the transcriptions as you listen to Johnson - a fantastic way of understanding his basic approach to creating music and the forms he appeared most comfortable with. Indeed, I've heard so much more in Johnson's recordings with the aid of this transcription book that his work feels entirely fresh and new - even after years of listening intently to his albums.

Seriously, if you want to learn Johnson, pick this transcription book up. You'll not only better your playing, but develop an exceptionally sophisticated ear for listening to Johnson's recordings. This is THE Johnson resource - make no mistake.

Quite simply, an incredible achievement. A hearty congratulations to the author(s).

I have to imagine if Robert Johnson himself saw this book he would be shocked by the amount of effort that has gone into deciphering every fingering move he made on the few recordings from him that exist. This truly represents a labor of love by the authors.

Almost amazingly, this book truly is as complete as it claims to be - with the tunings (multiple and some unusual), capo placement, and tablature to recreate as accurately as possible the music that Robert Johnson recorded. If you take the time to learn the music represented by the tablature in this book you will be able to exactly recreate Robert Johnson's recorded guitar parts probably more accurately than he would duplicate playing the same song a second time.

Although certainly not for beginners, this book is great assistance for intermediate level guitarists to get an insite into Delta style blues tecniques as played by Robert Johnson, as well as learn some great songs.

Since Robert Johnson used non-standard tunings, capos in seemingly random positions, and there's no video recording of his playing at all, it's about as easy to transcribe his music as solving a doctoral-level open scientific problem. While I don't approve of most guitar songbooks published these days, I certainly feel that the authors have offered us more than a fair deal with this book, and unless you have a few years of your life you're willing to dedicate to studying acoustic guitar Delta blues, you'd be well advised to reap these ready results.
It's well worth it.

If you are looking for a guide to all those weird tunings and a note by note glimpse into the music of Robert Johnson, this work is all you need. If you are looking at how to actually sound like him, you'll probably need something more, like the videos from Homespun. But put the two together and you'll be as close as you can get to being on your way to the crossroads without living the life he did.

I keep going back to this and learning more of his songs. The transcriptions are excellent, though I haven't spent a lot of time comparing them note-for-note against the recordings. My only complaints are tiny:

What was the methodology used to determine that a song was recorded with, say for instance, a guitar that is tuned down a half step and capo-ed at the first fret? The authors seem confident that they got details like this right, but I'm not completely sold. However, whatever the exact tuning and capo position, I am sure they got it relatively right (that is, the tab is correct in relation to the nut or capo). We're not certain the speeds during original recording and mastering of the 78s, the type of guitar and strings used by Johnson, etc., and quality of the recording is probably not great enough that we use some kind of sophisticate analysis to determine all of this, so what methods did the authors use?

The songs are all credited "words & music by Robert Johnson" and there's no discussion on where some of these songs were picked up. Some of these songs really are covers of others' works.

Some of the songs are variations of other Johnson numbers, or just the same basic guitar parts with different words. I don't mind that the authors decided to transcribe each song, since they're so detailed, but a bit of discussion about which songs are repeats would've been nice.

An explanation of the "Johnson rake" and any other tricks and some fingerings would've been in order. There are some things that seem unique to RJ -- the rake that he sometimes uses, and some fingering, for instance: In Malted Milk he plays a partial G chord at the third position that is oftentimes proceeded and followed by a third-string/second-fret note. Do the authors think he is fingering the G in a normal way and doing a silent slide up to that single note, or something else?

None of these factors (other than the last, slightly) are going to impact the usefulness of this book for learning these songs, which is its real use, so I must still give it 5 stars.

Excellent music book. This was purchased as a gift for a great friend and musician who informed me that the book was terrific, and a nice addition to his collection of Robert Johnson material.

This book contains tuitar tablature and music for every song by the legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, who has inspired many blues greats (Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton are two I can think of. "Eric Clapton Unplugged" has two or three Johnson tunes on it!) It covers every detail, including special tunings and capo placements. If you want to play Robert Johnson tunes like they were played by the man himself, you want this book!

Whew! What an extensive work! I have only just made it through Kind Hearted woman.

If you purchase this you better be ready to woodshed a LOT!

After checking out the tunings used on these transciption it makes you wonder if the devil did tune Roberts guitar .

FYI: The picture on the cover (taken from a stmap) was altered by United State Postal Service, when Robert Johnson was recently put on a postage stamp. They removed the cigarette, not the author/publishers of this book.