Customer Reviews

Rush, Guitar-Tab Edition (Guitar Anthology Series)

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

 

 

There are a couple of guitar players who music has eluded the pages of guitar tab magazines or books for the most part. Artists that come to mind are Allan Holdsworth, Frank Gambale, Shawn Lane, Greg Howe, John Sykes, George Lynch and Alex Lifeson. Yes, every now and then you'll catch a tune by one of those artists transcribed in a random guitar mag, but it's rare, and if you do it's even more rare it will be transcribed correctly. I think it's a combination of the aforementioned artists having very unorthodox playing styles and/or not being part of the mainstream. The Japanese have done a much better job of honoring those muscians with accurate tab book and magazine transcriptions and I recommend you hit up Ebay for those. But here in the states it's a sad state of affairs.

Alex Lifeson is one rock guitarist who has managed to integrate complex chords and rhythms into his playing and still have it sound rocking. His solos are also very original and unorthodox sounding. His chord work often makes uses of suspended forms, various seventh chords, and lots of open string combined with fretted notes to produce a "big" sound in a trio setting. His stuff is deceptively tricky to figure out by ear alone, and that is reflected in the quality of transcribed Rush music. This book is no better. Another reviewer put it very well when he said you may use this book to get songs that sound similar, but they will be nowhere near the way Alex plays them. If you're okay with that, and you simply want to play along to Rush records and sound a little like the album you will love this book. The song selection is great, everything a Rush fan could hope for. If you however are looking for a book that contains extremely accurate Rush transcriptions look elsewhere.

I'm hoping one day Rush's early work is given the proper transcription justice it deserves. I would love to see 2112, Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures, Exit Stage Left, Signals, and Power Windows committed to print by a knowledgeable transcriber, but I won't hold my breath. It's been 34 years since 2112 was released and there has been no such Rush transcription book in that time, I'm not counting on there being any in the next 34 years either.

NOTE: The Moving Pictures tab book that has been re-released by Alfred Publishing is terrible, and is the same sort of Lifeson botch job found in other Rush transcriptions. I know Snakes and Arrows has been given a tab book treatment, but the last Rush album I enjoyed was Hold Your Fire which came out in 1987, so I can't comment on the quality of that book.

I've always loved to play guitar as well as keyboard. This book was very satisfying and when you see the details and complexities of Alex Lifeson's riffs and solos, you realize how underrated he is. The tablature makes it very easy for anyone to learn, particularly for beginniners. My only real complaint is that the book really should have had at least 5 more songs or so. The book does include 20 of Rush's greatest hits, all of them worth learning, but you can't help noticing that songs like Cygnus X-1 and 2112 are missing. Don't get me wrong, this is still a great book, and it even transcribes most of the keyboard/synth and bass guitar parts for guitar, which can help you stay with the music. For Rush fans as well as prog rockers who want to challenge themselves, this book is a trip worth taking.

The transcriptions in this book may provide one with the ability to play something that sounds something like the recordings, but are not completely accurate. Tones are missing. Fingerings are incorrect. One may argue that the musicial notation is somewhat accurate, but the tablature seems to indicate that it was produced only by translating the notes, not by listening to the recordings (e.g., by listening to the recording one could determine whether a note was played higher on a low string or lower on a higher string).
Pass on this book if you wish to play a Rush song exactly as recorded. Instead, look to back issues of guitar magazines (especially Guitar for the Practicing Musician, no longer in print).

I'm glad I got this book and can stop shuffling pages of printed amateur tab off the internet. However I do agree with the other reviewer that some of the fingerings indicated here seem to be inaccurate. I was watching the Tom Sawyer video from Rio and it's clear Alex is using different fingerings on the opening chords than indicated. Not a huge deal but a bit frustrating because one reason to buy these books is to play it "just like" your heroes. (To be fair, it may be that the book is an accurate rendition of studio versions and Alex changes his fingerings in concert for ease of play, lack of overdubbing etc...)Even with that quibble, any new or intermediate guitarist who likes Rush will like this book.

Not sure what one can really say about a tab book, other than that it seems to be accurately transcribed.

And for the person who doesn't want to buy tabs for every Rush song on every album, this is - in my opinion - a collection of what I find to my most favorite Rush songs. Not all of them, but there isn't anything in here that I don't like, either.

It's nice and thick, printed large enough that it's easy to see when it's on a music stand, and clearly presented.

I read the previous reviews, but decided to go ahead and purchase this book anyway. I find it quite interesting how some of the previous reviewers were quite quick to critisize the transcriptions in this book. To some degree they are correct in that some of the the chord inversions may be suspect or perhaps a certain articulation wasn't indicated. True, but in most instances if you listen to the recording while checking the book at the same time you can get to the right inversion or articulations by ear. On the other hand, if you truly want to play Rush songs 100% correct, you would have to take personal lessons from Alex Lifeson. That is not likely to happen, so this book is about the next best thing. 4 stars.