Customer Reviews

The Songs of Bob Dylan: From 1966 Through 1975

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I picked this book up when I was first teaching myself guitar about 8 years ago, and the main reason I was teaching myself guitar is because I wanted to learn how to play my favorite Dylan tunes and get to the heart of the magic of his songwriting. This book covers much of his most glorious material, basically from Blonde on Blonde through Desire. That means you can learn how to play Visions of Johanna, Simple Twist of Fate, Hurricane or any of the Basement Tapes ditties. In addition to having superb material, the book has the most sensible layout of any folio I've ever purchased: a key to all the chords used in the song appears on the top of EVERY page, so when you flip to the end of the verse you don't have to flip back again to remember what an F#m7 looks like; this is obviously beneficial to a new player. By and large the chords seem to be accurate; some songs sound closer to the album than others, and I've read that many Dylan songs were recorded in unorthodox tunings, but if you want to get the gist of "Tangled up in Blue" or "Lay Lady Lay" (which sounds dead-on) you'll be more than happy with the way it's spelled out here. I think this book is around, so if you're willing to hunt through a few well stocked music or book stores you could probably find it. It would be well worth your while

if you're a recreational guitarist and dylan fan this is the absolute best! i have every dylan songbook in print and most of those out of print and this is by far my favorite. it even has chord changes noted on the supplemental lyrics (something i have never seen elsewhere).

As far as I have found, this is the most comprehensive collection of sheet music for Dylan songs that is around. From 'Blonde on Blonde' to 'Blood on the Tracks', this book includes every song the casual fan will know, and probably some more as well as it also contains many outtakes that were later published on the Bootleg Series, such as 'Abandoned Love' and 'She's your lover now'. They are all solid transcriptions as well, often a combination of a left hand bass line and a right hand melody with some chordal accompiniment underneath. Intros and recurring riffs are also included for most of the songs. There is only one complaint I have, and it is hardly worth mentioning, but a couple of songs, especially those from BooT, are transcribed in a wrong key, more specifically in D instead of in E. It's not too difficult to transpose it though, if you want to play along with the record.

Other than that it's the best choice for Dylan sheet music that's around, and if you also get a book like "More Classic Dylan" (containing the two albums directly before this book and two later albums) you're all set.

Item arrived promptly and as described. Friendly and timely communication throughout the delivery process. Would highly recommend and would buy from this vendor again. Thanks!!

There is no guitar tab. There is only chord diagrams. It's entirely generic. Maybe you will like it if you are a piano player that can read music notation. But I play intermediate/advanced guitar and read tab so I am very dissappointed. Why would Cherry Lane publish a Bob Dylan book with all the music arranged for piano? Stupid. Well, at least it has the lyrics.