Groo Posted February 17, 2007 Share Posted February 17, 2007 I just got the book today, and it's excellent. In a lot of cases, the chords are up for free on the internet, but in most cases, they're wrong, or at least off in places (just look at She's a Jar for instance). And to have the entire song transcribed like this, with correct lyrics? Good deal for $25. Makes me want to learn piano. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mastershake Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 I just got the book today, and it's excellent. In a lot of cases, the chords are up for free on the internet, but in most cases, they're wrong, or at least off in places (just look at She's a Jar for instance). And to have the entire song transcribed like this, with correct lyrics? Good deal for $25. Makes me want to learn piano. where'd you get it? online... or are some stores carrying it? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Groo Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 where'd you get it? online... or are some stores carrying it? I ordered it from the Wilco store. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yankee Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Having the correct chords, with timings will still be quite useful, especially in such a tidy package. I wonder whether they will be the chords the band plays or a simplified version making it easier for less advanced players. There are some crazy chords in some of those songs--not the standard stuff at all. Also wonder if there's anything in there that BG hasn't already notated and tabbed out for his class. Groo, if you get this, I'd love to take a look! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yankee Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 I just got the book today, and it's excellent. In a lot of cases, the chords are up for free on the internet, but in most cases, they're wrong, or at least off in places (just look at She's a Jar for instance). And to have the entire song transcribed like this, with correct lyrics? Good deal for $25. Makes me want to learn piano. ah, I see now that you already have it. worthwhile you think then? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GutenAbend Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 Do they also list the appropriate tunings? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
napoleon Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 could someone scan a page of it for us to see? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mountainbed Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 The new songbook arrived today. It is difficult for me to say this, but I'm very disappointed. There is no tab. Just words and chords. Which would be cool, if the chords were accurate. But I'm pretty sure that they are not, especially when compared against what we've all seen at the shows and what we've read other places. For example, the new songbook shows that "At Least That's What You Said" is played with the chords of Am, G and C...no capo. We've all seen Tweedy play it with the capo at the 5th fret, dropped D tuning, out of Em. I understand that capoing at the 5th fret and playing the Em chord shape is an Am, but I also know that it sounds different than when you play the song using the open Am. And I recognize that maybe the band mixes it up...recorded the song on the record one way and then adapted the song for the live show to fit another chord structure. Even so, I don't think the new songbook is "right." Another example: the songs from "Being There" that are contained in the new songbook are very different from the versions that are contained in the "Being There" songbook, which I also own. I think the versions in the latter sound much more accurate than those in the former. I can give other examples (e.g., Heavy Metal Drummer out of D with no capo? The Late Greats out of F with no capo?), but I'll spare you. Moreover, the book has a "piano-centric focus" that is slightly annoying to the guitar player in me. The book is written for piano and guitar, as indicated on the cover. Let's use "I'm "Always In Love" as our example here. The book indicates that the song is played with a capo on the 4th fret using the G chord shape as the starting chord. But, instead of showing the letter "G" over the the first word of the song (i.e., "Why, I wonder..."), it shows the letter "B." Of course, if you capo at 4 and play the G chord shape, you are playing out of the key of B...but I don't think most of us casual guitar players think that way. So I've got to do the quick mental calculation...the books says B, but I've got a capo at the 4th fret, so that needs to be a G shaped chord. To me, that is a bit irritating. (I know that this board is full of true music theory studs. I'm not one...I wish I could be...I admire you for being one. Please don't flame me for my explanation or because I find this aspect of the book irritating.) Now, to be fair, the book isn't a complete failure. There are a lot of fun things about it. "Hummingbird" is a blast. And it was fun to see how the bridge in "Poor Places" should be played (after I used a pencil to write the guitar chords next to the stupid piano chords above the words!). And, quite honestly, a lot of the songs are probably easier to play in the songbook than we've ever made them out to be, even if they aren't true to the way Tweedy plays them now. In summary, I don't regret spending the $25 on the book. I support the band every chance I get...live shows, records, DVDs, books, posters, t-shirts, etc. But I do feel like the Via Chicago community (I'm a long time lurker with very few posts during my tenure) has been far more beneficial in learning Wilco songs on the guitar than the new songbook will ever be. Do I think you should buy the new songbook? Absolutely...I believe we should support this great band every chance we get. But, after you buy this book, I'd encourage you also to find a copy of the "Being There" songbook on eBay. And I hope we all keep contributing to this board and stimulate the great discussion that we share about how songs are played, how each of us plays them, etc. And let's all keep our fingers crossed that the band puts out an accurate and comprehensive tab anthology covering all songs they've ever recorded...I don't think I'm alone in wanting this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mountain bed Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Thanks man for the heads up with an excellent post. I was in a quandary about how this was gonna be, wondering if it was worth the $$. I appreciate! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mastershake Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 wow sounds like it really sucks then maybe in 20 years when jeff is old and retired he'll take the time to create a real tab book. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MattZ Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 The new songbook arrived today... Wow, thanks for that really awesome review. As an aside, I wonder how much input Jeff and the band really have with stuff like this. Its hard for me to imagine that the band would let something like this out, but then, I suppose the targeted audience may be casual listeners that want to play a song easily without being huge wilco dorks like we all are on here. I suppose viachicago has a way of warping my sense of reality when it comes to how many people listen to wilco and how many people want the tab for poor places in open C. (And yes, I love that we have poor places in open C on here) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yankee Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Wow, thanks for that really awesome review. As an aside, I wonder how much input Jeff and the band really have with stuff like this. Its hard for me to imagine that the band would let something like this out, but then, I suppose the targeted audience may be casual listeners that want to play a song easily without being huge wilco dorks like we all are on here. I suppose viachicago has a way of warping my sense of reality when it comes to how many people listen to wilco and how many people want the tab for poor places in open C. (And yes, I love that we have poor places in open C on here) great review, thanks. I've been playing piano on this stuff lately and working from lyrics sheets with just guitar tabs and chords leaves me to fill in the blanks. I'll be curious to see whether this book has really captured the piano parts I'm hearing on the recordings and live performances. Seems like these books usually come out of some sort of music publishing house and not directly from the musicians themselves, who generally can't be bothered. The publishing houses tend to created simplified versions that are good enough for beginners but aren't very satisfactory if you want to play it the way the band really would. Actually, last year at the living room show, Jeff started showing us how to play some of the guitar parts on Walken and we had trouble following until he pointed out that he was in an open G tuning (i think that's what he said. got to go to the video tape). jeff said "hey, i'm really getting into this teaching thing." someone said "uh, could you tab that out for us jeff?" Jeff laughed and asked, "huh . . . do they still make tab?" so i'm guessing it's not like the band actually created this book. more likely they just approved it. in any case, we'll see whether he can give us any more pointers this weekend. we're gonna try to play some stuff like Shake it Off, Let's Not Get Carried Away, and Kicking Television (if he's cool with it). Should be fun and interesting. if i get a chance, i'll ask jeff about this book. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DAngerer09 Posted March 1, 2007 Share Posted March 1, 2007 Wow, so this sounds like the absolute perfect book for someone who has been playing piano for 15 years and guitar for only one. I'm ordering mine ASAP. Can't wait to mess around with this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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