Beatle Music Books

fortlinroad · Post by **fortlinroad** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:16 am

What's the opinion on Beatle Music Books? Has anyone found a book where the chords and bass tabs are correct? Any suggestions?

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 6:13 am

Of course there are millions of them. I've had "The Golden Beatles" (1965) since I was a kid. It contains a few songs that wont appear in other books ("From a Window" and "I'll Keep You Satisfied" for example) and while not without errors it does have accuracies that other books dont (like the C9 instead of C7 in "Things We Said Today"). Highly recommended no matter what else you get.

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Beatles-Golden-song-music-book-1966_W0QQitemZ170133474273QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item170133474273

peewee · Post by **peewee** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 6:54 am

As for bassline study, give the Tony Bacon/Gareth Morgan book "Paul McCartney: Playing The Great Beatles Basslines" a go. I have yet to find another that was so detailed in terms of breaking down his style. The book (no CD) contains 9 full transcriptions in standard notation & tab. It's also chocked full of pieces from other songs as well. When I compared this book's charts to two others that I have, there was absolutely no comparison; very detailed and informative.

Songs:
Drive My Car
In My Life
The Word
You Won't See Me
Rain
Taxman
I'm Only Sleeping
Lovely Rita
Dear Prudence

It's available through Hal Leonard Publishing.

gregga41 · Post by **gregga41** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:54 pm

Murray, you may like to try the Hal Leonard series "Recorded Guitar Versions". I have "AHDN","Revolver",Sgt. Peppers", and a "Hits" compilation! All excellent stuff!

wj350 · Post by **wj350** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 3:57 am

For guitar, my absolute favorite is "The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook", a Hal Leonard publication. "The Beatles Complete Scores" is also excellent, though I wish it were printed in a larger format.

fortlinroad · Post by **fortlinroad** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 12:52 pm

Hi Gang,

Thanks for your book suggestions. I've ordered the Tony Bacon/Gareth Morgan book (thanks for that Mike). I dropped an email to MPL in New York last week and suggested to them it would be great if we could download direct from their site (for a fee) sheet music. On the Hal Leonard web-page they have that available. I think alot of us would enjoy that especially if they provided Pauls arrangment/chords/tabs etc for his songs.

Cheers

firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:43 am

I never got the Bacon/Morgan book for bass because it had so few songs in it.
I prefer the "Recorded Versions" books:

Though there are some songs missing from these as well for some reason.

The two-volume spiral-bound books are, as I recall, a fake book ... melody and chords only.

And of course there is the Complete Scores:

The printing is very small. But one can photocopy needed pages and enlarge them.

dustymurphy · Post by **dustymurphy** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 4:20 am

I have the Beatles Complete Scores and I love it. Once in a while they print a wonky chord or a note that doesn't belong, but for all the songs I've played from it, the note just looks wrong and can correct it before you play it. Before this one, I had the Sgt. Pepper and Revolver "Recorded Version" books. I was pretty happy with those, but the tabs seem to be the same as the Complete Scores. Once in a while I'll notice that a tab looks funny, and if there's a live performance you'll notice that it's not the way the Beatles actually played it. It SOUNDS right, but it's not the way they play it themselves.

gregga41 · Post by **gregga41** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 6:57 pm

I've just acquired the Hal Leonard "recorded version" book of the Rubber Soul album to add to my list above! Some great 12 string stuff there to!

Now i need to get myself a 12-string!!!!!
(working on it!)

gregga41 · Post by **gregga41** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 3:07 am

And, as described in the guitars section,with fantastic help from fellow forumites down here and in the U.S.,i have secured a Mid-blue 2002 330/12 string! Does it get any better???