Sheryl Crow

Rating:
Summary: Excellent....
Review: Each one of Sheryl's albums are magnificent in their own right, although when this was released it was the better of the first two albums. Each song is class in the first degree. I'm fairly new to guitar playing, but I found this tab book allowed me to play along with all of the tracks quite quickly.

Essential Sheryl.

Rating:
Summary: Old already, but it took time to learn all this
Review: I have a Guitar/Vocal Edition with Tablature of this book: SHERYL CROW (1997). The first song in the book, "Ordinary Morning," starts with a Slow blues (dotted quarter note equals 40) 12/8 time (ten measures/minute) vocal line in the key of B, with names of the chords G#m, G, C#, F#, and E7 above the first five measures to indicate the "Harmony implied by bass and keyboard." (p. 5). The guitar tablature finally provides string and fret information for an A7 chord for the final six sixteenth notes (each a quarter of a second long) played on page 5.

This book does not show how to form every guitar chord for every song unless you look at the individual notes in the music and corresponding string and fret numbers in the tablature. On page 12, under the title "If It Makes You Happy," there is a chart showing the 23 fingering for the chord Em and a chart with x321 fingering for a C chord, but an "*" in the opening lines of the song for Gtrs. 1and for Gtr. 3 explains the open G tuning used for the tablature on pages 12-14. C is formed in the early part of the song by using the fifth fret for the middle four strings or the 5 highest strings. Because the fifth string has been tuned down (from A to G), the fingering shown in the chart for the chord Em at the top of page 12 could be used to play the first two eighth notes of an Am chord when the song finally gets to the word "happy" at the beginning of the chorus on page 14, but the second fret is also used for another string on the second beat in the chorus, and the notes which follow suggest the need for other fingers. The Bridge which starts on page 15 has an Em chord and C chord used for Gtr. 2, and the explanation is on the last page of the book. "Rhythm Slashes: Strum Indications: Strum with indicated rhythm. The chord voicings are found on the first page of the transcription underneath the song title." (p. 124). The Gtr. 2 at the Bridge must be using standard tuning to form the guitar chords as a typical Gtr. 2 would be following the written names of the chords at the beginning of the song. Gtr. 1 drops out after four measures at the Bridge, but there are notes and Tablature there for Gtr. 4 (Elec.) and Gtr. 5 (Acoustic) playing Riff A "P.M. throughout." (p. 15). The Guitar Tab Glossary by Kenn Chipkin and Aaron Stang on pages 123-124 (copyright 1990 Beam Me Up Music) explains that P.M. means Palm Mute.

Beginners learning music have to acquire mechanical techniques that must be practiced until they seem innate in order to produce a performance which adds elements that seem artistic. Modern recording techniques have allowed fans to become familiar with the most sophisticated performances of pop songs as the modern form of artistic expression, with tremolo, trill, vibrato and staccato being just a few of the techniques that remain from the classical skill set. Bending notes is a guitar trick that can be indicated in this book ranging from Microtone (to the equivalent of half a fret) to a whole step and a half. The slide notes provided by Gtr. 3 in "If It Makes You Happy" don't start until after the vocal line "You get down, real low down." Then Gtr. 3 has eleven eighth notes before its first half note with seven slides between them, but the slides are all between two tones of a pattern that has just three musical tones. After the line "You listen to Coltrane, derail your own train. Well who hasn't been there before?" the slide goes up to a higher set of three tones, but with only four slides for ten notes. At 98 beats per minute, each slide is taking place within three tenths of a second.

People who have the Sheryl Crow CD with these songs can look at the CD to see what the other songs are. I actually like songs that are the easiest to learn. Some of my favorites have a pattern of four chords that repeat throughout the song. "Home" shows four chord charts under the title on page 62 and those chords dominate the song and the ending on page 75. Only two additional chords occur in the Bridge on page 68. Finding words might be a problem for people who don't automatically know them well enough to think of the right verse when the music is repeating. Verse 2 appears in eight lines at the bottom of page 75, under the legato slides shown for the last three measures of "Home." Verse 1 has words under the vocal notes on pages 62-64. Once the chorus starts and three guitar parts are shown, there are only four measures on page 64, five measures on pages 66 and 67, six measures on pages 68 and 69, and nine measures on each page 70-72. Words for the vocal part on Verse 3 are under the notes on pages 71-72. Most rock music does not show notes for vocal harmony parts, but the blend on the chorus of "Home" is so important that small notes are shown on pages 64, 65, 66, 70, and 71. The harmony only has four musical tones, but with so much going on, it certainly helps to know what they are and when they change. One person with a guitar can feel great doing this song until it gets to that part, but then what?

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: Sheryl Crow rocks and this music book is great. It's easy to use and understand. I haven't learned all the songs on it, but her songs are so much fun to play and sing along to and having the sheet music for all her songs help. All the guitar parts aren't exactly like hers, but it's real close and still sounds great.