Fingerpicking Ballads: 15 Songs Arranged for Solo Guitar in Standard Notation and Tab [Paperback]

Since you can't "Look Inside!" I will tell you what the songs are:

1.) "Against All Odds" (Take a Look at Me Now) - words and music by Phil Collins.
2.) "Have I Told You Lately" - words and music by Van Morrison
3.) "Alone" - words and music by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly
4.) "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" - from the motion picture, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", words and music by Robert John Lange and Michael Kamen.
5.) "Fields of Gold" - music and lyrics by Sting.
6.) "From a Distance" - words and music by Julie Gold
*7.) "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" - words and music by Peter Cetera and David Foster.
*8.) "I'll Be There For You" - words and music by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.
*9.) "Looks Like We Made It" - words and music by Richard Kerr and Will Jennings.
10.) It's All Coming Back to Me Now" - words and music by Jim Steinman
11.) "Lights" - words and music by Steve Perry and Neal Schon
12.) "Say You, Say Me" - words and music by Lionel Richie
13.) "She's Got a Way" - words and music by Billy Joel
14.) "Your Song" - words and music by Elton John and Bernie Taupin
15.) "Rainy Day and Mondays" - Lyrics by Paul Williams, music by Roger Nichols.

The tunes with the * beside them are in drop D tuning, the rest are in standard tuning. All the songs are relatively easy to play. If you are a staunch beginner they will be challenging, but a moderate player should have little trouble with them. The melody is included in a separate staff above the standard notation for guitar, which is above TAB for those who can't read music. Nice printing, dark and large enough to be easily seen and the book opens easily and will stay open on my music stand with the use of wooden clothespins.

I'm not exactly thrilled with the tunes however. I wanted "Ballads" but I took a chance on this book hoping for some much older tunes, so I'm kind of disappointed about that. And I don't like over half of the tunes anyway so there's only a few I might use. It's not a bad book, but the melodies are very simplified and in some situations with these type of books I often will change the notation a bit to give the tune more flare. But, they're o.k. the way they are. There are no exotic key signatures to deal with, most have just one sharp with no more than three, and no flatted keys, so the sight-reading isn't all that challenging. Some left-hand fingering suggestions are given in the notation but not in the TAB section. Actually, nothing extra is given in the TAB - only what fret on what string. You'll have to look at the notation to determine your timing, which is a good reason, among MANY to go ahead and learn to read standard notation. (o.k. rant over. I teach classical guitar so I'm sort of biased against TAB). No right-hand fingerings are given but for those who have studied classical guitar, this book should present no problems in either area, LH or RH.

I recommend this songbook for any beginner/intermediate guitar player! The arrangements are challenging enough to help build your skills, but not so difficult that you would get discouraged. It's fun learning songs that are familiar to you. It makes you want to work harder to be able to play them proficiently.

I bought this book just to have the 'fields of gold', 'your song' and 'everything i do' arrangements. I like these songs. The arrangements are not too difficult but still challenging for a beginner. I'm not dissapointed of the purchase and I would recommend it.