Product Description
Complete score transcriptions of the 12 songs from the album: Battle of Who Could Care Less * Brick * Cigarette * Evaporated * Fair * Kate * Missing the War * One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces * Selfless, Cold and Composed * Smoke * Song for the Dumped * Steven’s Last Night in Town. Includes band photos and a notation legend.
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This book is amazing; it has perfect transcriptions for all of of their songs, and it includes all of Ben’s piano solos. I was able to learn perfectly the piano solos to ‘One Angry Dwarf..’ and ‘Song for the Dumped.’ This book also has all of the transcriptions for every other instrument in all of their songs. The only annoying thing is the publishers’ notation; if the notes are tied to each other, they just use the lines for the tied notes, they don’t use the head of the note (my guess is to save ink, or they just thoughtt it would be easier to read). Regardless of this small annoyance, this book will help anyone learn exactly how the song was meant to be played.
For an avid piano player, this book still provides many challenges in reading and playing. The inclusion of the guitar/bass/drum/other lines, with a separate vocal line (some books like to hide this in the piano) make for an accurate and interesting play. Many of BFF’s best hits are in this book. I would recomend it to anyone who is a fan and has a good number of years of piano behind them.
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book
Very detailed transcriptions – everything is separated nicely, without the nasty combination of vocal and piano lines you get in some books. Highly recommended.
5.0 out of 5 stars
ben folds fan eager to learn
i gave this as a present for someone who loves ben folds, and just started learning to play piano. one of his goals was to be able to play ben folds some day, but since i gave it…
You can’t argue with the brilliance of Ben Folds. And I appreciate what this book is trying to do. It’s much like the score to the Beatles’ works– all parts– piano, drums, bass– are transcribed.
My beef is that as a pianist I was much more interested in seeing the piano transcriptions. The bass and drum transcriptions add nothing to my enjoyment. But because they’re on the same page, everything is printed very small and you have to turn pages frequently.
Also frustrating: The multiple codas and del signo notations. In other words, you’re playing along, squinting to read, and there’s a D.S., telling you to go back to the sign and then play to the first coda. Then you have to find the first coda. Then you have to find the second sign. Etc, etc.
Bottom line: I’ve used the book as a reference. it’s helpful to understand his chord voicings and licks, but if you want to play through the piece from start to finish, this isn’t the right book for you.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Music!!
Got this mainly for the piano parts, but this book also contains VERY accurate transcriptions of the bass guitar, drums, cello, clavichord, clarinet, etc.
July 18th, 2009