If you’re looking for songs that are easy to play on an acoustic guitar, it can be difficult to know where to start. While the internet is full of guitar tabs, these are often inaccurate and may be beyond the skills of new guitarists. Many of them are also songs that you have probably never heard of and have no interest in playing.
However, there is another option at hand in the form of The Big Acoustic Guitar Chord Songbook series from Wise Publications. Let’s take a look at what this book has to offer and see if it’s really a good fit for those looking for easy acoustic guitar songs.
What is the great acoustic guitar chord songbook?
As the name suggests, this book contains a series of chord songs that can be played on the acoustic guitar. More precisely, it consists of 191 pages and 78 songs. The book has a pocket cover and is in easy-to-read A4 format.
Is there anything good about it?
Overall, I think this is a good book, although it is not without its flaws.
Musical styles – the book contains songs from a wide range of musical genres. It was released in 2001, and the songs range from that time to 40 years earlier, so there is a lot of classic rock and pop here, as well as more modern songs. Artists covered include The Beatles, Pulp, The Corrs, Bob Dylan, Bryan Adams, Oasis, Blur, Eric Clapton, The Jam, and many more.
So if you are looking for classic hits that most people recognize, you are likely to find some of them here. However, if you are more interested in specialized genres or more extreme musical forms, this is probably not the book for you.
Easy to use – The book is presented very clearly and simply. For each song, you get the full lyrics with chord symbols added in the appropriate places. Each song also includes chord box diagrams that show you how to play all the chords that are required for that song, which is useful if any of the chords are unfamiliar.
However, the book does not contain tabs or written notation, and if you do not know the melodies of the original songs, this will be a problem as they are not included here. And while there is a game guide that provides some helpful tips, it’s not like every little step is detailed for you, which may or may not be a problem.
Precision – according to the blurb on the back cover, each song has been arranged in the original key of the original recordings. However, like most books of this type, some of the chords have been simplified, as you will discover for yourself if you listen very carefully to the original songs and compare them to the chords given in this book. This is not a problem as they still sound ‘good’, but if you want to reproduce a perfect note playing from the original, you will probably have to rely more on your own ears.
Level of play – Some of the songs in this book contain very easy chords, while others are more difficult. Beginners will find the book valuable, but those with a little more experience will probably get the most out of it, as many of the songs will be too difficult for beginners to play initially. Also, the lack of step-by-step game guides can be a problem for those just starting out.
Verdict
If you are a guitarist who is interested in playing a wide range of well-known hit songs on your acoustic guitar, this is a great book to have. Just keep in mind that it’s kind of a basic guide as the title says it’s a chord book so don’t expect to find tabs or notation here.