shopaholic_man's Full Review: Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
Time and Money are two of the most important things in life. Everyone talks about the importance of managing time and money and complains about not having enough time or money. We've all heard expressions like: Get a good job with good pay and you're okay. Share it fairly, but don't take a slice of my pie. Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today.
As for time, every day we are shorter of breath and one day closer to death. Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time. Of course all this sage advice was available in 1973, not in a time / money managment book, but in Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Amidst the trippy atmospheric sound of Pink Floyd's epic album is some awesome guitar work that sets the structure for each song.
David Gilmour's guitar is atmospheric, trippy and awesome on the album. DSOTM is not per se a guitar album, but it's got some great guitar riffs and intense leads on it. Like most of Pink Floyds repetoire, Gilmour's solos are full of bends, sustains and just very well placed notes.
Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon is a guitar tab book that has the music and guitar tablature for all the songs guitar parts, including David Gilmour's solos. I purchased it so that I could learn Time and Money and the other great songs on the album. With this and an instructional DVD on the same album, I have been learning to play my favorite songs from one of my all time favorite albums.
What is TAB?
Tab is simply a way of writing guitar instructions in an easy to read format, especially designed for the guitar. You don't need to be able to read music to read TAB. My son picked it up at age 11 when he first started to play guitar and you can too.
TAB Sample
The classic Money Riff
______________________________________________ E _________(4)___________________________________ B _________ 4___________________________________ G _____________4_________________________________D _________________ 2_X_______________2___0__5*__A ____ 2____________________2 ___5*______________ E
* = 1/4 bend, indicated in TAB book by an upwards curved line ending in the number for how far to bend).
The lines represent the guitar strings low E to high E and the numbers indicated which fret to place your finger on. Notes in parethisis are partially sounded, notes X'd are muted and notes with a ) are bent. In the actual tab book, the bend line is indicated clearly with a number above the tab line indicating 1/4, 1/2, 1 or 2 to show how far to bend the note. 1 for example would be a whole note bend. You'll be bending lots of notes to play Pink Floyd.
Book Layout
The beginning has some nice photos of early Pink Floyd and some intereviews. Then a chart breaks down basic tablature explanation. After that each song is laid out with a music bar and the TAB bar directly below it. When appropriate, the guitar music for a second guitar is also laid out. Keep in mind that you need to pick one or the other, the guitars are meant to be played together. The lyrics are also included so you get a sense of which part of the song you are playing. The book has lead guitar, second guitar parts, and fills all laid out. At the end of the book are more photos of early Pink Floyd.
All the songs (with guitar) are included, Breathe, Time, Breathe (reprise), The Great Gig in the Sky, Money, Us and Them, Breathe (Second Reprise)(which is actually Any Colour You Like), Brain Damage and Eclipse. Each song is laid out completely from the opening notes, through each verse and chorus to the fade out notes. All of Gilmour's psychedelic solos are also laid out note for note, bend for bend.
What is not included is how to get all those various studio effects. I was surprised that what was included is many of the spoken lines that are scattered about the album. Why should I be frightened of dying? There's no reason for it, you've got to go sometime. I don't know, I was drunk at the time.
My Use of Book/ Thoughts
I actually used this book in conjunction with a DVD instructional video for the same album. Used this way, the two together provided a five star guitar lesson for one of rock's most classic albums. I would watch Nate LaPointe show how to hold my hand and move from chord shape to chord shape, and I used the book to practice the riffs again and again without having to watch and repeat the DVD once I had the basic concept down. I need a bit of both types of instruction to maximize my learning. TAB is great to memorize the notes, but it is not so good for phrasing. I find that nothing substitutes for phrasing like listening to the source again and again, until you really have the feel for the song down. Of course, I've listened to this particular album since I bought it on LP record back in 1980 complete with two posters and two stickers. I have it now on SACD in surround sound. I played along with the book using a Fender Telecaster and a Line 6 Spider III amplifier.
The book seems very complete and accurate in its layout. Of course it is not simple, but nor are the guitar parts as complex as I imagined. Some spots like the famous solos in Time and Money are indeed ones that will require quite a lot of practice to get the timing and the bends just right, but they are all laid out here. Sometimes, it may not sound quite like the album, but that is because there is a lot going on on Dark Side of the Moon. Many parts of the melody are on synthesizers and some of the guitar parts are on the second guitar, and you can only play one part at a time. Even other melodies are played on saxophone. However, if you follow along and practice, the signature sounds of the album will ring out from your amp.
Value
Its a great book, but its no surprise that they're giving none away. The book was 28.00 which was the most I've ever paid for a TAB book for a single album. Learning the songs from the longest charting album ever comes at a price.
Suggested Items for Use with Dark Side of the Moon Tab Book
An electric guitar with a tremelo bar would be ideal. If you can afford the new David Gilmour Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster, that would be ideal, but any Strat would do or a good guitar with a tremelo. I need to borrow my sons Strat, I couldn't get some of the sounds, because of course my Telecaster has no tremelo. I use my fingers to get some degree of tremelo, but its not quite as effective.
A slide would be ideal for some of the second guitar parts to really get that psychedelic sound prevalent in the album.
Either an amplifier with built in effects or effects pedals would help a lot with the sound. You should have a phaser and some reverb to really get a good sound. I used the Phaser setting on my Line 6 and set it with a bit of reverb and used the Blues amp setting for a warm, fairly clean, but tubey kind of sound. I was actually pretty amazed at the sounds that came out of my guitar!
Finally, I've really done well learning on this album because I use it with an instructional DVD Learn the Songs of Pink Floyd Between the two resources, I really feel like I am learning these songs properly.
Summary
If you want to get the most out of Time and Money, and even Us and Them, Eclipse and Brain Damage, this TAB book on Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon will definitely help a lot. I gave it five stars.
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