Play Acoustic Guitar with...Simon and Garfunkel (Paul Simon/Simon & Garfunkel)

I have been playing Simon and Garfunkel songs on the guitar for about 45 years, but I have never been able to reproduce the guitars on “The Boxer” to my satisfaction. Some years ago I found that a guitar mag had published the tab, but though I ordered that issue online, it was no longer available. Since that time I have searched on and off for authentic tab for that song, but never found it. When I saw this book reviewed and some said that the tab was authentic, I had my doubts, but took a chance and purchased it anyway. The simple bottom line is that the tab for "The Boxer" is unfortunately not faithful to the original recording. There is a note at the top of the tab that says “Two guitars arranged for one.” When I saw that my heart sank. I almost sent the book back at that moment. However, there is a CD included, and I decided at least to give that a listen.The CD includes two versions of each song, one with all instruments, and one with the main guitar removed. The latter was the gem for me. It allowed me to hear only the second guitar by itself, and after a little fiddling I realized that it was being played in a G-chord fingering with the capo on the 5th fret. (The Paul Simon part is played in C without a capo.) That made all of the little harmonized runs such as during the “. . . runnin’ scared, laying low . . .“ part of the verse super easy to finger. Armed with that information I invested in guitar tab editing and playing software ($75) and also software to help me isolate and slow down the two guitar parts in the original ($50), and after several intense weekends I had guitar tab that was close to 100% note for note, and is highly satisfying to listen to when played back on Guitar Pro software. My brother and I are in the process of learning the parts now, but that will take some time since neither guitarist was content to play any two verses the same (which is one of several reasons why the tab in the book is not accurate for this song). Note that both parts can be played in standard tuning, but I believe the studio musician who played the left guitar part (Fred Carter Jr.) tuned the high E-string down two frets, which makes the fingerings simpler for many of the sequences, including the introduction which he is credited for having come up with.As to the rest of the book, I give it an A-. There are some places where the notes are not right, but it still sounds good and you might never notice. The other instruments included on the CD provide sound that is satisfyingly close to the originals, and for the most part this book provides tab that is more accurate than you will be likely to discover at your local music or guitar store. However, tab for only one guitar is provided.

This book is FANTASTIC. IF YOU WAN'T TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY "MRS. ROBINSON" as it was RECORDED...GET THIS BOOK. "THE BOXER" IS ALSO ACCURATELY TRANSCRIBED.The accompanying CD is TREMENDOUSLY helpful and shows you how the songs sound when you do it right.The author also has a half dozen other tunes added.It's a JACKPOT.THE BEST SIMON & GARFUNKEL GUITAR TAB BOOK I'VE EVER SEEN! 10 STARS!!!!!

The book is great. I'm very happy with its content. It was exactly what I was looking for. The shipping is another story...In the past when ordering books from Amazon, especially thin, soft-cover books like this one, they have arrived in cardboard packaging. This one shipped in a padded(?) envelope. The book resembled a used tissue. It was wrinkled and creased. (A padded envelope? How exactly is the padding supposed to protect it?)I value my music books. I'm very annoyed about how this one arrived.

Bought it as a gift. Loved it!

America, The Boxer, Homeward Bound...Great songs. The rest...just "eh"...I would have preferred to have Bookends, Emily - the real acoustic wonders from Paul Simon.

The book had several sections repeated several times, publishers error. It wound up only having 3 songs that were complete. However, I got my money back without a problem & was told to keep the book, so I got a little something out of it.

Enjoyed looking through the book, though I only knew 2 songs initially. The notes/chords are straight forward and quite playable.

I love the CD, that incorporates great accuracy in playing Mr Paul Simon's songs, for an amateur guitar player like me. :-)

This book is one of only two Paul Simon / Simon and Garfunkel guitar books available that are worth buying [the other being "Paul Simon Transcribed"]. It contains six songs: The Boxer, Homeward Bound, The Only Living Boy In New York, America, Mrs Robinson and A Hazy Shade Of Winter. The transcriptions are taken directly from the songs and are spot on unlike many other Paul Simon guitar books. The only drawback is that the book can make songs seem over-complicated; for example, the Boxer combines several guitar parts from the studio recording rather than letting you just pick as Paul Simon would. However, I have played guitar for 12 years and this book is both challenging and highly accurate (all songs are in the correct key and capo usage is also spot on). If you are a guitarist looking to emulate Paul Simon, this book comes highly recommend. Put the time and effort in and you will get an awful lot out of it.

Much better tablature out there. It's always disappointing when you buy a tab book like this, your heart sinks after the first few bars! One of the best tab books I've bought was ' Eric Clapton unplugged ' transcribed by Jesse Gress, brilliant and well worth the money.

Excellent service would recommend

One of the easiest to follow and accurate works