[.ca] Pat Metheny Songbook: Lead Sheets (ISBN 0634007963)

Every Metheny fan and fan of the guitar should have it ...:
...snippets of information, discography and his music all in one volume. Perfect. Wont make you sound like him though!

songbook a treasure:
I could not believe that an artist of Pat Metheny's callibur would be so generous as to offer a complete publication of his brilliant work to his fans. I ran to the store and grabbed it.(the last copy) I also could'nt believe the low price. Those who don't appreciate it, you truly don't know what you have in your possesion.

It's Good and I Liked it:
This is really a no brainer: if you play jazz or are learning to play jazz and you are a fan of Pat's music, this is a great reference. It's well produced in every respect and defintely well worth the price. An added bonus are Pat's comments on the tunes and his thoughtful quotes regarding improvisation. Seeing that much of Pat's music in one place gives you new respect for the range, quantity and quality of his compositions. A few minor quibbles- I wish the book had been arranged alphabetically- the way it is, you have to look eveything up in the index first- no big thing but mildly annoying. Also some complex charts have been rendered as simple lead sheets making casual performances unlikely unless one is familiar with (and willing to transcribe from) the original recordings. That aside, I can't think of a reason that anyone wouldn't like this book. I should really give this 4 and a half stars for the little flaws, but since Amazon won't let me, I'll round up just because Pat writes such great tunes. Highly recommended!

Deceptive Advertising:
I'm a big fan(atic) of Pat Metheny's music; however, this book does not represent the artist's "complete collection" of compositions, as promoted by the publisher on the back cover. I don't like it when firms, especially ones that are after my money, choose to blatantly lie to me! Perhaps I'm being too harsh. It's probably my fault that I didn't go back to my library of CDs and count (album by album) to see that Pat (and Lyle) have more than 167 compositions under their collective belts. Shame on me. Despite its lack of completeness, though, I must rate the song book four stars. The true-to-form quality of the arrangements makes up for all of the publisher's shortcomings.

A wonderful book for any Pat Fan:
This book works just as well for any instrument as it does for the guitar (sorry--no tabulature, and Pat said he won't put any in either) and gives the listener a greater understanding of his music's structure...as such, it can be helpful for the aspiring performer, composer, or arranger. In addition, on the Pat Metheny Group Web Site (address included in book) there is a forum where listeners can write in with any typos that they may have found--all helpful information when a second printing of the book is in the works. Some tunes in the PMG vocabulary, like those that pianist Lyle Mays wrote ("Are We There Yet", "Episode D'Azur"), or those Metheny/Mays tunes that were very nearly completely written by Mays according to Pat ("Yolanda, You Learn") are not included.