The Steve Winwood Keyboard Songbook: Play the Hits of Steve Winwood, Blind Faith, Spencer Davis Group, and Traffic (Piano/Vocal/Guitar)

I don't usually write reviews but since nobody's done one, I'll give this a shot. I just received this book and played thru some of the Traffic stuff and his biggest solo pop works. I am pleased to say that I am THOROUGHLY satisfied. I haven't had that much fun playing through a new book in years... The chords were all spot on and all of the synth solos are included. I've even just listened to the songs with the book in front of me to check the synth solos, and all of the notes are definitely there (it may have been off a tick here or there with the rhythms, but that's to be expected.. Shouldn't be something to deter you from this purchase). So Buy this book! It's fun stuff and the transcriptions are phenomenal. You will not be disappointed! A couple disclaimers & negatives, for completeness: This book will be challenging for beginners. A good challenge, you should go for it! I can't comment on if the melodies are perfect b/c I generally play those by ear. But I can tell you that the melodies are certainly very very good. As for the negatives (so small they're almost negligible)...1) I don't totally agree with how they arranged the intro to Finer Things, but all the important stuff is there. This was my only, albeit slight, disappointment. 2) The paper that it is printed on is kind of newspaper-y. It makes no difference, but I don't want you to be surprised when you receive it. So there you have it. This book is great... You're telling me I jam out to Glad now? Sweet.

i wanted to learn to play a couple of tracks written by Steve Winwood and buddies. so i brought this book, thinking that this book would give me an authentic transcription. However, as i read gimme some lovin, as i listened to the original recording . i realised very quickly that this book's transcriptions have been embellished with loads of extra chords, making the simple organ tracks much more complex. I understand that the author may have changed the score so that the arrangement sounds better on a piano. However, if you played this version of gimme some lovin while playing with a band, you would get the sack. As the organ player not only plays his part, the vocal melody, but the backing vocal harmonies and even more extra chords. To me, this version isn't gimme some lovin. shame. I love the B3 sound, not so keen on hearing B3 tracks on a piano. not all tracks transfer so well to other instruments. sorry.

With such a long career of hits, I narrowed down my set list to acoustic piano versions from "Blind Faith" and Traffic. However the book has many other classics which you can learn to play. His voice is unique and in my opinion "Can Not" be duplicated nor should it be attempted. A wonderful book and helpful tool if you enjoy Steve's music.

Figured from description that this would be a chord/lead sheet, which it is. But includes a surprising level of detail on various keyboard fills and solos, such as the e piano solo in Empty Pages. Recommended

I'm very pleased with this song book and I've been busy tickling the ivories....