In an election year, all the candidates tell us that they are the one to provide Justice for All. It's hard to decide who to believe. Back in 1998, four people delivered on their promises: Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Lars Urich and Jason Newsted. Metallica's ... and Justice for All was one of my favorite albums by the band, taking their brand of thinking man's heavy metal one step further. If you own the album, you know that the guitar work on the songs is complex, intense and incredible. Hammett juxtaposes gentle melodies with power crunching moody chords with lyrics that question many values of today's society.
Metallica ...and Justice for All is an authorized edition guitar tab book with note for note transcriptions of all the songs on Justice. You can see how to play Blackened, ..and Justice for All, Eye of the Beholder, One, The Shortest Straw, Harvester of Sorrow, The frayed ends of Sanity, To Live is to Die and Dyers Eve. Although this review doesn't feature a picture, the book features the lady of liberty on the cover tied down with ropes, just as depicted on the album cover. A small red box in the upper right corner indicates that it includes tablature.
Each song contains the complete music, copyright information, and tab transcription. The songs also include a display of all the chords used within the song with notes for what finger goes where! Handy, if you come across a chord you aren't familiar with.
What is TAB?
Tab is an easy to understand guitar language that uses six lines to represent the strings of the guitar. Numbers are laid over them to show what frets need to be played. For example the opening of ONE showing the first two bars:
____________________________________________ E
_________________________!__________________ B
_________________________!__________________ G
_________4_______0_______!_______4_______0__ D
_________________________!__________________ A
_____2_______2___________!___3_______3______ E
The bottom line represents the low E string, the top, the high E. The 2 means to play the low E with your finger on the second fret, then the D string with your finger on the 4th fret followed by playing the low E on the second fret again, then the D string open. (the low E is the string closest to the top of your guitar, it is low E because it is the lowest note) If you play the above, you will recognize that these are the opening notes right after the battle field noises at the opening of One
Things like Hammer ons are noted by not only a curved line connecting two notes, but also an "H" above the hammer on. Pull offs are noted with a P.
Can I use this Book without knowing music?
I can't read music, but you should know some basics about music reading or really know the song to get the timing right. Any Metallica fan knows that their music isn't just 1 and a 2, they use complex time changes. The time are noted throughout the book on the music bar above the tab bar. If you are very familiar with the song, you may get by without fully understanding the time signatures. All the basic tablature is explained in detail at the beginning of the book including notation indicating to repeat a refrain or to hold a note.
Is it Easy?
No, it's like anything else, it takes lots of practice. However the more you get the hang of it, the more you get that yeah, that's how it does go! feeling. On the other hand, my son who is 12 has been taking lessons for about a year and a half. He was easily able to read the songs here. He already has a few Metallica songs down pretty well, and noted that the tab for One for example was the same as our guitar teacher had taught him to play the song. The tab seems quite accurate (more than I can say for some tab I've found on the net).
What do I need to Use this Book?
Well, first about 22.95 to buy it. Two, some basic understanding of the guitar, three a guitar, preferably electric and an amplifier with some distortion settings. A music stand also helps. That and a lot of patience. It is also very helpful if you own Metallica - ..and Justice for All because then you can listen closely to hear the timing and to make sure you are hitting the notes right.
This book was tested using a Gibson SG Standard Guitar played with a Line 6 Spider III amplifier with various settings from clean to very crunchy metal distortion.
Is there anything else in the Book?
There is a brief introduction by Wolf Marshall that gives a good technical guitar intro on the album and photos of the band members.
Summary
This is a well done Tab book, albeit a tad expensive for one albums worth of songs. You can buy the album itself a lot cheaper! Nevertheless, as Tab books go, this one is very good and I gave it four stars.
Other TAB books and Guitar Books
The Best of AC/DC
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Black Sabbath Tab Book
Franz Ferdinand
Guns N' Roses Complete
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Metallica .. and Justice for All
The Rolling Stones Singles Collection - The London Years / Guitar Tab Edition
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Lightning Blues Lead Guitar
Neil Young Anthology
Chord Master - How to Choose and play the right guitar chords
Total Scales Technique and Application
Electric Guitars - The Illustrated Encyclopedia
Recommend this product?
