Does anyone out there have any recommendations for a good Beatles piano book, about intermediate to advanced standard, which is as close as possible to the original recordings. The ones I have looked at in the local bookshop eg Beatles Complete, The Joy of the Beatles, have been disappointing simplifications.

Thank you.

This is quite strange, because only this morning i was thinking that there's never been a thread on Viva Piano about Beatles arrangements. And I thought that without hesitation i would know what book to recommend. It's called The Beatles 18 Fab Four favorites arranged by Phillip Keveren(Hal Leonard)...Keveren has done quite a few editions of popular arrangements for Hal Leonard, of varying difficulty but mostly easier than this one, but that's good... because these are more than just the ''bare bones'' of the pieces, which sadly is the problem with some of 'the joy of' and many others. As someone who has gone to great lengths to look for well arranged pop tunes, these are top notch and undoubtably the best Beatles collection i've encountered. They range from about Grade 4 to 7, and though some of them take a bit of work, they are well worth the efforts.

I have the original Abbey Road album (minus covers), and it has good arrangements that are quite close to the recordings (but obviously without the ad lib solos). "Because", and "You never Give Me Your Money" make good piano solos exactly as printed.

I have another Beatles collection with reasonable versions of many of their classics but that is in the UK. I'll dig out the details for you next time I am home - in a couple of weeks. I remember that the original sheet music album for the White Album was also pretty good - I no longer have a copy though - no idea what happened to it.

Thank you for your reply Chopinzee, I have this book and enjoy the style. However, it is my son who is looking for a book, and it is not quite what he wants though, as this is 'pianistic' in style eg with arpeggio type flourishes that aren't in the original song and it is quite important to him to have as original a sound as possible - he listens to a lot of Beatles! I will keep looking.....

I am back in the UK for the weekend, so can look up the details. A promise is a promise ... but I am sorry this is not likely to be much use to you.

The other book is Beatles '67
containing all the songs from Sgt Peppers + Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields

published 1967 by Northern Songs Ltd.

Price 12 shillings and 6 pence !!

Ah, might be a bit hard to get a look at this book! My son would be so interested!

Send me your address and a solemn promise to return it in good condition after a couple of months and I'll post it to you.

Couldn't he try and work out the music by ear from the recordings? It would be amazing practice. I have just started doing this in the last year and it is quite addictive when you get into it. If he finds it hard to work out the harmonies there are loads of chord sites for guitarists - sorry forgotten the one I used to use - maybe someone else will know a good one.......

You can't look in advance, but you can buy it at AbeBooks:
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchRe...amp;x=0&y=0