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Music

Music speaks directly to your feelings and comes in many forms. For that reason Tales have selected some of the finest music books just for you. You can for example find a biography of your favorite music idol, but you can also find music theory books that will help you become your own musician. Whether you like rock, pop, musicals or classical music we have the books for you. Find your inner melody with a music book from Tales.
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  • by The Who
    £14.99

    Allows readers to take over from John Entwistle and play with British rock modsters. This work features the Who's classic songs, transcribed from the original recordings for guitar, in standard notation and tablature with melody line and chord symbols.

  • by Jeffery Kite-Powell
    £36.49

    Revised and expanded, A Performer's Guide to Seventeenth Century Music is a comprehensive reference guide for students and professional musicians. The book contains useful material on vocal and choral music and style; instrumentation; performance practice; ornamentation, tuning, temperament; meter and tempo; basso continuo; dance; theatrical production; and much more. The volume includes new chapters on the violin, the violoncello and violone, and the trombone-as well as updated and expanded reference materials, internet resources, and other newly available material. This highly accessible handbook will prove a welcome reference for any musician or singer interested in historically informed performance.

  • by Mick Goodrick
    £24.49

  • - Pack with Songbook and Instrument
     
    £12.49

  • by Ruth Crawford Seeger
    £10.99

  • - Krautrock and the Building of Modern Germany
    by David (Associate Editor) Stubbs
    £11.49

    the endless winding of Autobahns.Faust, Neu!, Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel, Amon Duul II, Can, Kraftwerk -- the influence of these groups' ruminative, expansive compositions upon Western popular music is incalculable.

  • - The Official Story of Glastonbury Festival
    by Emily Eavis & Michael Eavis
    £23.99

    Title: Glastonbury 50, Author: Emily Eavis, Publication Year: 2019-10-31, Publisher: Orion Publishing Co, Language: eng

  • - The Secret History of Disco
    by Peter Shapiro
    £8.99 - 11.49

    Disco emerged from the fall-out of the Black Power Movement and an almost exclusively gay scene in a blaze of poppers, strobe lights, tight trousers, hysterical diva vocals and synthesized beats in the late sixties.

  • - Raising the Kanneh-Masons
    by Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason
    £9.49 - 15.99

    The most talented musical family in the world. For the first time, mother Kadie Kanneh-Mason shares her unique story.

  • by Paul McCartney
    £55.99

  • by Ross W. Duffin
    £13.49

    "A fascinating and genuinely accessible guide....Educating, enjoyable, and delightfully unscary."-Classical Music

  • by Paul De Keyser
    £8.99

  •  
    £12.49

    A pad containing 75 pages with 18 staves per page. It is suitable for course work or for large-format performance parts.

  • - Song by Song
    by John Van der Kiste
    £14.49

    ELO were formed by Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne as a fusion of rock and classically-influenced music with strings. After their 1971 debut, Wood left and Lynne took them into more commercial pastures. They disbanded in 1986, but Lynne returned with an album in 2001 and as Jeff Lynne's ELO in 2014. This book examines all their studio albums in detail.

  • by ASTOR PIAZZOLLA
    £13.99

    14 works by Astor Piazolla transcribed for guitar by Francesco Russo.

  • by Marion Harewood
    £13.49

    Me and My Piano is the best-selling series by the distinguished authors Fanny Waterman and Marion Harewood, that has sold over 2 million copies worldwide. Designed especially for the needs of the younger beginner and delightfully illustrated throughout, the series makes learning the piano an enjoyable experience for both pupil and teacher.This Complete Edition combines Parts 1 and 2 in one book. Part 1 takes the young pianist step by step through the earliest stages of piano technique, leading to very easy pieces for hands together using a constant five-finger hand position in C major. Part 2 builds on these foundations by extending the compass of notes, introducing new rhythms, note values, chords and changes of hand position. Games and puzzles throughout give elementary theory a new lease of life, and children will love the rhymes, songs and Monkey Puzzles pages.

  • - Take Your Guitar Solos Beyond Classic Rock & Blues
    by Joseph Alexander, Premier Guitar & Ellis Andy
    £16.99

    Take The Minor Pentatonic Scale Scale Beyond Blues & Classic Rock... The journey of virtually every guitar player begins with the pentatonic scale. No other scale has been used more to further the connection between the guitar and modern music. However, pentatonic shapes fall so easily under the fingers the same thing which helped us progress can end up holding us back.In Mastering Pentatonics, boring pentatonic clichés are blown out of the water with a wealth of fresh, creative ideas from a group of expert guitar players. Discover new pentatonic patterns, licks, and sequences Learn multiple ways to adapt pentatonic scales to play over any chord Explore hybrid and exotic pentatonic scale forms to transform your lick vocabulary You will master pentatonic guitar licks in the style of the greats: | Eric Clapton | Ace Frehley | Paul Gilbert | Joe Walsh | Brian May | Angus Young | | Richie Kotzen | Michael Schenker | Eric Johnson | Joe Bonamassa | Joe Satriani | | Carl Verheyen | Joe Diorio | B.B. King | Albert King | Buddy Guy | Robben Ford | But, this is more than simply a lick book. You'll also discover game-changing concepts that will help you progress as a musician for years to come. Here's what you get: A pentatonic "cram session" to fill any gaps in your knowledge Learn to build pentatonic scales from each of the major scale modes Break away from box shapes with our guide to re-visualizing the fretboard Mix major and minor pentatonics to create some killer blues licks Discover the essential shapes used by the great shred guitarists Build "pentatonic chords" to create intriguing new sounds Master exotic pentatonic scales to open up new harmonic ideas You'll learn to master the pentatonic scale with Premier Guitar's best tutors and take your rock guitar playing in a new creative direction...Buy it now!

  • by Paul Morley
    £11.49 - 16.49

    THE TIMES & UNCUT #1 MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEARA SUNDAY TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, MOJO & LOUDER THAN WAR BOOK OF THE YEAR'Reading From Manchester With Love I feel I understand the times we've lived through differently, better, and from new angles. The writing is compelling and musical, befitting its extraordinary subject. I never met Tony Wilson, but now I feel as though I knew him well - and I'm sorry that I didn't.'BRIAN ENO'From Manchester with Love is the perfect monument.'SUNDAY TIMES'Paul Morley's writing has been delighting and exasperating me since his NME work in the late 1970s . . . From Manchester with Love is by far his best book.'STUART MACONIE, NEW STATESMAN (Books of the Year)Critically-acclaimed and bestselling author Paul Morley's long-awaited biography of Factory Records co-founder and Manchester icon Tony Wilson.'When forced to pick between truth and legend, print the legend.' Tony WilsonTo write about Tony Wilson, AKA Anthony H. Wilson, is to write about a number of public and private characters and personalities, a clique of unreliable narrators, constantly changing shape and form. At the helm of Factory Records and the Hacienda, Wilson unleashed landmark acts such as Joy Division and New Order into the world as he pursued myriad other creative endeavours, appointing himself a custodian of Manchester's legacy of innovation and change.To Paul Morley he was this and much more: bullshitting hustler, flashy showman, aesthetic adventurer, mean factory boss, self-deprecating chancer, intellectual celebrity, loyal friend, shrewd mentor, insatiable publicity seeker. It was Morley to whom Wilson left a daunting final request: to write this book.From Manchester With Love, then, is the biography of a man who became eponymous with his city, of the music he championed and the myths he made, of love and hate, of life and death. In the cultural theatre of Manchester, Tony Wilson broke in and took centre-stage.'Epic . . . More than a mind map, the book's peculiarity and expanse and, yes, love, means it becomes an immersive experience. I found it very moving indeed.'OBSERVER'Morley's biography is as illuminating on Wilson's strange ability to hold others in his orbit, even after his death, as it is on the story of his life . . . fascinating.'THE SPECTATOR'As much a (brilliant) biography of Manchester as it is of Tony Wilson . . . It's a fantastically written, sprawling, superbly research book that's both heartfelt tribute and essential reference work.'CLASSIC ROCK'A gigantic, haphazard and unexpectedly emotional monolith dedicated to the "e;irritating dilettante"e;, "e;pretentious charlatan"e; and "e;huckster extraordinaire"e; who put his city on the musical map . . . Here he burns on fantastically bright.'UNCUT (9/10)'This is no ordinary biography . . . [From Manchester with Love] is a work unto itself, solidifying Tony Wilson as a postmodern hero . . . it's brilliant . . . I have to imagine Tony Wilson (if ghosts of dead impresarios read from their graves) is pleased with From Manchester with Love.'LOUDER THAN WAR'Written with Technicolour perspective, humour, pathos and empathy in fluid, immensely readable prose, it is a book that does justice to Wilson's memory and enduring influence.'RECORD COLLECTOR (5/5)'Captivating . . . Across 600 pages, each of the 51 chapters weaves dream states with journalistic investigation, a tale of how one human being, with the help of like-minded spirits, psychically co-opted an entire city.'CONFIDENTIALS

  • - Mine unge år
    by Jens Andersen
    £16.99 - 20.49

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  • - En musiker finder fred i eget hus
    by Peter Bastian
    £6.99 - 8.49

    "Efter at Mesterlære udkom i 2011, er der sket mange afgørende ting i mit liv. Jeg kan se, hvordan forestillingen om det gode, det højere og den bedste udgave af mig selv har været en drivkraft, men også hvordan den forestilling har skabt fjendskab i mit eget liv. Bogen handler om, hvordan jeg er kommet til forsoning med mig selv – fred i eget hus. Og om efter et langt liv at have fundet et nyt syn på kærlighed." Peter Bastian, den 20. marts 2017 Sådan skrev musikeren Peter Bastian, en uge før han døde efter flere års sygdom, 73 år gammel. Ordene faldt som en indledning til denne bog, der gengiver Bastians begejstring og forundring over at være nået frem til en tro på at være altid allerede elsket. Et tankevækkende indblik i et menneskes inderlige længsel efter kærlighed. Bogen blev til ved en samtale på Arresødal Hospice, hvor forfatteren Tor Nørretranders var på besøg 11 dage før Peter Bastians død. De to venner talte sig gennem alt det, Peter Bastian havde på hjerte. En let redigeret båndudskrift blev til bogens tekst. Bogens billeder er udvalgt af Lars H.U.G. blandt tegninger og malerier udført af Peter Bastian gennem et langt liv.

  • - A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
    by Julia Cameron
    £15.99 - 19.99

    'I love it. A practical, spiritual, nurturing book.' - Russell BrandTHE MULTI-MILLION-COPY WORLDWIDE BESTSELLERSince its first publication, The Artist's Way has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert, Tim Ferriss, Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron guides readers in uncovering problems and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to open up opportunities for growth and self-discovery.A revolutionary programme for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life. 'Each time I've learned something important and surprising about myself and my work ... Without The Artist's Way, there would have been no Eat, Pray, Love' ELIZABETH GILBERT

  • by Schuster & To Be Confirmed Simon
    £9.49 - 23.99

  • by Søren Genefke
    £16.49

    ALT OM VINYL er bogen til pladeelskere og alle, der er nysgerrige på at lære mere om vinylpladens verden. Bogen er en 280 sider lang kærlighedserklæring til det analoge format og alle de sære, spøjse og fantastiske anekdoter, der knytter sig til det. Den er spækket med hundredevis af flotte farvefotos og krydret med interviews med en lang række danske pladeentusiaster. Bogen tager dig med helt ind i studiet og ­presseriet, hvor ­pladen bliver født, og fortæller om de mange ­pladeselskab­er og deres mest legendariske udgivelser. Bliv klogere på vinylpladens historie, få ny viden om produktionen i Danmark og find ud af at afkode de mange skjulte budskaber, der gemmer sig i pladernes udløb. ALT OM VINYL lærer dig alt, der er værd at vide, om originaludgaver, covertyper, genoptryk og genudgivelser og hjælper dig med at gøre gode køb på vinylmarkedet og ikke mindst til at passe godt på din egen vinylsamling.

  • - Et skævt tilbageblik
    by Allan Olsen
    £14.99 - 17.99

    I efteråret 2015 udkom Allan Olsens debut som forfatter, erindringsbogen Tilfældigt strejfet, der blev en bestseller og modtog mange rosende anmeldelser. Nu kommer opfølgeren Laksetrappen – et skævt tilbageblik. Bogen tager veloplagt fat, hvor Tilfældigt strejfet slap. Men hvor Tilfældigt strejfet koncentrerer sig om opvækstårene, er Laksetrappen spundet om livet i og omkring musikken. En laksetrappe er den anordning, der hjælper fiskene forbi vandfald eller andre umulige forhindringer. Hvis altså man nærer et stædigt ønske om at svømme imod strømmen. Det er ad denne kompromisløse vej, Allan Olsen har bevæget sig gennem hele sin lange karriere. Allan Olsen skriver levende og medrivende om de krasse læreår som værtshussanger, kvababbelserne med at finde fodfæste i musikindustrien og etableringen af et professionelt og ombejlet liv i showbizz. Som sin forgænger vrimler Laksetrappen med hæsblæsende anekdoter og underholdende nedslag i livet som entertainer – samt med rørende og velskrevne tilbageblik i privatlivet.

  • - Volume I Sixth Edition (C Instruments)
     
    £36.49

    The Real Books are the best-selling jazz books of all time. Since the 1970s, musicians have trusted these volumes to get them through every gig, night after night. The problem is that the books were illegally produced and distributed, without any regard to copyright law, or royalties paid to the composers who created these musical masterpieces. Hal Leonard is very proud to present the first legitimate and legal editions of these books ever produced. You won't even notice the difference, other than that all of the notorious errors have been fixed: the covers and typeface look the same, the song list is nearly identical, and the price for our edition is even cheaper than the original! Every conscientious musician will appreciate that these books are now produced accurately and ethically, benefitting the songwriters that we owe for some of the greatest tunes of all time! Includes 400 songs: All Blues * Au Privave * Autumn Leaves * Black Orpheus * Bluesette * Body and Soul * Bright Size Life * Con Alma * Dolphin Dance * Don't Get Around Much Anymore * Easy Living * Epistrophy * Falling in Love with Love * Footprints * Four on Six * Giant Steps * Have You Met Miss Jones? * How High the Moon * I'll Remember April * Impressions * Lullaby of Birdland * Misty * My Funny Valentine * Oleo * Red Clay * Satin Doll * Sidewinder * Stella by Starlight * Take Five * There Is No Greater Love * Wave * and hundreds more!

  • by Bruce Springsteen
    £16.49 - 13.99

    Bruce Springsteen fortæller ærligt om sin næsten 50 år lange karriere i en stærk selvbiografi, der udgives på den samme dag, 27. september, over hele verden. Den ikoniske sanger og musiker Bruce Springsteen har i al hemmelighed skrevet på sin selvbiografi de seneste syv år. Han begyndte at arbejde på den i 2009 efter at have optrådt med The E Street Band til Super Bowl. I Born to Run beskriver han sin opvækst i Freehold i New Jersey imellem ”poesi, fare og mørke”, som det, der har næret hans fantasi. Han fortæller levende om sit stædige behov for at blive musiker – fra hans tidlige dage, hvor han var kongen over alle barmusikere i Asbury Park til dannelsen af The E Street Band. Med hudløs ærlighed taler han også for første gang åbent om de personlige kampe, der har inspireret ham til at skrive sine bedste sange og afslører, hvorfor sangen Born to Run har langt dybere selvbiografiske lag, end man tror. ”Det er noget underligt noget at skrive om sig selv”, skriver Bruce Springsteen i bogen.”Men i et projekt som dette har forfatteren givet læseren et løfte om at vise, hvem han virkelig er. Det løfte har jeg forsøgt at leve op til i denne bog”. Og det er ikke bare tomme ord, at han her viser sig, som han er. Born to Run er en sjældent ærlig og indsigtsfuld selvbiografi, hvor Bruce Springsteen ikke bare tager læseren med gennem sin ikoniske musikalske karriere, der strækker sig over næsten 50 år. Men også gennem en personlig historie fyldt med den form for kærlighed og svigt, tillid og usikkerhed, kampe og succes, som alle kan spejle sig i.

  • by Barack Obama
    £27.49

    THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERTwo long-time friends share an intimate and urgent conversation about life, music and their enduring love of America, with all its challenges and contradictions, in this stunningly-produced expansion of their ground-breaking Higher Ground podcast, featuring more than 350 photographs, exclusive bonus content, and never-before-seen archival material.Renegades: Born in the USA is a candid, revealing, and entertaining dialogue between President Barack Obama and legendary musician Bruce Springsteen that explores everything from their origin stories and career-defining moments to their country's polarized politics and the growing distance between the American Dream and the American reality. Filled with full-colour photographs and rare archival material, it is a compelling and beautifully illustrated portrait of two outsiders-one Black and one white-looking for a way to connect their unconventional searches for meaning, identity, and community with the American story itself. It includes: Original introductions by President Obama and Bruce Springsteen Exclusive new material from the Renegades podcast recording sessions Obama's never-before-seen annotated speeches, including his "e;Remarks at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches Springsteen's handwritten lyrics for songs spanning his 50-year-long career Rare and exclusive photographs from the authors' personal archives Historical photographs and documents that provide rich visual context for their conversation. In a recording studio stocked with dozens of guitars, and on at least one Corvette ride, Obama and Springsteen discuss marriage and fatherhood, race and masculinity, the lure of the open road and the call back to home. They also compare notes on their favourite protest songs, the most inspiring American heroes of all time, and more. Along the way, they reveal their passion for-and the occasional toll of-telling a bigger, truer story about America throughout their careers, and explore how their fractured country might begin to find its way back toward unity.

Music
Music has that special connection with our feelings. It can both make us happy and sad, help through a crisis and through all the difficult feelings we need to acknowledge. Life is not just about being happy, and music can take you on a journey through all those different feelings. In that way music can function as a form of therapy. Music can comfort you and the lyrics can make you feel embraced and recognized. Some of the songs we love most are those, which have that universal feeling and message in them. Those songs that cover all the different and conflicting feelings of life in a verse. You can learn the secrets behind some of the biggest hits or most beautiful ballads in our selection of music books. 
You could also get to know your biggest idol in our icon books. Some of the music icons have lived an inspiring and sometimes hard life, and you can learn a lot from there stories. We have biographic music books with musicians from different genres, all with their own fascinating story. We have multiple music books about the extremely talented singer Freddie Mercury - the frontman, pianist and songwriter in the legendary band Queen. Freddie Mercury had an amazing career and a magnificent voice, and he was at the same time a huge inspiration for homosexuals and generally everyone, who felt different. The singer must tragically lost his life to AIDS and the world lost one of its biggest stars to date, but you can revisit Freddie Mercury’s amazing talent and read his story in the music books Bohemian Rhapsody - The Definitive Biography of Freddie Mercury, Freddie Mercury - the Biography, Somebody to Love - The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie Mercury, and many more.

Music books for students
If you are studying the wonderful world of music or just wants to improve your performance you should look at our music theory books. They will help you with all the different techniques no matter the instrument. At Tales you find music books for piano, music books for keyboard and music books for guitar. They will all help you in your musicology study or on your journey to becoming an amazing musician yourself. 
We also have music history books that will take you on a journey with all the greatest from Beethoven and Mozart to Tjajkovskij and Stravinskij. When you travel through the history of music you will also visit different music periods and get a better understanding of why the music sounds so differently throughout history. The music is formed by its time and the historical events of that time. If you are interested in the history of music we will recommend the music history book by Cecil Gray called History of Music. The music book moves in the crossfield between the elementary, educational and tries to give answers to some of the things we do not yet understand. It starts with the Gregorian Chant and moves through investigations of both French, Italian, English, and Russian music. 

Musical
If you like to visit the theatre for a musical you can take some of that magic with you home by finding the books, scripts and lyrics of all the biggest hit shows on Broadway and West End. Experiencing a live performance is something unique, but it is over too fast. That is why we recommend you to dive deeper into your favorite musicals with the music books on Tales. You find the lyrics and story behind the world’s nr. 1 hit musical Hamilton that changed the world. The show won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2016 and tells the story of one of America’s Founding Fathers Alexander Hamilton. The musical contains an amazing Grammy award winning soundtrack with the most brilliant lyrics telling the story of the American civil war. The man behind it all is the extremely talented Lin Manuel Miranda, who tells the story of American then, but with the sounds and faces of modern times. You can dive into the fascinating story of Alexander Hamilton and the musical in the book Hamilton: The Revolution or you can learn how to perform the amazing songs yourself with the music books Hamilton - Vocal Selections & Piano or Hamilton - Easy Piano Selections

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