Fingerpicking Broadway Favorites is a new release from Hal Leonard that contains solo guitar arrangements of fifteen classic Broadway songs. The book contains an introduction, giving a brief outline of how to fingerpick, before diving right into the arrangements that are written in both standard notation and tablature. Though the book suggests that "the arrangements in this book are carefully written for intermediate-level guitarists", anyone who has played the guitar for four to six months would be able to begin working on at least a few of the arrangements in this book.
The tunes chosen to be arranged for this book are taken from some of the most famous, and popular, 20th century musicals. Songs such as "Big Spender" from Sweet Charity, "Oklahoma" from Oklahoma and "Cabaret" from Cabaret are some of the more pop-based songs in the book, though there are some jazz standards included as well. By also using songs such as "I'll be Seeing You", "Falling in Love with Love" and "Who Can I Turn To?" Hal Leonard makes this book accessible to any fan of both popular and jazz music. These songs also act as an introduction to jazz and pop-music for those players that may not be familiar with these two genres.
The arrangements themselves are mostly written in the open position, though some songs such as "Who Can I Turn To" and "Season of Love" contain at least a few bars in the middle range of the guitar. By keeping most of the music in the first four frets, players who are familiar with open chords will be able to dive right in and begin learning these pieces. The few sections that do move up the neck will be easily playable by an intermediate guitarist, and pose a nice challenge for beginning level players. As well, most of the arrangements avoid using large bars, more than three strings, which also helps to make each song more accessible to the younger, less-experienced player.
Overall Fingerpicking Broadway Favorites is a well-written book that can be enjoyed by most beginning and intermediate players. While the arrangements themselves are fairly easy to learn, more advanced players may take advantage of the melody lines and chord changes written above the solo arrangements to arrange a solo version of the tune themselves. As well, the inclusion of all of the lyrics will allow anyone to strum the chords and either sing the melody themselves, or jam along with a friend. This book is worth checking out, and at a price-tag of $9.99, it is definitely worth the money.