I managed to hit all of the chords, but I would often come up with simpler versions than they specified. I also came up with my own transpositions using a capo. The capo could make a song that was really hard to play with mostly barre chords rediculously easy...and sound better too.

Somewhere an instructor had pointed out to me that you don't have to play all of the notes all of the time when you are in a group setting. If a chord has a funky bass note in it that you are struggling with, let the piano or the bass play it...don't worry about it. I applied that adage quite a bit.

I was working from a book specifically for the guitar for these songs, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I know what you are talking about though. They seemed to adapt it well for the guitar and didn't just blindly copy the chords from the piano transcription to the guitar transcription.