Hi all,

I've never bought a "cheat book" but I know there are a million out there. I'd like to pick up a good book that contains the majority of the most popular 60's to 90's songs. Anyone have any suggestions?

Steve

HI
You might want to check out the Professional Singers's Pop/Rock Fake book
The publisher is Hal Leonard - they have lots of other ones as well you can check it out at www.halleonard.com. It's a good site because you can view the table of contents of the books.

[This message has been edited by Kmac (edited 12-10-2001).]

Is there anyone who can explain to a simple
soul why it's called a fake / cheat book?
Is it to fake or cheat to look to notation,
chord and lyrics, or is it something more in
this books??
GJ

Dear simple soul,
a fake book or cheat book is so called because it shows all the notes and chords used in the original recording by the artist him/herself and so you can pretend that you are able to play the way he/she does.
This, at least, is the answer from another "not so sophisticated" soul.
Cheers.

It's not cheating at all, and it's definatly not FAKE. The term comes from "faking" an arrangement to a song using the chort chart to determine the backgrounds. A "Fakebook" still requires a working knowledge of chord structures and theory to be effective,but it can be a lifesaver to a working musician who needs to take requests in a wide area of music styles.
Personally - the best thing you can do as a working player is to get familiar with all the chords. That way you can "fill in" behind a melody or singer without having a sheet of music slowing down your creative juices. You never really "own" the music till you have the notes in your head. Then you can add the expression and individual touches to it.
WE all have to "fake it" sometimes. It's not a bad thing - as long as the client is happy.
Better to take the request and play a skeleton arrangement, then to turn down the chance to please. This is the "business" part of show biz. The "art" part comes in tiny pieces! (Be grateful when it does)

[This message has been edited by Uncle Dave (edited 12-10-2001).]

I think there are two possible explinations as to why they are called fake books.

1. All you get is a lead line and chord symbols. You have to make up the arrangement on the fly. In other words you are faking (making up) everything except the melody.

2. Some (most) of these books were illegal. They violated most copyright laws because the publisher of these books did not have permission from the copyright holder to use the songs. No royalities were paid to the composer.

Maybe Don or Uncle Dave can shed some more light on the subject.

Tom

Thank you all

Here is more than one explainations, so I can see.
We have some books that each song have notation
for the melody-line, figuration as looks like i.e.
A, Am, and so on.
If the song have lyrics, that is added too. Also
a suggested rhythm and tempo can be found, but that's
more sheldom.
Those books we can buy in music stores, and it often
cover the last years hits, or a collection of Pop or
Rock, Love Songs or Oldies and so on.
Is this similar as what you call a fake book? If so,
I do have some, and then I fake all the time.
Life is'nt easy, eh...?
GJ

Today, there are a lot of "legal" fake books on the market. It is not unusual for a fake book to have 1,000 or more songs. I have posted the indexes of quite a few of the available fake books in an Excel file you can download from the Yamaya-psr-styles group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yamaha-psr-styles/files/JoeW/

If this link doesn't work, go to the group, select the Files area from the navigator on the left and look in the folder JoeW.

I obtained my first "fake book" about 1960. Tom had it just right. My music teacher managed to get me one for $25. Xerox pages in a notebook, no copyright. I loved it and spent hours each night with my accordion and my fake book. Of course, today there are lots of legitimate fake books. Go to Amazon, Barnes&Noble, or Hal Leonard sites and just search on "Fake Book" -- you'll find lots of choices.

Uncle Dave also hit it right on the head, the performer has to have an intimate knowledge of chords and chord structures to play effectively from a fake book. Since, I think, one has to also have an intimate knowledge of chords to play arranger keyboards, the two make an excellent match.

Hi Joe,
congratulations for the excellent work you did comparing all those fakebooks; this is really a terrific tool to decide which are the fakebooks that best suit one's needs!
Thanks a lot
Andrea

Thanks for all of the great information. I've checked out Hal Leonard's site and he offers quite a few fake books.

I'm trying to decide between "The Ultimate Fake Book for "C" Instruments" and the "Real Little Ultimate Fake Book". My only concern about getting the smaller book is that the type-face may be so small that I can't read it easily. Does anyone know if they reduced the type-face in the smaller edition?

Regards,
Steve

Steve - S T O P !
That "real little" book lives up(down) to it's name. The type is sooooooo tiny. Get a full size book unless you have x-ray vision.

Dave,

I'm fast approaching 50 and small type is getting harder to read. Thanks for saving me from wasting my money.

Dave, I'm glad to see you back on the arranger forum. Family is what its all about, and anything that strikes home hurts most. I hope all is going well for you and yours. My very best wishes and prayers are with you during the Holiday season.

Your friend,
Steve

Actually, one of the distinguishing features between fake books is the size of print used. Some will put a song on a single page, relatively big print, easy to read. Others put two (or three) songs on a page. Obviously, print is much smaller. Some will split a song between pages. If it starts on the left and finishes on the right page, this may be bearable, but I hate to have to TURN pages to finish the song. The "Little" book series put this information into a smaller page size (rather than the standard 9x12) and, as a result, use very tiny print. My eyes couldn't cope with that.

Amazon has started offering a very useful service. Go to www.Amazon.com, search in Books for "Fake Book". You will notice in the list of hits some flagged with a "Look Inside" message. Amazon has provide a peek at the contents of various books with this feature. You can actually see what kind of print is used to show the songs and how they look. A nifty feature if you can't be browsing in a book store! You may also find the customer "reviews" helpful in making a selection.

Personally, I liked the Ultimate Fake Book (1200 songs, #1 in popularity) for the songs included, but I didn't like the hefty size. I thought it was so big and heavy it would wind up breaking the stand on my keyboard so I wound up dividing it into smaller components. I also liked the Ultimate Jazz book and the Wedding and Love Songs fake book. But what you like will be highly dependent on the kind of music you want to play.

If reading on the job is important to you - then take the big fake books to Staples and have them REbind it into smaller, lighter packages. I personally, HATE to read on stage (for alot of reasons, but mostly because it takes my eyes off the crowd), but for the occasional chart - I have a three ring binder (1" thick)with clear plastic "slip in" pages. That way I can just bring the specific charts I need and the book is very light and organized.
I don't recomend reading (it's a crutch) if you can help it. Try to memorize chord patterns - NOT notes. It's much easier to remember. How many songs use:
C Am F G7 ??? Thousands !!!!
It's not as hard as you may think to remember LOTS & LOTS of different songs because they all share similar patterns or sequences. Break them up into sections and you'll see what I mean.

Hey Uncle Dave, You got 'all' the changes to 'Lush Life' memorized? Seriously, I agree that you shouldn't rely on fakebooks (as a crutch) on the job, afterall, it's like having guests and not paying attention to 'them'. Even so, I still think fakebooks are an excellent resource for learning new songs and having on hand just in case someone important walks in and requests an obsure tune. Afterall, no musician can possibly know EVERY tune in one of those huge fakebooks, can they?

Ok, one of my pet peeve hobbies is collecting almost every fakebook available. As UD points out, most tunes tend to follow a basic chord progression of : I-VI - IV - V7 or I-VI -II -V7 so you can then easily pick the melody out (by ear) as you're playing if you just memorize the chord progression. The fakebooks I find most useful are the ones which also include professional sounding 'chord substitutions'. This in combination with the type of chord 'voicings' played, is really the KEY INGREDIENT to sounding professional vs. amatuer. As you start begin discoverying 'alternate' chord subsitutions, you will soon start making up your own as well. Here are a few fakebooks (which include chord substitions) which I highly recommend. The Christmas fakebook at the end of the list might be a good one to check out now because it provides some great professional sounding chord substitutions to the typical standard Christmas fare.

The Best Chord Changes for the Best Known Songs:
http://www.halleonard.com/item_detail.js...e+&location=PVG

The Best Chord Changes for the Best Known Standards Ever: http://www.halleonard.com/item_detail.js...e+&location=PVG

The Best Chord Chord Changes for the Most Popular Songs: http://www.halleonard.com/item_detail.js...e+&location=PVG

The Best Chord Changes For the Most Requested Standards: http://www.halleonard.com/item_detail.js...e+&location=PVG

The Best Chord Changes For the World's Greatest Standards: http://www.halleonard.com/item_detail.js...e+&location=PVG

Real Chord Changes & Substitutions (A-F): http://www.halleonard.com/item_detail.js...e+&location=PVG

Real Chord Changes & Substitutions (G-K): http://www.halleonard.com/item_detail.js...e+&location=PVG

Real Chord Changes & Substitutions (L-Q): http://www.halleonard.com/item_detail.js...e+&location=PVG

Real Chord Changes & Substitutions (R-Z): http://www.halleonard.com/item_detail.js...e+&location=PVG

Real Chord Changes & Substitutions Christmas Favorites: http://www.halleonard.com/item_detail.js...e+&location=PVG


[This message has been edited by Scottyee (edited 12-13-2001).]

"Lush Life" is more like an exercise than a song. As pretty as it sounds, I think it was written as an attempt at complexity.
In my 32 years of working music rooms, that one was NEVER requested....... although we've offered it for free sometimes.

Jazz tunes are in the minority in the pop world, and as much as I love all types of music -- learning more jazz won't make me anymore money, or make me more popular. It's one of life's little pleasures that I take as a gift whenever I can. In fact last night I took a gig with a jazz trio as a drummer! What a ball I had!

I used my Roland digital set, and everyone loved it. I even surprised myself that I was able to keep up with the piano player -- what a freakin' monster he was. The whole band used my gear, because they wanted to check out the stuff. I had my Fender Jazz Deluxe bass, my Roland FP3 piano, and my SPD20 pad kit. It was sooooo cool. We were very straight ahead, and swung almost every Christmas tune there is!
Now I'm back to the real world, and no one will need me or my drums for a long time, so I'll set them back up in my studio for my next midnight session. It's a great way to blow off steam after a gig. I play for about 15 minutes and I feel all relaxed..... and NO one wakes up -- cuz I'm on headphones! It's a beautiful thing.

As far as jazz tunes go - I like to make jazzy arrangements of popular stuff so the crowd knows the tunes, but can "swing" with the feel. I believe it's better to give them the tunes they want, but keep the arrangements fresh, and exciting. That keeps ME interested. Most of my crowd wouldn't appreciate REAL jazz anyway. That select few rarely comes into the places I work. Some of the standards that have made it to my venues include
"On Green Dolphin Street", "Breezin",
and ANY Duke Ellington tune. If I played Miles or Trane ... I'd loose them.

Sorry to drift off topic - fake books are great for study, and to get you out of a jam now & then, but I wouldn't let people see me read too often - then they think it's "K" time. (yuk)

Thanks to all for the info!

Steve

Dear Santa Claus
As you know, I've already told you my wish
list for the X-Mas, but if you look into those
links, you probably know what I forgot to
mention.
Bring my regards to "Rudolf the Red Nose",
he'll might find a goodie outside our house
this year too.
GJ

Scottee my friend you've did it again, why don't you edit your post and cut the address in half and put each one on two lines.
It's hurting my neck looking around the side of the monitor to see where they went!!
Your Teacher,
Nobby

------------------

Nobby: What size monitor are you using? For some reason (on my computer) with 17 inch monitor, I am not having to scroll from left to right in order to view the entire text. BTW, I did attempt to enter the URL address' on 'two' separate lines as you had suggested in the past (by just hitting the enter key once only and doing nothing else), but it ends up breaking the link altogether. Sorry about that!

No scrolling at my 17" monitor either, but
I've seen it happen now and then.
This tread seems to be OK.
GJ

Hey Nobby are you running your video resolution at 640 x 480 ? If so, that's one way to cause you to have to scroll to read some posts.

Vic, It's been so long since I checked the vidio resolution on my monitor I can't even remember how to get in to it.
I have 15" screen that wouldn't cause that.
You can stretch out any post with a long,
long line with no breaks in it.
Nobby
Ps: I just did one (Long Line No Breaks.)
Let me know here if it streched out on your
posting. Thanks.

[This message has been edited by Nobby (edited 12-13-2001).]

Setting monitor resolution:
Click on Start, then Settings, then Control panel, then Screen, then again Settings.
or:
right-click with your mouse on any point in the desktop screen (the screen with the recycle bin and other little things which appears as Windows starts) and you are in the Screen menu.