Reddit reviews The Ultimate Fake Book (for C Instruments)
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Ultimate Fake Book #1The Ultimate Fake Book is a cornerstone for many musicians' librariesWith over 1,200 songs in all styles of music, this third edition has been updated for all 'C' instruments to include lead sheets with chords, lyrics, and melody notation for even more great songsFrom jazz standards to Broadway blockbusters and country classics to pop chart-toppers, this book has the songs you're looking for all in one convenient collectionIt is comb-bound with locked tabs to ensure long-lasting durability
The word you're probably looking for is "accompaniment". However, you probably don't want to search using this term.
Any popular music that is published is usually arranged for "Piano/Vocal/Guitar", and I don't really know of a standard term for this type of sheet music. For what this looks like, check out any of the popular sheets on http://musicnotes.com. These are arranged so that you can play the song as a piano solo if you want, but if you want to just accompany someone else or play in a band, you would just look at the guitar chords placed above each line of music (e.g. "G", "Cm7", "D", "Bsus4").
The other type of notated music used for accompaniment is called a "lead sheet". This has only the solo line (the tune/melody of the song) and the chords. So it's basically just the top half of what you see in a "piano/vocal/guitar" arrangement.
The other term you'll see is "Fake Book". A Fake book is just a book containing a large number of lead sheets. If you're playing jazz, the most popular book of lead sheets for jazz standards is called "The Real Book".
Finally, on many "guitar tab" sites, you can find just the chords for songs (although there are often lots of errors). Look for versions that say "chords" instead of "tabs". Here's an example
No matter what type of sheet music you're looking at, if you're playing with others, you'll need to learn to play by reading chord symbols instead of notes on a staff. When searching for music, you'd want to include one of these terms: "chords", "tabs", "sheets", "lead sheet", "fake book", "piano". Don't worry too much exactly what type of sheet music you get, even if it's for solo piano; as long as there are chord symbols on it, that's all you need.
Here is a list of links for you to get started:
A fake book is a book full of lead sheets. Which means that the only thing written out on the staff will be the melody line. Each song will have chord symbols, which you the performer use to come up with your own accompaniment.
Example: http://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-Fake-Book-Instruments/dp/0793529395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414049042&sr=8-1&keywords=fake+book
Well, I started playing the trumpet when I was 12, in the 6th grade, and I sat down at a piano one day and realized that playing from white note to white note was a C scale. I started piano the summer after my 6th grade year. I didn't care much for theory until the Christmas after I started taking lessons. My teacher gave me a few leadsheets from a Christmas fake book. We talked about building chords, but he didn't show me the more complicated ones. I bought a book that showed how to build all the chords in each key, but once I started realizing the patterns, I laid it down. I bought The Ultimate Fake Book and started playing songs.
Gradually over time you learn patterns and how chords sound. You can listen to these songs in the Fake Book, and though they might not be 100% completely transcribed, you can get an idea of how certain chord progressions sound. I quit taking lessons after a year and taught myself how to play Boogie-Woogie (I think I might still have a video on youtube called, "How to Play Boogie-Woogie Piano"). This helped with finger independence and learning the blues. Once I learned the blues, I started becoming interested in arranging. This was in I guess 8th grade.
I bought a book called Arranging for Large Jazz Ensemble. It was helpful in learning how to orchestrate for a 20 piece band. I made dozens of arrangements just for fun. Learning how to arrange helped me learn how to harmonize.
A lot of other knowledge comes from reading Wikipedia articles on theory, reading random other books, and analyzing scores. Lush Life Music is an arranging company out of England. They let you view three or so pages of every score. I used to print out the samples and analyze. Also, get your hands on a hymnal, any hymnal. Hmynals are choir books, so they're scored in 4 part harmony. Figure out the chords on your own and notate them. That helped a lot.
Also, listen to lots of music, especially live. The best place to hear live music is at church, honestly, every Sunday. You don't even have to be religious, just find a seat near the pianist or organist.
I'm definitely not an academic. My figured bass is weak, and I don't know many classical composing principals, but I read a lot, experience a lot, and generally always love learning. Never let that fact that something is over your head stop you from learning about it. Just listen to lectures or lessons on Youtube, and it will all slowly congeal.
This website is really interesting. as well as Hooktheory.com.
I would suggest that to start learning quickly, get a fake book of some kind, and start trying to recreate the original recordings of songs in them. For instance, you know Bat Out of Hell?. The whole album is filled with great rock piano licks, but the title track's intro is great. Now, all sheet music editions of it begin at the piano arpeggios right before the vocals, ignoring the entire introduction, so I figured out the intro and made a jazz band arrangement of it with the saxes taking the piano riff. I learned a lot doing that, but sadly the arrangement has been lost.
Also, I almost forgot, if you have some spare money, Music Notes sells sheet music for around $5 a song, regardless of the length. Leadsheets are around $1-$2. They also allow you to print off free one page samples. If you struggle with a song, it doesn't hurt to buy a pre-made arrangement or even just print off the sample to learn the introduction. You can even find free sheet music on pages, like Scribd or even just a google search for free piano sheet music.
If you know about chords, it might be interesting to buy the Fake book. The interesting thing with chords is that you can make them as complicated as you like, and not just play them as one-hit chords. When I play through them, I almost always use all 10 fingers...
the non ligit part is you are not spending £30 on a book of music http://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-Fake-Book-Instruments/dp/0793529395
the "fake books" came around after the "real book"
http://www.amazon.com/Real-Book-Hal-Leonard-Corporation/dp/0634060384/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348419797&sr=1-1&keywords=realbook
Pick up a fake book and try some improv. You can also listen to the songs on Youtube and go nuts trying to recreate them.
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Fake-Book-Instruments/dp/0793529395
That should keep you busy for a few years!
I think a great choice would be a book with both piano music as well as chord charts. A fakebook is a huge advantage once you learn a few chords.
I have this book. It's pretty simple to either read the music on the staff or to "fakebook" it and just use the lead sheet and chords. The guitar chords are there to play together.
My wife plays flute and will play te melody of these while I play accompaniment from the same page.
New Life of the Christmas Party: Piano/Vocal/Chords https://www.amazon.com/dp/0769289487/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_udAOub1STH2WZ
Or if you're looking for something similar but easy easy easy (songs all written in the key of C). Try this.
The Easy Christmas Fake Book: 100 Songs in the Key of C (Fake Books) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0634049119/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_riAOub1FXYTWZ
For other styles I would recommend something like this:
The Ultimate Fake Book (for C Instruments) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0793529395/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_HgAOub0Z1A9T8
This book will include only chords and melody lines. Perfect for singalongs or jamming guitar and piano together.
For something similar but also very very easy, try the C version.
The Easy Fake Book https://www.amazon.com/dp/0634009052/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_PjAOub1TJTNHF
So in the world of jazz we use fakebooks which condense about 85% of the songs down to one page, and the rest down to two pages. Some of the pop/rock fakebooks I've used have two to three songs per page because they are even simpler. So, I'm wondering what your leadsheets end up looking like, because they sound inefficient.
Something like this book really has thousands of songs all nicely condensed.
Yep, as mentioned, it includes just the melody and chord symbols. Another term could be a lead sheet. So, admittedly, you'd have to comfortable playing with chords, playing by ear, etc.
Example: http://smile.amazon.com/Ultimate-Fake-Book-Instruments/dp/0793529395/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1449627503&sr=8-2&keywords=fake+book
I've been taking lessons as a 30-something adult for 4 years now, and I sought out a teacher who could teach me jazz and the blues. I was also a brand new student of music so I am learning theory, using lesson books, and classical minuets and musettes. His process for the jazz stuff has been around learning [the standards](
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Fake-Book-Instruments/dp/0793529395), which has tons of popular and familiar tunes from the last ~125 years. The old editions used to have Christmas and other holiday pieces, but they make a separate edition for that now.
Since this book only has lead sheets, you apply your own creativity for the left hand accompaniment, or in my case, the patterns my teacher is teaching me.