JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum WHAT IS A "FAKE" BOOK?

I've bought Hal Leonard type books through the years. They have songs, the chords, the notes, etc.

Is the notation in these books simpler than on an individual piece of sheet music?

Also, are these the same as what's called a "fake" book?

Traditionally. a fake book is a book, usually compiled by a musician for his own use, that contains a whole bunch of songs and just enough information about how to play each song (a few chords, some notation, whatever) to allow the musician to "fake" it if the song is requested. In the old days "faking it" meant playing a song that you really don't know how to play, and for which you don't have the sheet music, but coming close enough to be recognizable and to satisfy the audience

It's just a collection of popular songs with sheet music and who wrote the songs and who is or was the publisher. Easier than trying to find the sheet music for each individual song.

I believe the title FAKE BOOK is just a title they decided to use. There appears to be Fake Books for different types of popular music.

I have the Ultimate Country Fake Book Revised with over 700 songs.

I've seen many "fake books" in my time and TC has it about right. It's the chords charts to hundreds of songs, usually classics/standards that the musician really doesn't know how to play, but by using the chart he/she can follow along with any performance of the song. /Glen

Just a warning, though... the chords can be wrong in some fake books. Sometimes they're approximations, at best, and it really changes the sound of the song. The book is only as good as the transcriber(s). "The Real Book" is a great book. I don't know if "The Real Book" came after fake books or before. It would be an interesting piece of music history.

Yep. Often the chording is simplified so the average three or four chord player can fake their way through the contents.
Graham

I can't use fake books myself. If I have heard the song a couple of times I can usually figure out how to play it. But if I haven't heard the song a few chords on a page won't help me at all.

The fake books I've seen range from lyrics and a few chords only to the same with music for the melody also. As James pointed out, they can be rife with errors. I have several Irish music fake books that come with a tape or a CD and the music and/or lyrics that are on the recording often do not match the music and/or lyrics in the book (mumble, mumble, mutter, mutter).

One big complaint I have for all fake books I've seen that do have music is that they will link the lyrics of the first verse and chorus (sometimes only one or the other) and list the remaining verses in paragraphs below, leaving one to guess at the scan (more muttering sweet nothings under my breath).

Problems aside, they can be a great source of music if one is at least partially familiar with the piece.

Back in the day, you could not buy a fake book. They were not published. Working musicians compiled their own and carried them along to gigs. If the leader called a well-known song but did not have the charts, a good musician could "fake" it if he had it in his "fake" book.

I had a Fake book back in the sixties. It was a compilation of all different presentations of songs. Some were actually in long hand, with chords written over the words where the changes took place. Some pages were mimiographed and others were actual sheet music. I got it from one of my sisters boyfriends back in 62 or 63. I sure wish I still had it, there were some classic early R&R tunes in it.

yep. They are as Trueman says.
A guide for folks who know the song, but need a riminder to get them through it when need be.
If you don't know how the melody goes, chances are you will get lost.
Or do a unique self arranged fake take of it yourself, which can be rewarding.
Graham

I have 5 or 6. Mostly use them as a jump off place to do my own arrangements. Then they move into my personal gig book that I've been working on since about '63, about 250 that I've done the arrangements for and perform, and a second book of a few thousand that I'll get to working on someday, that includes some that are written on napkins by candle light in a 60's coffeehouse trying to copy what the performer was doing.

I was under the impression that Fake Books were those not so wonderful song books that often were written in the wrong/simplified keys.Sometimes they had all of the lyrics,sometimes not.
I have a few that actually say"Blues Fake Book",Country Sounds Fake Book.
Thanks Truman for letting us know what the term Fake Book really means.

If you walk in a Bookstore today you can probably find a Fake Book in stock. If you were looking for songs to use in an act you would probably find all the songs that were popular in that genere.

There are fake books for all different genres. I've seen them used frequently in the GB world when a band is asked for a cover tune at a gig that they need to know how to play on the spot.

It is an amazing album by Yo La Tengo.

Aaaaahhh. See? I learned something. I thought I saw a fake book once in a movie. The actor pulled it off a shelf, opened it, and inside the cutout pages was a 38 special stashed away.

I'm not sure, but I think that the older fake books were illegal. You know , copyright infringement, no royalties. They weren't supposed to be sold. If you got one it would have been from underground sources. I believe that the intrigue from the piracy act of obtaining one added to the charm. Nowadays there seems to be a commercial underground, even American Idol invented its own 'Underground'.

In the UK we call it "busking". There are a lot of buskers books on sale in UK music shops that give words plus simple melody lines with EITHER guitar tabs or chords. As for royalty or copyright issues your guess is as good as mine.