An Introduction to Fake Books

You may be intimidated the first time you crack open a fake book. However, if you're familiar with (or at least willing to learn) your chords, then that's half the battle. A fake book contains pieces written out in lead sheet form. That is, you see the melody and chord symbols written above.

The idea is that you "fake" - or create - your own accompaniment. Throw down a pop groove on "Happy Birthday" one day. The next day, you could play it in ragtime style.The possibilities are endless.

Plus, with the music condensed in this format, you can have hundreds of songs in one book. It's so much easier to bring one fake book to a gig than 10 music books.

These are some of the fake books that I've collected over the years. They are also the ones I shared with my fellow music teachers when I did a presentation to the Piano Pedagogy Group last month:

Fake Books for Beginner to Intermediate Students:

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The Easy Christmas Carols Fake Book Melody, Lyrics & Simplified Chords in the Key of C. Composed by Various. Easy Fake Book. Christmas. Softcover. 114 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.238187).

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Your First Fake Book - 2nd Edition Featuring Large Music Notation, Lyrics, & Simplified Harmonies C Edition. Composed by Various. Easy Fake Book. Broadway, Pop, Standards. Softcover. 176 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.299529).

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The Easy Disney Fake Book - 2nd Edition 100 Songs in the Key of C. Composed by Various. Easy Fake Book. Children, Disney, Fake Books, Movies. Softcover. 232 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.275405).

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The Easy Broadway Fake Book - 2nd Edition Over 100 Songs in the Key of C. Composed by Various. Easy Fake Book. Broadway. Softcover. 218 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.276670).

Everything is in C Major. For an added challenge, you can ask your students to transpose them into other keys once they've learned the pieces.

Fake Books for Intermediate to Advanced Students, and Music Teachers:

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Classical Fake Book - 2nd Edition Over 850 Classical Themes and Melodies in their Original Keys. Composed by Various. Hal Leonard Fake Books. Classical Period. Fakebook (spiral bound). With standard notation, chord names and vocal melody (on some songs). 648 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.240044).

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The Ultimate Pop/Rock Fake Book - In C 4th Edition. By Various. By Various. Hal Leonard Fake Books. Pop Rock, Rock and Pop. Fake book. With vocal melody, lyrics and chord names. 584 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.240099).

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The Best Fake Book Ever - C Edition - 4th Edition C Edition. Composed by Various. Hal Leonard Fake Books. Country, Fake Books, Jazz, Pop, Standards. Fake book. With vocal melody, lyrics and chord names. 856 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.290239).

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Just Jazz Real Book - C Edition C Edition. Composed by Various. Fake Book. Jazz. Fakebook (softcover). With vocal melody, lyrics, chord names, black & white photos, discography and introductory text. 400 pages. Hal Leonard #FBM0003. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.321416).

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The Praise & Worship Fake Book B Flat Edition. Composed by Various. Fake Book. Christian, Worship. Softcover. 432 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.240324).

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The Ultimate Christmas Fake Book - 6th Edition For Piano, Vocal, Guitar, Electronic Keyboard & All C Instruments. Composed by Various. Fake Book. Christmas, Fake Books. Softcover. 232 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.147215).

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The Disney Fake Book - 4th Edition Composed by Various. Fake Book. Children, Disney, TV & Movies. Softcover. 288 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.175311).

Pianists - make sure you buy the "C" edition fake books!

If you need some guide books on how to read lead sheets, check out my earlier post, Jazz Music and Improvisation Guide Books.

Jazz Music and Improvisation Guide Books

As I mentioned earlier, I recently presented to the Piano Pedagogy Group. The piano teachers in this group are currently working on their Grade 10 or their Piano Pedagogy certification through Royal Conservatory of Music, Conservatory Canada or London College of Music . They are all classically trained (translation: improvisation, lead sheets and chord charts are scary). This is a list of the "How To" books that I use whenever I teach and play contemporary music (e.g. pop, rock, Latin, jazz, ragtime) that I shared with them:

Conservatory Canada Contemporary Idioms Syllabus

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How To Play From A Fake Book

By Blake Neely. For Guitar, Piano/Keyboard. Piano. Instructional. Instructional book. Standard notation and instructional text. 88 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.220019)

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Lead Lines and Chord Changes

By Ann Collins. For Piano. Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Early Advanced; Late Intermediate. Book. 80 pages. Published by Alfred Music Publishing (AP.199)

...more info

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Volume 1 - How To Play Jazz & Improvise

By Jamey Aebersold. For any C, Eb, Bb, bass instrument or voice. Play-Along series with accompaniment CD. Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long series. Beginner, intermediate. Book & CD. 104 pages. Published by Jamey Aebersold Jazz (JA.V01DS)

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Volume 3 - The II/V7/I Progression

By Jamey Aebersold. For any C, Eb, Bb, bass instrument or voice. Play-Along series with accompaniment CD. Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long series. Beginner, intermediate. Book & CD. 100 pages. Published by Jamey Aebersold Jazz (JA.V03DS)

(6)

...more info

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Boogie Woogie for Beginners

Arranged by Frank Paparelli. For Piano/Keyboard. Keyboard Instruction. 48 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.120517)

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...more info

There are a few more in my "To Check Out" pile. I'll add them once I've had a chance to go through them a bit.

Music Practicing 101: Every Other Bar Drill

This week, I've been working with my students to either increase the tempo of their repertoire or improve on the flow in their music. This is a drill that I did learn about at a piano teaching workshop or conference - the Every Other Bar Drill.

It also works well if you do every other beat.

On Scaring Classically Trained Music Teachers with Contemporary Idioms

Earlier this month, I presented improvisation and various elements of Conservatory Canada's Contemporary Idioms syllabus to The Piano Pedagogy Group. This was a group of bright yet frightened classically trained piano teachers. After years of being told "Play what's on the page," the sight of a chord chart or a lead sheet drew looks of puzzlement and various states of uncertainty. Conservatory Canada has recently updated their Contemporary Syllabus in such a way that makes it easier to crossover to the "fun zone". I myself haven't gone through all of the changes yet (You can find out all about the syllabus changes here). What I did touch upon was my experience delving into contemporary idioms on a deeper level. Much deeper than playing through popular arrangements by Dan Coates, Bill Boyd and Phillip Keveren.

I began by sharing my experiences taking jazz piano lessons with jazz pianist, adjudicator, clinician and examiner Derek Stoll. Then, I walked them through various elements of preparing for my Level 7 Contemporary Idioms piano exam.

The bulk of my presentation was on sharing the resources I commonly use when teaching contemporary music, in addition to my approaches to teaching technique, improvisation and learning music that isn't in standard notation. This is rather huge, I will go into each area in more detail in subsequent posts. Hopefully, this will open up a dialogue between music teachers and students who would like to delve into the "fun zone".

Another Way to Practice Technique

This is more for the advanced students, music teachers and anyone who wants to learn jazz chords and scales. The bottom line is that instead of practicing your technical exercises by key, you are practicing them by their shared root: Getting Started on Jazz Technique - Musespeak Studio