I am trying to understand fake books. I have three easy fake books from Hal Leonard and they are all in the Key of C. While I understand this makes playing many songs easy, I'd like to also play songs in their proper key. I am having a hard time finding such a fake book. It seems that so many are in the Key of C. I have found a few others but all the songs in each book are in one key. I don't understand why it's hard to find a fake book that just has bunches of songs each in their proper key. Am I looking in the wrong place? Any insight into the world of fake books would be greatly appreciated.

Jo Anne

The assumption is you will transpose to the key you need for the circumstances. For example if you accompany a vocalist, the range of their voice will often dictate the key you pick.

Use the "Real Book" (Vol 1 and 2). These are the official versions used by gigging musicians. Contains most standards.

Hi Jo Anne,

Look at the cover of your fake books. Are you sure that all the songs are in the key of C in your books, or is it that the books are for C instruments? There is a huge difference between the two.

Fake books come for instruments that are in "C" "Bb" "Eb", etc. Just because a book is for C instruments does not mean that all songs in it are in the key of C. For piano fake books, you want a book for "C" instruments. Such a fakebook, for "C" instruments, contain songs in keys other than C.

Look to see if any songs in your books have any flats or sharps. Songs with one sharp are in the key of G, songs with one flat are in the key of F, etc... So, if your books contain songs with sharps and flats, I'd bet that it contains songs in more than just the key of C.

Hope that helps, and didn't add any confusion!

Angelo

Thank you MarkL and Jazzwee for your replies. I understand what you're saying Mark but I'm not that advanced. And that looks like a great book Jazzwee but it is too advanced for me right now.

Angelo, that is the piece of information I was missing! I assumed that in books for C instruments were in the Key of C as well. So there are more books out there for me!

Thank you all for your help.

Jo Anne

Great! Keep us posted, and perhaps send us a recording of you playing from a fakebook!

I have only seen one or two fake books that actually had all the songs in the key of C major / A minor. Usually they have a title similar to "Your first fake book". Otherwise, the rest of them have the songs in the original / correct key.

A couple of fake books that I've got are by Hal Leonard, "The Ultimate Pop/Rock Fake Book", and "The Ultimate Country Fake Book". They have 700+ songs each in them.

A couple of hints. First, you'll want to pick up one of the many "how to play from a fake book" books out there. The one I've got is by Blake Neely, I think. There is another one, similar title, different author/publisher (can't recall who it is off the top of my head). There was a study thread posted here a while ago which used that particular book.

Second thing you'll want to do is learn about chord progressions and the circle of fifths. The circle has all 12 notes laid out separated by perfect 5ths (8 semitones), and is a useful tools for analyzing chord progressions. Quick example, if you are playing a song in G-major (one sharp in the key signature), for the most part you will be playing the chords G, D, and C. On the circle, you will see D to the right of G, and C to the left. The general rule is that the chords of a song come from one or more stops to the right of the base chord (on the circle), plus only one stop to the left (simple songs stay closer to the root chord, more advanced ones venture further and further to the right on the circle).

The reason I mention the circle & chord progressions, is that it makes it easier to pick out songs you are likely to be able to play easily. Before playing a song in a certain key, practice the chords that belong to that key (one chord to the left on the circle, the root chord, and up to 5 chords to the right). Do a google search for "Interactive circle of fifths" for a good example.

Finally, transposing the melody in songs is easier than you think. First you'll have to practice scales in the target key, so the proper notes just fall under your fingers. Then when you play a song in a different key, you'll have to go by the distance between notes instead of looking at the actual note value. To get the chords, you'll have to right the chord numbers (roman numeral notation -- see the circle again) above / next to the chord names, and keep a copy of the circle written out in the target key handy while playing. One easy example from the Country fake book I mentioned earlier is Johnny Cash's "I walk the line". The book has it written out in the key of the first verse, but each subsequent verse is sung in a different key (one stop to the left on the circle for each verse, I think).

Any how, good luck and have fun.

Nice post, derekp.

Cathy

Thank you derek for the great post. I have been using those easy fake books to supplement my classical lessons. I am a beginner and they are easy for me to get instant gratification.

I found The Ultimate Pop/Rock Fake Book but was confused about it being for all C instruments. I guess I should have just asked my teacher but I convinced myself that they were in the key of C.

I've been playing out of the easy fake books for a while now but I'd like to learn how to play songs in their proper key. I think transposing is too advanced for me right now but maybe one day I can go back to the easy fake books and play those pieces in their proper key.

Thank you for the very informative post, I appreciate all the great information.

Jo Anne

Hi Jo Anne,
I am doing the same thing you are. Traditional lessons with classical pieces, and fake books for fun and instant gratification. I found a website www.8notes.com, that I haven't fully explored yet, but it has some fake book type songs, pop, classical, etc, and can be sorted according to skill level. Also, some songs can be transposed with the click of a button from original key to key of C, or vice versa.

jagshrink

I don't think you said whether you use an acoustic or DP. If you play a DP, there is likely a button you can push to transpose to different keys. This would at least facilitate your playing with vocalists and other instruments before having learned how to transpose in your head.

Great site jag! Thanks for posting.

I have a digital MarkL. My husband told me that my piano can do that, I just haven't sat down to figure out how to do it.

Jo Anne

There are basically three types of
jazz/popular/rock/country/etc., sheet
music. The most readily available
is the "piano-voice-guitar chords"
variety. This has the melody line
and the words to the song, with guitar
chords above, and a full piano rendition
below. The piano arrangement is
generally intermediate-level, which
anyone can handle, hence the popularity
of this type of sheet music. This
type of sheet music is sometimes
loosely referred to as a "fake book"
or a "lead sheet," because in
a true fake book you have a melody
line and chord symbols, but an
actual fake book is something quite
different from this.

The next type of sht. music is the
fully-written-out, pro-style piano
arrangement. These are rare, because
the music is difficult to play.
Also, pros apparently don't like
to give out the full arrangements
that they perform from.

The last type is the true fake book,
or lead sht. These typically have a melody
line and chords symbols only, with
no written-out piano arrangment.
These are not as common as the piano-voice-
guitar chords sheet music, because
they are intended mainly for advanced
players, who can improvise a full
piano arrangement from the sketchy
outline of the music in the fake book.

If you're a novice player and you're
trying to play from true fake books,
you'd probably have difficulty, because
you'd be attempting to do what only
advanced players can do. You'd
probably be better off with the
piano-voice-guitar chords type
of sht. music. This would have a
full, intermediate-level piano arrangement,
and it would still have what a true
fake book has, that is, a melody
line and chord names.

Gyro, I'd have to differ with you slightly on skill level needed to play from a fake book. If you have very low sight reading skills then the lead sheet/fake book will be a bit easier, at least to get out something that somewhat sounds like music. And you can play whatever arrangement fits your current music skill level.

Example: I'm able to comfortable play out of Faber & Faber's level 2B books, whereas the level 4 books are a bit more of a challenge. Their level 2B is single note melody in the right hand, and tri-chords in the left, one to two chords per measure. Now those type of arrangements are very easy to do from a lead sheet.

However, I do agree that one will need a lot of musical talent in order to come up with a full fledge arrangement right off the bat from a lead sheet. But the beauty of it is that you can start off with a simple one, and continuously improve it until it sounds good. And, in order to get better, you can peek at full arrangements and compare that to what you are coming up with on your own, which is an excellent way to learn. For this, I highly recommend arrangements by Dan Coates.

Oh, and note that there is one more differing factor in arrangements. The Piano/Vocal/Guitar ones have the piano part written as an accompaniment, which may not actually sound like the vocal part of the song. Great if you are playing with a singer, not so great if you want to perform a piano version of the tune. For piano versions of songs that you intend to perform without a vocalist, look for "Solo Piano" arrangements, such as the ones by Dan Coates that I previously mentioned. These happen to sound a lot like what an advanced player will put together from the fake books.